FROM THE BLUE LINE for February 18
with Maine head coach Rick Filighera and Deron Treadwell
 
The University of Maine Lady Black Bears went 2-0 on the weekend with a
pair of wins at Boston College in perhaps their best games of the season.
 
"It was an important two games and it keeps us in the play-off picture for
at least another week," said coach Rick Filighera.  "We played a more
relaxed team game this past weekend.  This should give us a bit of
confidence before we move on to Brown."
 
On Friday, the Bears set the tone early going up 2-0 before the game was
six minutes old on goals by defenseman Kelly Nelson and standout forward
Kira Misikowetz.  Esther Granville's tally at 11:53 put Maine up 3-1, en
route to a 6-2 victory.  Raffi Wolf had a pair of goals and Colleen Baude
lit the lamp once.
 
In the rematch, Maine again stormed the Eagles early building another 2-0
lead on goals by Misikowetz and Wolf in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Wolf added her fourth goal of the weekend in the second, and Granville and
captain Christina Hedges tallied in the third to put the game away, 5-2.
 
"We knew that if we played well we could win," Filighera recalled.  "We
started slow but gained confidence with the early goals both days.  When we
score first we seem to play so much better."
 
In fact, Maine hasn't lost a game that they have scored first in.
 
The solid wins moved Maine to 12-13-1 on the year and 6-13-1 in the ECAC in
its inaugural season. Boston College fell to 7-17-2 and 3-15-2 in the ECAC.
 One could suggest it was the most important weekend of the season for the
Black Bears, but Filighera disagrees.
 
"I still feel getting the early season win against St. Lawrence was more
important," Filighera said.  "We were 0-5 and needed to know if we could
play at this level."
 
While perhaps not the pinnacle of the season, Filighera noted that the
weekend was still quite telling.
 
"BC was missing some key players, but so were we," Filighera said.  "I feel
that we have some good depth for a first year team.  This bodes very well
for the future.  Our depth had an impact on the weekend because I feel we
out skilled them with the players we used."
 
The wins also kept the first-year program as a long-shot contender for the
eighth and final ECAC playoff spot.  Maine is nine points behind Cornell
with 12 possible points left to be earned.  Any combination of two Cornell
wins or two Maine losses will eliminate the Black Bears.  Still, did
Filighera expect to be competing for a playoff spot in mid-February?
 
"No," he said simply.  " I felt that it was going to be a tough year with
our lack of experience, need for muscle strength, and being all new.  This
team shows heart and grit at times and if they could just focus for 60
minutes we may have been in an even better situation right now."
 
Two individual performances from this weekend did not go unnoticed by the
ECAC, who named Kira Misikowetz Rookie-of-the-Week and freshman netminder
Amanda Cronin Goaltender-of-the-Week.
 
Misikowetz had a pair of key goals and four assists on the weekend for six
points.  The Mississauga, Ontario native has been coming on strong lately
and is moving up on the ECAC scoring list.  Misikowetz has 12 goals and 27
assists for 39 points, tying her for seventh on the overall ECAC scoring list.
 
"Kira played her best hockey this week," Filighera said.  "She used her
deceptive speed and played a good team game.  She had experience at an
upper level program at Scarborough, Ontario (Senior AAA).  She produced
points there.  We felt that with a little push she could be a top point
scorer in this league, with Raffi and Colleen they have a formidable line
that can compete with anybody."
 
Backstopping both wins was Cronin, who stopped 58 of 62 shots.  Cronin
bumped her record over .500 at 8-7 and now has a 3.24 goals against average
and a .898 save percentage.
 
"Amanda is solid," her coach said.  "She very rarely gives up the weak goal
and makes the big save when needed.  She will not get beat when players are
close to the net and uses her size to position herself to make the save.  I
feel she is playing with more confidence now than she was at the beginning
of the year."
 
This week's unsung hero is Colleen Baude.  The first-year forward from
Chatham, N.J. had a goal and two assists on the weekend to increase her
total to seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points.  The hard-working
forward played for the Hockey Training Institute boys team and also helped
the Peel Storm win the Brampton Tournament and finished second at the
Provincial Tournament before coming to Maine.
 
"Since she has moved back on the line with Kira and Raffi, she has done all
the plumbing to help the success of the other two players on her line,"
Filighera said.  "She chipped in with a few points this weekend and after a
slow start helped us to two big wins."
 
Thanks to Baude and the other players on her line, Raffi Wolf continued to
produce this weekend.  Wolf's four goals give her 30 on the year - the
first player in the league to reach that mark.  Wolf is now tied for fifth
in the league in overall points with a 30-12-42 line, but is a distant
second to Harvard's Jennifer Botterill in freshman scoring.  What about
Rookie-of-the-Year, coach?
 
"Raffi should be given strong consideration, since she plays on a new team
and has to carry the load," Filighera said.  "The media and league seem to
like the Olympians and they should have the best chance to receive it, but
I personally think that if Raffi played with [the Harvard trio
of]Botterill, Tammy Shewchuk and Angela Rugierro, it would be scary how
many points she could get.  This is taking nothing away from Kira or Kelly
[Nelson] or any of our team members, it is just the fact that those
[Harvard] players are some of the best in the world and they are on the
same team."
 
This weekend the Black Bears get a look at another one of the nation's
premier teams, Brown University.  Brown currently sits in second-place in
the ECAC with a 15-4-3 record and still has a shot to catch Harvard for the
title.  However, Brown is coming off a pair of losses to Harvard and
Northeastern and will be hungry for a win.
 
Brown is led by defenseman Tara Mounsey.  Mounsey has 11 goals and 17
assists for 28 points from the blue line and will be a key to the game plan
for the Black Bears.
 
"Tara is big, nasty and competitive," Filighera said.  "She has a great
shot and is huge on their power play.  We plan on keeping tabs on her.
Fans will see great skating skills and the ability to control the play at
any time.  She will be hard to handle."
 
Mounsey and her teammates also have a penchant for defense.  In 22 league
games, Brown has only allowed 30 goals against.  Ali Brewer is one of the
ECAC's top goaltenders with a 1.35 goals against average and a
league-leading .935 save percentage.
 
"Brown has great goaltender, good offensive balance, Tara Mounsey, and good
coaching," Filighera noted.   "We have an uphill battle dealing with their
experience, skill and need to keep winning for a shot at the No. 1 seed.
This could be ugly due to our health problems (Jennie Howell, Sarah Caza,
and Amy Van Vuren just coming back).  We will need great goaltending and
our first line to be relentless."
 
In a matchup Filighera characterized as "grit vs. skill" Maine will get a
late-season measuring stick on the progress of its program.  If there was
ever a "good" time for Maine to play Brown, it is probably now.  The Lady
Black Bears have some confidence and their top players are starting to
produce.  It won't be easy, but Brown will still have to work hard.
 
---
Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
 
"Any idiot can face a crisis -- it's this day-to-day living
that wears you out."    - Anton Chekhov
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.