Here's the preview of Maine's games. My entire Hockey East preview, as well
as previews for the other three conferences, is available in the "Features"
area at
http://www.uscollegehockey.com
Boston College (10-12-3, 6-7-3 HE) at Maine (17-9-1, 9-6-1
HE)
Friday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME
Maine took on the first-place and last-place teams last weekend.
By the time th Black Bears were done, first-place BU wasn't in first
anymore and the rejuvenated Bears, almost given up for dead
earlier in the season, had rebounded to third place. Winners of
eight of their last nine, they even began attracting Top Ten votes.
In the third period of their weekend opener against Northeastern,
they stood deadlocked at 2-2 before a five-goal explosion blew
away the Huskies. The performance was in many ways
characteristic of the team's recent play. The same team that
couldn't seem to throw the puck in the ocean earlier this year now
can score in bunches.
Surprisingly, the Black Bears are doing this with diminished
scoring from their two preseason stars, Dan Shermerhorn (10
goals and five assists) and, to a lesser extent, Shawn
Wansborough (11 goals and 16 assists).
"They're both playing great," says Maine coach Shawn Walsh.
"They were excellent on the weekend. Their roles have changed a
little bit. I'm asking them to play a more all-around defensive game
as opposed to putting them out for all of the power plays. We use
three power-play units now whereas we might have been focusing
on one before. Any time you win eight out of nine, you need your
upperclassmen to lead you and those guys have led us very well.
"The strength of our team is our depth. It's not any one individual.
We've really evened out the ice time, playing a lot of freshmen on
our specialty teams. So we're much more balanced now.
"There's tremendous parity in college hockey right now. The major
junior effect of the great, great players going there has leveled out
the playing field of college hockey. So if you get good goaltending,
you can win if you've got some good players. And we've got some
good players."
They're also getting the good goaltending. After a tough start
between the pipes, the Black Bear netminders are getting the job
done. Javier Gorriti's 2.77 goals-against average trails only BU's
Michel Larocque. And Alfie Michaud is now showing why Maine
recruiters expected him to be the answer. Michaud has won all his
last three starts while posting a 1.33 GAA and a .955 save
percentage.
Steve Kariya leads the team with 14 goals and 25 assists. A
member of last year's All-Rookie team, he scored a key
breakaway goal last weekend to down BU.
"He's turning into one of the elite players in the league," says
Walsh. "He was such a factor [against BU]. He scored once, he
turned their D twice, and walked right in on Larocque. I thought
when we recruited him he could be an All-American by the third
year and I think I'm on target. I think he's got a real chance
because he's got Paul's work ethic and he's got Paul's intensity at
getting better."
Maine's top four defensemen -- Jeff Libby, Jason Mansoff, Brian
White and David Cullen -- are unsung contributors to the team's
success, according to Walsh. Unsung may no longer be an
appropriate term, however. Cullen was named the league's Player
of the Week for his strong defensive play, along with a goal and
three assists.
According to Walsh, having a lead is pivotal to this team's
success. "I don't know if we're a good come-from-behind team. I
know we're becoming a very good team protecting a lead. Like that
team that we had in 94-95 that went to the national championship
game. We weren't an explosive team but we played very, very
smart. It's not the individual parts that win hockey games, it's the
sum of the parts. And the sum of the parts for Maine right now is a
good sum."
Looking ahead to the BC contest, Walsh says, "I think it'll be a
great game between two of the improving teams in the nation. They
certainly have great individuals. Their key players seem to have
come back from the World Junior [Tournament] with great
confidence. Their freshmen are playing as well as our freshmen.
And Greg Taylor is an excellent goalie. So I look for it to be a
terrific game."
(BC is profiled above.)
PICK: Maine 5-4.
Merrimack (8-15-1, 4-9-1 HE) at Maine (17-9-1, 9-6-1 HE)
Sunday, 2 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME
The last time these two teams met, they split a series at
Merrimack. The Warriors took the opener 3-1, but Maine
rebounded 6-2.
"I was impressed when we played them," says Walsh. "I thought it
was as good a Merrimack team as I've seen. They've got senior
goalies who are both very good so they're going to be a team that
gives anybody fits, as evidenced by their win over Lowell on
Saturday night."
"We always seem to play well in that rink," responds Anderson.
"We haven't had much success but I always come out of there
thinking that we didn't play that bad, it's just that they're always that
good. The atmosphere and the respect we have for that program
just gets us pretty focused when we go up there. We'll just try to
make sure we're as prepared as we possibly can be. The good
thing is that it's a Friday - Sunday weekend for us so it gives us
Saturday to set things up for the Sunday game."
PICK: Maine 6-2.
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Dave Hendrickson [log in to unmask]
Hockey East writer for U.S. College Hockey Online
http://www.uscollegehockey.com
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