Three former University of Maine hockey players have found new Division I homes.
Senior winger Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup has transferred to Clarkson University of ECAC Hockey, junior goalie Matthew Thiessen is moving on to national power the University of Minnesota-Duluth of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and junior defenseman Adrien Bisson is going to play for Mercyhurst (Pennsylvania) in Atlantic Hockey.
They are the latest former UMaine hockey players to leave the program. Center-winger Adam Dawe previously transferred to Hockey East rival University of Connecticut.
Schmidt-Svejstrup played in 105 games at UMaine and registered 22 goals and 31 assists for 53 points. Eight of his goals came on the power play and he had four game-winners. After tallying 18 goals and 23 assists in 77 games his first three seasons, he finished with four goals and eight assists in 28 games for the 7-22-4 Black Bears this past season.
He will be joining a perennial ECAC contender in Clarkson, which went 21-10-6 this past season and was in contention for an NCAA Tournament berth before losing to Harvard 5-3 in the ECAC semifinals.
Two of Clarkson’s top five goal scorers were graduate students.
Thiessen picked up his first collegiate win in an 8-1 victory over Boston University on Senior Night this season.
The seventh round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks concluded his UMaine career with a 1-13-4 record, a 3.66 goals against average and a .879 save percentage over 21 games.
He played more this season than in his first two seasons combined and was 1-8-3 with a 3.11 GAA and a .888 save percentage.
Thiessen joins a program that has won three NCAA championships over the last 12 seasons, in 2010-11, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The Bulldogs were 22-16-4 this past season. They won the NCHC tournament and then beat Michigan Tech 3-0 in the NCAA Regional in Loveland, Colorado, before losing to eventual national champion Denver 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Ryan Fanti started 37 of their games and has signed with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.
Zach Stejskal is the only returning goalie and he appeared in just four games as he was sidelined for several months by cancer.
Bisson appeared in 79 games for the Black Bears and racked up eight goals and 12 assists. This past season, he had four goals and three assists in 30 games.
Mercyhurst wound up 16-19-4 and had three seniors on its defense corps along with three juniors and two freshmen.