ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine women’s hockey team can sew up a first-ever home Hockey East playoff series berth when the Black Bears entertain Vermont in the annual Skating Strides Against Breast Cancer game at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The Black Bears are in third place in Hockey East with 19 points, and a victory coupled with a Providence College loss would ensure that a best-of-three quarterfinal series would come to the Alfond Arena.
Maine is 9-6-1 in the conference, 10-13-3 overall.
Last place Vermont is 3-13-0 and 12-16-1, respectively.
On Friday night, the women’s team was scheduled to sell pink pucks at the men’s ice hockey game to raise money for the The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing in Lewiston.
The team will wear special pink jerseys sponsored by FairPoint. There will be a silent auction during the women’s game on Saturday for the jerseys.
UMaine to honor student-athletes
The University of Maine will honor 268 student-athletes for their success in the classroom at the Scholar-Athlete Recognition ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Wells Conference Center on the UMaine campus.
A total of 187 student-athletes will be recognized as scholar-athletes for achieving a 3.0 or better grade point average for the 2014 year and/or having a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. Eighty-one first-year student-athletes also will be honored as “Rising Stars” for earning a 3.0 GPA or better in their first semester at Maine.
The awards have been presented annually since 1989, and 3,376 medallions have been awarded. This is the 11th year in a row that over half of the student-athletes have been honored and is the largest since the inception of the awards.
“This year we are celebrating 150 student-athlete accomplishments, and this is certainly among the greatest,” Athletic Director Karlton Creech said in a news release. “To be able to recognize over half of our student-athletes for the 11th straight year for their success in the classroom is something we are incredibly proud of. They certainly know what it means to be successful student-athletes.”
The university also will announce the annual recipients of the “M” Club Dean Smith Award, presented to the top male and female scholar-athlete, at the ceremony.
Bowdoin names Cady volleyball coach
Erin Cady has been named the head coach of the Bowdoin College women’s volleyball team.
Cady comes to Bowdoin from Holy Cross, where she had served as head coach for the last four seasons.
“I am honored and thankful for this the opportunity to join the Bowdoin family,” said Cady in a news release. “The strong sense of community, supportive environment and overall wonderful people attracted me to this position. It is clear that Bowdoin truly embraces ‘the way life should be.’”
Cady assumed the head coaching position at Holy Cross in 2011 following a year as an assistant coach with the program. In two of her four seasons at the helm, she tied the program record for Patriot League wins (six) while matching the team’s best-ever finish in the league standings (fifth).
A 2006 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Cady had an outstanding playing career for the Wildcats. She was a three-time All-America East Conference selection and was twice named a team captain.
Cady earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and justice studies from UNH in 2006 and a master’s degree in kinesiology and sports studies in 2010. Cady and her husband, Stuart, were married in 2012.