ORONO, Maine — The appearance of retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and quadruple amputee Travis Mills in a pregame ceremony during Saturday’s Military Appreciation Night left a lasting memory.
Mills, who received a tremendous ovation from the Alfond Arena crowd, was severely injured by an improvised explosive device during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan. He won the Bronze Star, the fourth-highest individual military award given, and is a Purple Heart recipient for being injured in battle.
He is a motivational speaker and advocate for Wounded Warriors.
“You heard the crowd. That is how wonderful this state is and how much we respect the military people who sacrifice for us so. We’re all sitting here with opportunity to lead comfortable lives because of people like that,” said Gendron. “It’s no fun to be losing like we are, but we have zero problems compared to people like that or families who are left behind trying to cope without fathers or mothers who are overseas defending our country.”
“Seeing [Mills] was awesome. We were all fired up,” said Romeo. “We worry about our game, but there is so much more going on in the world. It puts it all into perspective. It makes you grateful for what you have and for the people who serve the country. We owe them so much. We’re so grateful to them.”
“That was pretty incredible,” said Shore. “To see his attitude and hear the ovation. It was really something special. When you think that the biggest problem we have is losing hockey games, it’s not that big of a problem in the grand scheme of things.”
Mills has founded the Travis Mills Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed to benefit and assist wounded and injured veterans. He also founded Travis Mills Group LLC, which gives him a chance to consult and speak to companies and organizations nationwide, inspiring people to overcome life’s challenges.
Higgins missed Vermont series
Maine was without senior center and alternate captain Stu Higgins in the Vermont series because of an undisclosed injury.
Higgins missed the first eight games because of a foot injury but played in the next five. He didn’t register any points.
Junior left wing Will Merchant was injured in the second period of Saturday night’s game and didn’t return. He has two assists in 15 games.
Maine (3-11-1, 2-5 Hockey East) will try to snap its seven-game losing streak at UMass Lowell at 8 p.m. Saturday.
UMass Lowell (8-3-3, 5-0-2 HE) will host Connecticut on Wednesday.
The last time Maine lost seven in a row was in 2012, and they ended the streak with a 4-3 win at UMass Lowell. Maine hasn’t lost eight in a row since the 1985-86 season.
Power-play power outage
Maine has gone six games without a power-play goal. The team generated only eight shots on goal on nine power play chances over the weekend. Maine is in an 0-for-22 famine during the six games.
Sneddon and UVM assistant Kevin Patrick tweaked the penalty kill in the second game.
“We didn’t want Devin Shore or Connor Leen coming into our zone with speed and making plays. We tried to force them to dump it in,” Sneddon said.
It worked.
“They played well against us, and we didn’t adjust well on the power play,” said Shore.
“It’s rather simple,” said Gendron. “You have to come up the ice together and with speed. When a pass is made [to send the power play into the offensive zone], it has to be made at exactly the right time so people can maintain their speed. Certain players who brought the puck up didn’t deliver the pass at the right time. The one time we did, Steven Swavely broke in alone.”