University of Maine men’s hockey team not only has to replace the nation’s top goalie, Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick finalist Jeremy Swayman, with a freshman or an inexperienced sophomore, it also lost players who scored 43.8 percent of its goals last season.
Those two question marks are why Hockey East coaches picked UMaine to finish ninth in the 11-team league in the preseason poll.
The Black Bears feature a veteran defense corps that is the strength of the team opening the season Friday night at New Hampshire.
The defensemen are tasked not only with helping an inexperienced goalie keep the puck out of their net, but also are expected to chip in offensively.
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UMaine lost its top two scorers, All-Hockey East second-team selection Mitch Fossier (10 goals, 32 assists) and Tim Doherty (14 & 23). That leaves right wingers Eduards Tralmaks (14 & 16) and Adam Dawe (9 & 11) as the only returnees who registered at least 20 points.
The Black Bears finished 37th among 60 Division I teams in scoring with 2.62 per game.
“Where are the goals going to come from? I don’t know. The only thing that matters is we score one more than the other team,” eighth-year head coach Red Gendron said. “We have some very good offensive players.”
The departure of Fossier and Doherty means players like Tralmaks and Dawe will take on more prominent roles and earn more prime ice time as will junior Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup (9 & 9).
Tralmaks is capable of becoming a top-level power forward and Dawe is a tenacious, crafty playmaker who shared the team lead in power-play goals (6) last winter.
Emil Westerlund, who tallied 13 goals over his first two years, looks to bounce back from an injury marred junior season.
A.J. Drobot (4 & 5) and Ben Poisson (3 & 5) should generate more offense after solid eshman campaigns and senior captain Jack Quinlivan (1 & 2), a hard-nosed checker, can do more point-wise. Edward Lindelow, Kevin Hock (1 & 2) and Brady Gaudette saw limited service last season.
Sophomore Remy Parker and freshman Zachary Aughe are also considerations up front.
Gendron expects to receive some valuable contributions from his freshman forwards as well as defenseman Kabore Dunn.
“I feel great about our freshman class. They’ve shown in practice that they can be dangerous offensively,” said Gendron, who is in the final year of his contract.
UMaine will need its freshmen to be impactful if it expects to finish higher than ninth.
Headlining the list of freshman forwards will be Lyndon Breen, who notched 48 points in 45 games for Fargo in the United States Hockey League, Jonny Mulera, a 34-goal scorer for the Boston Junior Bruins, and Donovan Villeneuve-Houle, who tallied 31 goals for Flin Flon in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
Brad Morrissey, who had 19 points in 30 games for Lincoln in the USHL, and Tristan Poissant, a 38-point producer for Johnstown in the North American Hockey League, are potential point-generators.
Offense remains a concern for UMaine, which hasn’t finished higher than 33rd nationally in scoring in four of the last five seasons.
On the blue line, Toronto Maple Leafs third-round draft pick J.D. Greenway (1 & 9), a highly skilled, 6-foot-5, 212-pounder, has the potential to be one of the league’s elite defensemen. He is capable of being a game-changer if he can play with more consistency.
Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi (2-8-10) and Jakub Sirota (1-8-9) have good offensive skill sets, as does Levi Kleiboer (0-5-5), and should elevate their numbers while Adrien Bisson (2-5-7), Simon Butala (1-4-5) and Cam Spicer (1-2-3) proved to be steady, reliable defenders.
Dunn had 30 points in 55 games for Fort McMurray in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and could provide some offense. Perry Winfree and Dawson Bruneski each appeared in a handful of games last season.
Gendron has faith in his goaltending trio of Matthew Thiessen, a 6-2 sophomore who played in one game last year and is a seventh-round pick of Vancouver, 6-4 freshmen Victor Ostman (25-4, 2.34 goals-against average, .913 save percentage) for the USHL’s Chicago Steel and 6-2 Connor Androlewicz.
Androlewicz played 29 games for three teams: the Maine Nordiques in the North American Hockey League and two USHL clubs.
“All have size, athletic ability and a high compete level. I’m confident all three of them can win games for us,” Gendron said.
The Black Bears likely will be in a lot of close, low-scoring games, so they must play with more discipline and avoid penalties. UMaine was among the nation’s eight most penalized teams each of the last three seasons.
It has lost key components on the power-play and penalty killing units, so it may take some time to develop each of those.
UMaine won’t challenge for a top-four spot after finishing fourth a year ago, but the Black Bears could be in the top six if the goaltenders play well, the returning forwards elevate their games and the freshmen make immediate contributions.