ORONO, Maine — For captain Devin Shore and the University of Maine men’s hockey team, breaking out of a scoring slump against the nation’s third-stingiest team (1.62 goals-against average) this weekend will be a tall task.
But Shore and his teammates know they are bound to snap out of it if they keep working hard and bear down in front of the net. They would love to begin doing so against a very good University of Vermont team at Alfond Arena on Friday and Saturday nights.
The 9-3-1 Catamounts beat 3-9-1 Maine twice in Burlington earlier this month in their two Hockey East games. These will be non-conference games because teams play each other just twice each in countable league games.
The drop in number of league games from 27 to 20 last year and to 22 this season with the inclusion of first-year member Connecticut has prompted several league teams to fill out their schedules with non-league games against conference opponents.
Maine will play Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire four times each this season.
Maine is in the midst of a five-game losing streak and has scored only eight goals in those setbacks. The skid began with the two losses in Burlington (4-3 in overtime, 4-1) Nov. 7-8.
Maine has been held to two goals or less in eight of its 13 games.
All-America junior center Shore, who has led Maine in scoring in each of the past two seasons, has just one assist in his last four games.
“Some great advice I got is you can’t outthink your way out of a slump,” said Shore, who has four goals and three assists on the season and leads the team with 47 shots on net. “It takes hard work and bearing down on your chances.
“You have to believe in your abilities as a team and as an individual. None of us has gotten worse as hockey players. We know we have the ability to put the puck in the net and the ability to make plays. We just have to have the confidence and the work ethic and put those two together,” Shore added.
Shore acknowledged there is pressure to produce, but he noted that there is always pressure.
“There is pressure to help your team in any way you can,” Shore said. “But if you want to become a great player and hope to play after college, you have to learn how to deal with it.”
Shore said even though the results haven’t been there, “there have still been a lot of positives and there is a lot of hockey left to be played.”
“The only way out of a goal-scoring funk is hard work,” senior defenseman Jake Rutt said. “Over the last few games, we haven’t gotten enough pucks to the net or taken the goalies’ eyes away.”
He said they also need to develop a “killer instinct” when they get a lead and expand those leads.
Maine had 2-0 leads in overtime losses to Vermont and Boston University, but Vermont tied it on a Mario Puskarich goal with 58.6 seconds remaining in regulation time before winning it in overtime on a Mike Stenerson goal. BU rallied with two third-period goals to force overtime.
“Getting those extra goals will help us win games we’re losing right now,” sophomore right wing Blaine Byron agreed. “Vermont is a very good team. They’re really good in their own end so we have to get pucks deep, get behind them and make them chase us.”