University of Maine men’s hockey coach Tim Whitehead was encouraged by his team’s play in its 2-2 overtime tie with Providence College on Sunday afternoon.
But there has been one glaring weakness of late: even-strength goals.
Maine has scored just one even-strength goal in its last four games. The other seven have all come on the power play.
“That is certainly an area we have to improve on,” said Whitehead. “We’ve got to generate some ugly goals by getting to the netfront and generating second and third shots.
“We don’t have the skill to score a lot of first-shot goals,” added Whitehead, who felt his Bears did a “much better job” getting to the Providence net than they have in other recent games.
“A lot of times, we get complacent,” said senior center Chris Hahn. “We just get the pucks deep. We’re hesitant to take it to the net.”
He acknowledged that their emphasis on team defense may contribute but added, “We have to be more aggressive with the puck down low. We’ve got to look for ways to be creative. We’ve got to get chances off our cycles. We’ve got to get the puck to the net off the rush instead of pulling up [and dumping it in]. It’s a lot of little things. Being more aggressive in the offensive zone is the big factor.”
The Black Bears have scored 51 goals in 22 games, but 23 of them have come on the power play and three more were shorthanded.
That gives Maine 25 even-strength goals in 22 games. Freshman linemates Gustav Nyquist and Brian Flynn are the only Black Bears with more than three as Nyquist has five and Flynn has four.
“Coach [Bob] Corkum has talked a lot about having depth to our attack,” said sophomore center Tanner House. “You need that first guy driving the net, drawing people in. Then you need that second forward to get in there as well. It’s not just the one guy driving the net. You need all three guys in the right spot and having all areas in front of the net covered.”
Nyquist said they have to get more traffic in front of the net and put more shots on the net.
“The last two games, I’ve put four or five shots over the bar. That’s not good. We need to hit the net more,” said Nyquist.
Maine has the nation’s 19th best power play as it is operating at 18 percent efficiency. The Bears are 10th best on the penalty kill (89.4 percent).
The Bears are the 11th stingiest team in the country, allowing just 2.18 goals per game.
“The power play has been producing and our penalty-killing is back on track,” said Whitehead, who was also pleased with his team’s physical play and all-around performance against the Friars.
“If we keep playing like that consistently, we’ll get more than our share of points,” said Whitehead.
Maine and Boston College will try to snap six-game winless streaks this weekend when they meet at Conte Forum on Saturday night at 8 and on Sunday afternoon at 4.
Both are 0-4-2 in their last six.
MMA’s Andrews honored
Maine Maritime Academy defensive lineman Cody Andrews has been named the winner of the 13th annual Joe Zabilski Award as the top New England player in NCAA Division III football.
The senior from Holden helped lead the Mariners to a New England Football Conference division title and championship game berth with seven sacks and 14 tackles for a loss — both team-highs. The four-time NEFC All-Conference selection and former John Bapst High School of Bangor player was also fourth on the team with 82 tackles.
Maine Maritime is the first NCAA Division III program to have two Zabilski Award winners. The other was running back Don Thibodeau in 2005.
Students press UM hoop teams
The University of Maine and the America East conference are sponsoring Junior Press Days this coming week to give students in grades six, seven and eight a chance to learn about the different aspects of working as a member of the media.
Area youths will sit in a section close to press row, be given special press credentials, receive a T-shirt and meal, and attend a postgame autograph session with players after the Maine men’s 1 p.m. game against Boston University Sunday and the women’s noon game against Binghamton on Jan. 31.
UMaine is also offering a two-for-one ticket special for the men’s game and a special $5 ticket price for the women’s game.