The quest for goals and wins will continue for the University of Maine men’s hockey team this weekend when they play a home-and-home series with one of the nation’s elite programs.
UMass Lowell has averaged 25 wins over the past four seasons and has made three NCAA Tournament appearances including a Frozen Four berth in 2012-13.
The River Hawks, 6-1-2 overall and 2-0-2 in Hockey East, are ranked fifth in the weekly USCHO poll, and they will entertain the 0-6-3 (0-2-0) Black Bears at 7:15 p.m. Friday before venturing to Orono for a rare 5 p.m. contest on Sunday.
Sunday’s game will be the Black Bears’ first home game after 10 games at opposing rinks or neutral tournament sites.
“We can talk about Sunday’s game after Friday night’s game,” Maine head coach Red Gendron said Thursday.
The offensively-challenged Black Bears, the lowest scoring team in the nation (1.11 goals per game) after coming off shutout losses at Boston College, will again be required to solve one of the nation’s best statistical goaltenders in Kevin Boyle. They failed to score against BC’s Thatcher Demko, who leads the nation in goals-against average (0.67).
UMass transfer Boyle is fifth in the country in GAA (1.42) and he shut out the Black Bears 2-0 last season.
One Black Bear who will be particularly anxious to snap out of his scoring drought will be senior captain Steven Swavely. The center is pointless despite the fact he leads the team in shots on goal with 32. He is averaging 3.56 shots on goal per game compared with last year’s 2.18 when he tied for second on the team in points with 28 (eight goals, 20 assists).
“It’s frustrating,” said Swavely, who also has hit several posts including two on one shift against Michigan State. “I’m getting my shots every game. I’ve been getting chances. I’ve got to stay level-headed and keep working hard. It would be worse if I wasn’t getting shots. I’m staying positive.”
Gendron is going to shake up the lineup for Friday’s game.
“We’ve moved some people around,” said Gendron. “We have to continue to do the things we’ve done well: play good defense and get solid goalkeeping [from freshman Rob McGovern]. And we’re trying to get our guys to make better decisions around the [opposing] net. They have to select the right option and execute it properly.”
The players are focusing on Friday’s game but said returning to Alfond on Sunday is special. That will begin a stretch of 13 home games over a 16-game span.
“There’s nothing like playing at home. Hopefully it will be packed. That can make a big difference,” said junior alternate captain Cam Brown. “We can really build off that.”
Maine did play an exhibition game at Alfond Arena, losing to the University of New Brunswick 5-1.
“We’ll be able to feed off the momentum the crowd gives us,” said freshman left wing Dan Perez.