College hockey
Capital City Classic
MAINE vs. UMASS
Time, site: Friday, 4:30 p.m., Sun National Bank Center, Trenton, New Jersey
Records: Maine 0-2-3, UMass 3-0-1
Series, last meeting: Maine leads 49-20-9, Maine 3-0 on Jan. 10
Key players: Maine — RW Blaine Byron (1 goal, 2 assists), D Eric Schurhamer (0 & 3), LW Brian Morgan (2 & 0), C Cam Brown (1 & 1), RW Will Merchant (1 & 0), G Rob McGovern (0-0-2, 0.93 goals-against average, .973 save percentage); UMass— C Dennis Kravchenko (5 & 5), LW Austin Plevy (4 & 4), RW Shane Walsh (4 & 3), LW Ray Pigozzi (2 & 3), D Ben Gallacher (0 & 3), G Henry Dill (2-0-0, 4.26, .887), G Nic Renyard (1-0-1, 2.00, .946)
Game notes: UMass is the nation’s second-highest scoring team among the 54 Division I teams that have played (5.25 goals per game) while Maine is the lowest scoring club (1.00). Maine is much better defensively, allowing 2.2 gpg which is tied for 12th best, compared to UMass’ 3.5 gpg (tied for 40th). Kravchenko, who had three goals and an assist in four games against Maine last season, leads the nation in points per game (2.50) and linemate Plevy is tied for fourth (2.00) while also being second among all freshmen. UMass rallied from a 6-1 deficit to tie UNH 6-6 last Friday. The Minutemen are very good on the power play, operating at 35 percent efficiency, but they struggle on the penalty kill (77.8 percent) and take the third most penalties per game in the country (16.8 penalty minutes per game). Maine needs to stay disciplined and capitalize on the power play. The Black Bears also have to finish their checks against the swift-skating Minutemen. Maine has gone 130:56 without a goal. The Black Bears have to test sophomore Dill (career 4.14 GAA and .872 save percentage) or freshman Renyard.