ORONO, Maine —- The University of Maine men’s hockey team didn’t get the sweep of Alaska-Anchorage it sought this past weekend, but a win, a tie and 89 shots on goal has the Black Bears headed in the right direction as the team prepares to begin Hockey East play by hosting UMass on Friday and Saturday.
Maine averaged just 20 shots on goal in its season-opening losses to Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska-Fairbanks in the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage, Alaska.
But the Black Bears have averaged 38 shots on goal in the team’s last four games, two home losses to defending national champion Union College, and the victory and tie vs. Alaska-Anchorage in Orono.
The three goals on Saturday night was the first time in 11 games Maine scored three or more goals in a game without the benefit of an empty-netter. Cam Brown scored an empty-netter in Friday’s game.
“Coach [Red Gendron] has been emphasizing getting the puck on net, shooting for pads and shooting for rebounds. That’s what we’ve been trying to do. Anything you shoot can go in, and that’s the mentality we have to bring every night,” said Black Bears senior left winger Connor Leen.
“Goalies can get hot, but they aren’t invincible. You can definitely get pucks past them, especially if you get second and third opportunities,” he added. “The more you crash the net, the better chance you have to score.”
The team really bore down and had a good week of practice last week, according to sophomore left winger Blaine Byron.
“We’re playing with confidence. We’ve taken a jump forward every week,” he said. “There were a lot of positives this weekend. We played a good all-around team game Saturday night. All the lines got scoring opportunities.”
The 49 shots on goal on Saturday night was the most since the Black Bears had 59 in a 7-1 win over American International College on Dec. 13, 2013.
The only time Maine had 40 or more shots on goal last season occurred in the sweep of AIC when the Black Bears had 44 shots the following night in a 5-1 triumph.
Maine had 40 shots in the Friday night win over Alaska-Anchorage.
“You’ve got to give credit to Maine. They pushed hard,” said UAA senior co-captain Scott Allen.
“We need to keep working hard and build off last weekend. We’re always trying to get better,” sophomore right wing Brian Morgan said.
“We’re establishing our culture and how we’ve got to play every night and what type of team we’re going to be to win,” said Byron.
Leen and his linemates Devin Shore and Brian Morgan combined for a game-high 19 shots on goal led by Shore’s 11. All but three Black Bears had at least one shot on goal.
“We need to be more efficient and precise in all aspects of our game,” said Gendron. Everyone in the world knows we’re an up-tempo team. If we find an open corner of the net, we want to hit it. But there are times, when you’re coming down the flank, that if you miss the goalie, you’re going to miss the net. So you have to learn when to shoot to score and when to shoot to create a rebound, and it’s a hard thing to do because you only have milliseconds to decide.”
One UMaine player who was anxious for Sunday’s practice was junior goalie Matt Morris, who was disappointed with his performance on Saturday night as he started back to back games for the first time in his Black Bears career.
Morris finished with 22 saves, but all three UAA goals went between his pads.
He had made 33 saves in the Friday night triumph.
“The boys played a great game Saturday night, but the bottom line was their goaltender outplayed me. I can’t let that happen. I’ve got to be better, and that started [Sunday] in practice,” said Morris. “To give up three five-hole goals is unacceptable.”
Morris missed all of last season after having hip surgery and appeared in six games as a freshman.
He had split the first two series this season with freshman Sean Romeo.