If you are a University of Maine hockey fan, don’t push the panic button.
The Black Bears were swept at Conte Forum by Boston College, 4-0 and 4-1, last weekend.
So what else is new?
Maine is 0-7-1 in the last eight meetings at Conte Forum and 2-12-3 in the last 17.
But this series was actually a little different.
Maine deserved a better fate.
Instead of thinking that defending national champion Boston College was clearly the better team, which is normally the case, you came away saying Maine should have won at least one game.
The Black Bears simply lost the goaltending duel. The Maine players should now realize they have the potential to be among the nation’s elite teams.
A senior goalie who has 119 games and two national championships under his belt, John Muse, outplayed a promising freshman (Dan Sullivan).
Sullivan turned in respectable performances, but three soft goals, including Sunday afternoon’s game-winner by Bill Arnold from an acute angle, were pivotal.
Arnold broke a 1-1 tie with 1:32 left in the second period and Paul Carey scored 40 seconds later.
If it was 1-1 at the intermission, I would have liked Maine’s chances to pull out a win.
Despite the soft goals, Sullivan has been a pleasant surprise and has a bright future.
Maine outshot BC 71-47 over the two games. Maine hadn’t outshot BC at Conte Forum in more than eight years.
But Maine’s best forwards didn’t play up to expectations, either. One goal in two games doesn’t cut it.
Sure, it was unfortunate that Maine was without its top offensive defensemen as Will O’Neill was out with a knee injury and Jeff Dimmen re-injured his ankle Friday on the first shift of the second period.
But everybody has injuries.
BC was without standout defenseman Tommy Cross and freshman center Kevin Hayes, a first-round draft pick of Chicago.
The Bears are at 6-3-3 overall, 4-2-1 in Hockey East.
The power play is in a 3-for-35 funk and the penalty-killing (79.1 percent) is among the bottom third in the country.
The coaching staff has to straighten the special teams out with personnel moves. How about putting Gustav Nyquist on the point, especially on the five-on-threes (just 2-for-11)?
In breaking down the season so far, goaltending has been better than anticipated. The question becomes should they stick with Sullivan or give freshman Martin Ouellette or sophomore Shawn Sirman a start in the last four league games before the Christmas break?
Sullivan should get the next start at Providence on Dec. 3, but if the Bears lose, it might be time to make a change for the second game.
The defense corps, as a whole, has been better than expected. Senior Josh Van Dyk has significantly elevated his game to the point where he can break the puck out of the defensive zone on his own. Junior Ryan Hegarty and sophomore Mark Nemec have shown improvement and senior Mike Banwell and sophomore Mike Cornell have been dependable. Freshman Brice O’Connor exhibits promise. A healthy Dimmen is one of Hockey East’s best, offensively and defensively, and O’Neill is a valuable offensive tool.
Left wing Spencer Abbott and right wing Joey Diamond have been Maine’s most improved and most consistent forwards, and the Bears will need more consistency from Brian Flynn and Robby Dee, who have each gone pointless in four games, as well as Nyquist (1 goal, 1 assist in last four). Tanner House has been bothered by a nagging injury, but the break should help.