University of Maine sophomore right wing Blaine Byron notched his third shorthanded goal of the season in his team’s 5-2 hockey loss to Providence on Saturday night at Schneider Arena in Providence, Rhode Island.
He is tied for the national lead in shorthanded goals with Alaska-Anchorage’s Dylan Hubbs and UMass Lowell’s Joe Gambardella.
“Blaine and Cam Brown have done a good job together all year-long,” Maine head coach Red Gendron said. “Because they play together on five-on-five for the most part over the past two years, they have a good chemistry. They play off each other pretty well.
“We saw that on Saturday night. Cam had his stick on the ice, he intercepted a pass. Blaine sensed it and was gone [out of the defensive zone]. Cam passed it to him, [and] Blaine went in on a breakaway, made a nice move and scored,” said Gendron.
Byron said he works pretty well with Brown.
“He has been able to find me and give me a lot of good scoring chances,” he said.
The Black Bears have scored seven shorthanded goals and that places them in a five-way tie for second behind North Dakota and UMass Lowell, which each have nine.
Schurhamer injures knee
Sophomore defenseman Eric Schurhamer is cautiously optimistic he will be in the lineup this weekend after suffering a knee injury on Friday night and missing Saturday’s game.
He said Sunday that his knee “felt good” and that it hadn’t swelled up.
He said he injured it when he pivoted funny while applying a hit.
“The best case scenario is I’ll play this weekend. The worst case scenario is surgery,” he said.
Schurhamer saw a doctor on Monday and was scheduled to have an MRI on Tuesday.
Schurhamer has two goals and nine assists in 35 games and is tied for second on the team in plus-minus at plus-three. Players receive a plus-one if they are on the ice when their team scores an even-strength or shorthanded goal and a minus-one if the other team scores one.
Junior Billy Norman replaced him on Saturday night and would be his likely replacement this weekend.
It was just his eighth game of the season and first since Jan. 3.
“I have confidence in Billy. He played really well for someone who hasn’t played a lot,” said Gendron.
“After a few shifts, I got right back into it,” said Norman. “I just need to make quick plays, quick [break-out] passes and don’t turn it over. I need to keep it simple.”
Norman has one assist this season and one goal in his 21-game career.