The University of Maine men’s hockey team will return to the ice next Sunday as it tries to erase the memories of a disappointing first half that finds the Black Bears mired in 10th place among 12 teams in Hockey East with just two wins.
Those wins for Maine (4-13-1) were followed by six consecutive conference losses. Maine snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the University of New Hampshire in Manchester, New Hampshire but, the next night, it suffered a 7-4 setback to UNH in front of a packed, lively crowd at the Cross Insurance Arena.
Both games were nonconference contests. The teams will play back-to-back conference games on Jan. 23-24, 2015, in Orono and Durham, New Hampshire, respectively.
Maine returns to action Jan. 2-3 when it hosts Atlantic Hockey team Canisius College from Buffalo, New York,. Canisius, an NCAA tournament team in 2012-13, is 6-6-5.
The Black Bears learned some lessons the hard way and hope to turn things around in the second half.
“We’ve learned how hard it is to win in college hockey,” said Maine junior center and captain Devin Shore. “We have to put together a full, 60-minute game all the time and we can’t make costly errors. Even the smallest of mistakes can prove costly. We have to learn and move forward.”
“It isn’t easy to win in this league but our team is good enough to win,” said senior left wing Connor Leen. “We need to come back strong. We know what we need to do. We believe in each other, we believe in the systems and we believe in the coaches.
“We’ve got to get the ball rolling. We’ve got to be ready to get after it when we get back,” said Leen.
Sophomore left wing Brian Morgan said the break comes at a good time.
“The team can use a couple of weeks off to recover from injuries,” said Morgan. “We’ll all come back hungry and ready to go.”
Freshman goalie Sean Romeo said he intended to work out during the hiatus in order to improve.
“I want to have a better second half,” said Romeo, who entered the break with a 2-9 record, a 3.33 goals-against average and a .899 save percentage.
Maine coach Red Gendron said his team will have to play with more precision and make smarter decisions with and without the puck.
“We’ve got to be able to make a five-foot pass, we’ve got to know when to chip the puck behind (an opposing) defenseman. We have to shoot when we have the opportunity, we have to be in the right (defensive zone) coverages,” said Gendron.
“It’s simple. We have to do what is required to win hockey games. They know what they have to do,” added Gendron.
The most positive aspect of the first half came off the ice as longtime UMaine supporters Tom and Sally Savage pledged $1 million for the Savage Challenge to match all endowment gifts from former players and coaches up to $1 million.
And the newly-established Grant Standbrook Hockey Forever Fund, named in honor of former longtime assistant and recruiting coordinator Grant Standbrook, will combine with the Savage Challenge in an attempt to raise $7 million for an endowment.
Gendron is donating 5 percent of his yearly salary of $209,100, which amounts to $10,455, to the Standbrook Fund.
Gendron said there are three key components to establishing a quality program.
“Coaching, recruiting and program-building,” said Gendron. “We want to ensure that the program is financially healthy forever.”
Gendron said he was also pleased with the crowd of 6,183 in Portland.
Maine will host the season-opening Ice Breaker Tournament in Portland in October.
Byron on scoring streak
Sophomore right wing Blaine Byron will begin the second half of the season as Maine’s leading scorer with eight goals and six assists in 18 games.
He will also take a three-game, goal-scoring streak into the Canisius opener. He has scored four goals in his last three games.
“I’ve been able to get a couple of good bounces. My linemates (Morgan and Cam Brown) have been creating chances and I’ve been able to find the net,” said Byron. “It’s always nice to score but when you aren’t getting the outcome, it’s still not the feeling you want to have after a game. There’s still a lot to learn and a lot to grow on. Hopefully, in the second half, we’ll play a lot better and play a full 60 minutes.”
Shots have measured outcome
Maine is 4-0-1 when it outshoots its opponents and 0-12 when it gets outshot.
Maine lost the only game in which it had the same number of shots as its opponent.