ORONO, Maine — For the five seniors on the University of Maine men’s hockey team who will play their final regular season games against visiting Providence College on Friday and Saturday nights, their careers have certainly spanned the highs and lows.
There was an NCAA tournament berth their sophomore season and a trying junior year in which they went 11-19-8 and coach Tim Whitehead was fired.
This season, under first-year coach Red Gendron, the 15-11-4 Black Bears (9-6-3 in Hockey East) can sew up a top-four finish with a sweep of the Friars (17-9-6, 9-7-2). They would secure a top-five finish and a first-round bye in the quarterfinals with one win.
The five seniors — left wing Mark Anthoine, center Jon Swavely, defenseman Brice O’Connor and goalies Martin Ouellette and Dan Sullivan — said the four years have gone by quickly and they have no regrets. They will be honored Saturday night.
“I’ve cherished every second of it,” said O’Connor. “Because of the ups and downs and rough waters over the years, what we’ve grown to this year is so special. We are so close-knit. I couldn’t be happier about my time spent here. There is a family-like community between the players and the fans and the professors.”
“I’ll always remember the fans. You could even see it at Northeastern last weekend. We had a huge crowd,” said Swavely.
“Every time I play at the Alfond Arena I get chills,” Ouellette said.
“It has been crazy,” said Anthoine. “I got to play with guys who are playing in the NHL right now and one who played in the Olympics. It’s been fun. I’ve played on some really good teams. Spending a lot of time with my teammates and best friends has been nice.”
Sullivan said that “it has been four years well-spent. There are definitely some things I could have done better. But I’m happy I ended up here.”
The NCAA tournament appearance, the TD Garden appearance for the Hockey East semis and final and two wins in the Frozen Fenway games were prominently mentioned as highlights.
The players admitted that going through a coaching change was challenging but things have worked out.
“It was quite an experience but coach Red has given us everything we need to succeed,” said Swavely. “Now it’s up to us.”
“I’m thrilled with the things we’ve done this year. The lessons coach has taught us can apply to our professional lives as well as our hockey careers,” said O’Connor.
Gendron said the seniors “have been a great set of leaders and have all played well. They have helped their teammates buy into what we were trying to do.”
Maine continues to be led by center Devin Shore (13 goals, 26 assists), defenseman Ben Hutton (13-13), left wings Connor Leen (6-15) and Anthoine (8-11) and center Cam Brown (4-14) along along with Ouellette (14-11-4, 2.16 goals-against average, .929 save percentage).
The Friars of former Maine and Old Town High school assistant coach Nate Leaman feature the line of Ross Mauermann (18-15) between Nick Saracino (6-16) and Shane Luke (8-9), centers Mark Jankowski (11-9) and Noel Acciari (10-7) and goalie Jon Gillies (14-7-5, 2.23 .926).
The career stats for the five seniors entering the series are: Anthoine (141 games, 25-24), Swavely (113, 6-15), O’Connor (99, 5-18), Ouellette (77, 27-29-14, 2.48, .914) and Sullivan (65, 33-24-5, 2.69, .902).
While the UMaine men’s team will be playing its final regular-season series, the UMaine women, thanks to four wins in its last seven games, climbed to fifth in Hockey East and will visit fourth seed Vermont Saturday at 1 p.m. for a one-game quarterfinal. Maine is 7-19-5 overall and 5-13-3 in Hockey East while Vermont is 17-13-4 and 13-7-1, including 4-1, 5-1, 2-1 wins over Maine.
Right wing Audra Richards (15-3) has paced Maine along with center Brianne Kilgour (7-7), LW Karissa Kirkup (5-8), defenseman Kelly McDonald (4-8) and goalie Meaghann Treacy (5-17-4, 3.16, .905) while Vermont has been sparked by the line of Dayna Colang (11-15) between Amanda Pelkey (21-18) and Brittany Zuback (10-22) and goalie Roxanne Douville (13-9-3, 2.04, .930).