ORONO, Maine — Providence College has been a source of frustration for the University of Maine men’s hockey team, and the Black Bears are looking to end that irritation this weekend when they host the defending national champs on Friday and Saturday nights.
The sixth-ranked Friars (17-5-4 overall, 8-3-3 Hockey East) are the only long-established league team UMaine’s seniors haven’t beaten.
Providence is 9-0-1 against UMaine (7-15-6, 4-8-2 HE) in the last 10 meetings, outscoring the Black Bears 35-16. UMaine’s last win over the Friars was a 3-1 triumph on Oct. 29, 2011.
Two years ago, the Black Bears went into the last weekend of the regular season with a chance to finish as high as second in the Hockey East standings and earn a first-round bye in the league’s playoffs. But the Friars, coached by former Old Town High and UMaine assistant coach Nate Leaman, swept UMaine in Orono to drop the Black Bears to the sixth seed.
UMaine beat No. 11 Merrimack 2-0 in a single-elimination, first-round game but then was swept 3-1, 4-2 in the quarterfinals at Providence.
“That left a bitter taste in our mouths,” said UMaine junior defenseman Eric Schurhamer. “We really want to win this weekend.”
“We’re not thinking about the past,” said UMaine senior center and leading goal scorer Will Merchant. “This is a new start.”
“We have a different team, and they have a different team. Anything can happen. We need to beat them,” said UMaine senior center and captain Steven Swavely, who acknowledged that there is “a little extra motivation.”
Black Bear players said the primary reason Providence has had success against them is their style of play.
“They aren’t easy to play against,” said Swavely. “Their playing style is in-your-face.”
“They’re a hard-nosed team. They’re well-coached, and they play really well within their systems. They execute them to a T,” said Schurhamer. “And they’ll mix up their looks.”
Providence’s dominance was facilitated by the goaltending of South Portland native Jon Gillies, who is playing professionally in the Calgary Flames organization.
“He was a great goaltender. It was nice to see him go, I guess,” said Merchant. “But they’ve got another guy [Nick Ellis], and he can be just as good.”
UMaine junior goalie Matt Morris said the Friars make life tough on opposing goalies.
“They throw a lot of pucks on net, and they take the puck hard to the net, which makes it tough on goalies. That’s why they score so many goals. We’ve got to keep our heads on a swivel,” said Morris.
The Black Bears will have some momentum after sweeping Massachusetts in Amherst last weekend. Two of UMaine’s ties have come against Quinnipiac and North Dakota, ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, in the country.
“We’ve shown that we can play and beat anybody,” said Swavely. “And you always get a boost in confidence when you sweep a Hockey East series. We’re looking forward to the weekend.”