ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men’s hockey team has been almost as good on the road as it has been at the Alfond Arena this season and the Black Bears are hoping their recent strong road play continues this weekend when they visit Matthews Arena in Boston to take on a desperate Northeastern University team.
Maine, currently in fourth place in Hockey East and ranked 10th in the USCHO poll, is fighting for a home ice berth in the league quarterfinals while Northeastern is tied with UMass for the eighth and final playoff spot.
Maine is 5-2-2 in its last nine Hockey East road games and 3-1 in its last four, including two wins at No. 5 Boston University and one at No. 7 UMass Lowell.
On the year, Maine is 7-5 at home in league play and 5-4-2 on the road.
The Black Bears will be looking to bounce back from a subpar performance in a 4-1 home loss to UMass on Saturday night.
“I think we feel a little less pressure on the road,” said senior left wing Spencer Abbott. “We don’t feel like we have to put on a show like we do at home because we have so much support [at Alfond Arena]. On the road, it’s just a matter of going and trying to get the job done.”
“There are limited distractions on the road,” said junior defenseman Mark Nemec. “We really focus in and try to keep our game simple. We try to play to our strength and take it to the other team as much as possible.”
“We have a good road mentality this year which is different from previous years,” said senior defenseman Ryan Hegarty. “We just try to outwork teams and if we can do that this weekend, we should do well.”
Maine was 5-5-4 on the road in league play last season but all of the wins came against teams that finished seventh or lower. Maine was just 7-18-1 away from home in the previous two years combined.
Work ethic is critical, senior center Brian Flynn said.
“We didn’t work hard Saturday night,” Flynn said. “But we got back to working hard in practice this week.
“At this stage of the season, most teams are playing their best hockey,” said Flynn. “Every team works hard and you have to be ready for that. It’s especially tough to win two games on the road at this stage because all the teams are fighting for points.”
In addition to working hard, Flynn said it will be of the utmost importance to “manage the puck well and play solid team defense. We have enough guys who can put the puck in the net and we have a good enough power play so we don’t have to worry about scoring as much as we do about defending.”
;)
Need 4 points this weekend.
I wonder why they feel it’s too much pressure at Home..???? Isn’t that WHY your playing to get HOME Ice for the QF’s..????? There’s a advantage at Home……well….?????????? It use to be that Alfond Arena was the Ace in the hole,plus SW….but how things and times have CHANGED.
“hope to continue strong road play”????? How about taking the bull by the horns and taking control of your own destiny by playing to the level that you are capable of and leaving it all on the ice for two 60 minute games! There are no easy games for anyone in college hockey this year, and this team needs to realize that and “show up” for each and every game with the mentality that this is their last unless they play excuse free hockey and come off the ice knowing they gave it everything they had!
This TEAM is capable of winning every game they play the rest of this season to Tampa if they would develop the mentality that they cannot lose, and they will not lose, and they will find a way to win each and every game! GO BLUE!!!!
Unreal. You have the top skill player on the team saying he doesn’t like the pressure of playing at home…..says they have to put on a show. No, just some quality wins on a consistent basis at home would be nice. I can only imagine what Walsh would say after reading comment like that.
Another non-story by McHomey….
Thank you Larry for not ruining my Friday by keeping the mindless rambling from Whitehead out of this article. GO BLUE!
You can do it Team, keep grinding every shift, every period, every game – GO BLUE!
go bears get you some points tis weeknd ha boy
So Larry, is Maine really “fighting” for a home ice berth, if there is too much pressure to play at home? As captain mentioned, we aren’t asking you to juggle while carrying the puck.. Just win at home. No show, no fancy moves, put the puck on the net, grind hard, fight for rebounds, and score more than the other team.
The other thing I don’t quite understand is the not working hard. If you play poorly in the first period, why does it take until the Larry interview in Friday to realize you didn’t work hard the night you lost? Isn’t that a first intermission resolution? “Hey guys, we look bad out there. Let’s step it up.” Solved. I don’t wait until I am in the ditch to correct my car when I am driving. Tim, if you need me to stop by the locker room to give an assessment of the performance in real time, I am happy to.