Liam Lesakowski didn’t know what to expect when he came to the University of Maine to play hockey for the Black Bears this past summer.
“I believed in my abilities but coming in as a freshman you never really know,” said Lesakowski. “I waited for my opportunity.”
And he has made the most of it.
Lesakowski has become a regular on a solid blue line corps that has helped the Black Bears become the eighth stingiest team among 64 Division I teams in the country. UMaine has allowed only 2.36 goals per game.
UMaine, 16-4-2 overall and 8-3-1 in Hockey East, is ranked fifth in one national poll and sixth in the other.
Entering this weekend’s Hockey East road games against Northeastern on Friday night and UMass on Saturday night, Lesakowski had played in 19 of UMaine’s 22 games. He missed two due to injury.
He has two assists, has blocked 13 shots and has a plus-two rating.
Players receive a plus-one if they are on the ice when their team scores an even-strength or shorthanded goal and a minus-one if the opponent scores one.
With the exception of the power play, he is used in all other situations including the penalty kill.
Lesakowski is the tallest Black Bear at 6-foot-5 on his 220-pound frame and he and junior co-captain David Breazeale are the only defensemen who stand over 6-foot-1. Six others range between 5-9 and 6-feet.
“He and [Breazeale] give us a different look, a different dimension to our defense corps,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr.
“He has a good ceiling. For a big guy, it’s always about footwork and his footwork has gotten better. He has a good stick and he’s pretty good, defensively,” said Barr.
The UMaine head coach said it is important for players Barr’s size to be strong on their skates.
“You have to stay on your feet and he knows it. He’s a smart kid. He’s pretty self-aware,” Barr said. “He has been solid for us. But he knows he has a long way to go.”
Lesakowski is one of four freshmen defensemen along with Ryan Hopkins, Bodie Nobes and Jack Dalton and Barr said all four of them work hard and “don’t hurt you.
“For a freshman defenseman, sometimes that’s the most important part,” said Barr.
Hopkins, Nobes and Lesakowski have all played in at least 18 games and Dalton made his debut in UMaine’s last game, a 7-2 win over UMass Lowell. He joined the team for the second semester.
Lesakowski, a native of Buffalo, N.Y. who turned 20 last month, spent his previous two seasons playing for the Cedar Rapids Roughriders in the United States Hockey League and he had six goals and 12 assists in 93 games.
“He has progressed so much,” said UMaine senior center and co-captain Lynden Breen. “He plays more mature than his age. He doesn’t look like someone who has only been here a couple of months. For a man his size to get a lot of minutes, he has to play tough and that’s what he’s done.”
Sophomore left wing Thomas Freel called Lesakowski “under-appreciated.”
“He does a lot of small things. His physicality alone [helps us]. He’s not out there trying to blow guys up but he’s so good at separating guys from the puck. He has a great stick. You think you have him beat and then he comes out of nowhere with his stick,” said Freel.
Lesakowski’s father, Mike, played hockey at Division III Fredonia State (New York) and got him involved in the sport at an early age.
Liam played other sports growing up but hockey was his first love.
He chose UMaine because Barr offered him a scholarship on his official visit and “seemed like he really wanted me.”
And he has no regrets.
“I love it here,” said Lesakowski who wants to build on what he has done so far and continue to play “steady” defensively and on the penalty kill as well.
Northeastern is 10-12-2 overall, 5-11 in Hockey East, but has won three in a row including a 4-3 overtime win over No. 3 Boston University on Tuesday. Sophomore Jack Williams from Biddeford is the Huskies’ leading scorer with 13 goals and 15 assists in 22 games.
Eleventh-ranked UMass will take a 13-6-3 record (6-4-2 in Hockey East) into a Friday game at Merrimack. The Minutemen feature top scorer Jack Musa (9 goals, 14 assists in 22 games), a freshman who was Lesakowski’s teammate at Cedar Rapids.