ORONO, Maine — An elite program that has been the model of consistency as of late will take on a team that hopes to eventually return to that prestigious status this weekend when defending national champion Union College invades Orono for a two-game men’s college hockey set against the University of Maine.
Game times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 17, and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18.
Union (2-0), which does not offer athletic scholarships, is ranked No. 2 in the country while the Black Bears (0-2) have the full allotment of 18.
Union has made the NCAA tournament four consecutive years, averaging 26 ½ wins, and has played in the Frozen Four twice.
Maine has made just one NCAA appearance in seven seasons after a run of nine straight trips, including four Frozen Fours.
The Black Bears have to jump-start their sluggish offense and ineffective power play. Maine has scored two goals or less 10 times over the past 13 games and has converted on just four of its last 64 power-play chances (0-for-9 last weekend).
Junior captain Devin Shore said Maine is tweaking its power play, but that’s not the key to improving it or the overall goal production.
“We have to get hungrier. We have to take pride in our power play, take pride in scoring goals and take every scoring chance personally. It’s something we have to do on a consistent basis,” Shore said.
“We haven’t been moving the puck well enough on the power play. And, a couple of times, we’ve tried to do some individual stuff which doesn’t work. The power play is a unit and you have to work as a team on it,” junior defenseman Ben Hutton said.
Junior goalie Matt Morris, who sat out last year due to hip surgery, and freshman Sean Romeo gave solid performances in Alaska, according to second-year head coach Red Gendron. Each player said there is plenty of room for improvement.
“I’ve got to sharpen up my angles a little bit,” Morris said.
“I got stuck deep in my net looking for the puck instead of being out at the top of my crease trying to be as big as I could,” Romeo said.
The Bears know they are in for a tremendous battle against the Dutchmen.
“They have a lot of skill up front, they’re good defensively and they have a senior goalie (Colin Stevens),” Morris said.
“They’re an older, mature team that is well-coached,” Shore said.
Union head coach Rick Bennett played many memorable games at the Alfond Arena for Providence College, including an NCAA tournament series in 1989 won by Maine.
“This will be a great test for us. I don’t think our players have ever experienced an atmosphere like this in a two-game series. It is the best hostile environment in college hockey. The fans are incredible,” said Bennett, who played for Gendron (Albany) and associate head coach Jay Leach (Hershey) in the American Hockey League.
“They were both phenomenal,” Bennett said.
Leach said it doesn’t surprise him that Bennett has been a successful head coach.
“He was a hard worker and was all hockey. He was one of the leaders on the team. And he’s a great guy,” Leach said.
“I have the utmost respect for Rick,” Gendron said. “I’m very impressed by him. (Former Union coach) Nate Leaman and Rick have built a (top) program much like we did at Maine in the ’80s and on.”