ORONO, Maine —- Over the past four seasons, goaltenders Martin Ouellette and Dan Sullivan combined to appear in 149 games. The University of Maine’s current goalies, however, have appeared in a total in six games, all of them by Matt Morris.
Despite the inexperience, Maine coach Red Gendron and his players feel goaltending will not be a weakness this season.
They have confidence in Morris, who is a junior with three years of eligibility, and freshmen Sean Romeo and Nik Nugnes. Former Bangor High star Chris Howat is the No. 4 goalie.
Morris played two years ago but sat out last year due to a November hip surgery.
Nugnes joined the program for the second semester and practiced with the team. He still has four years of eligibility.
Romeo, on the other hand, is a true freshman.
Second-year head coach Gendron said the job is wide open.
“They’re all great athletes and they’ve had success in places where they played previously. They just don’t have experience. But I have confidence they’re going to play great,” Gendron said.
Gendron doesn’t have a set philosophy: Sticking with one goalie or rotating two of them.
But he did say he overworked Ouellette last year. Ouellette played in 34 of the 35 games and started the last 19. Sullivan appeared in just four games.
“I’m not going to bind myself to a philosophy. I probably should have played Danny a little more to rest Marty. Not because there was any question over who was playing the best hockey, but I thought Marty was tired at the end of the year and didn’t play as well as he had played the first two-thirds of the season. I blame myself for that,” Gendron said.
Maine lost five of its last six games.
“I haven’t seen anything but good things from the goalies,” junior center and wing Steven Swavely said. “There is no question in my mind that they will get the job done. They all move well side to side.”
Junior center and captain Devin Shore said they’re all competitive.
“They take every shot personally, which is what you need from a goalie,” Shore said. “They’re rarely out of position, they cover their angles well and they’re explosive going from side to side.”
Morris said he expects the goaltending to be strong no matter who is between the pipes and pronounced himself “completely healthy and ready to go.”
“I learned a lot from watching Marty play … how his agility off the ice transferred to on the ice. He was a fierce competitor. I’ve just been focusing on the basics — rebound control and angles. What the best goalies do at this level is not give up many rebounds and they always square up to the pucks,” said Morris, a native of Ridgewood, New Jersey, and the smallest of the three goalies at 5-foot-11.
Romeo, who played 83 games over the past two years for Youngstown in the United States Hockey League, is a 6-foot-1 native of Cary, North Carolina.
“It’s obviously a big jump from last year,” Romeo said. “I’ve got to get used to the speed. One of the biggest things for me is skating. If I can move with the play and keep up with the puck, I’m going to be in position to stop the puck. These guys have such harder shots than I faced last year. So I also have to improve my hands. The coaches are always pushing us in practice. They expect the best from us and that helps make you a better goalie.”
Nugnes, a 6-foot-3 native of West Barnstable, Massachusetts, feels they have all looked good in practice.
“I worked a lot on my game in the offseason and being able to skate with these guys last year meant a lot,” Nugnes added. “It took away the shock effect a lot of freshmen have when they first come here.
The goalies said they will support each other and will benefit from having a veteran defense corps.
“It’s comforting knowing we have a lot of experience on defense and the returning forwards are also strong. I feel really good about this season,” Nugnes said.