Freshman left wing Justin Poirier, who is the University of Maine hockey team’s leading goal scorer even though he has missed the last seven games with an undisclosed injury, is not expected to return this season according to UMaine head coach Ben Barr.
The fifth-seeded Black Bears will travel to Massachusetts to take on fourth seed Boston College in a Hockey East quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Friday night.
Poirier has 18 goals in 27 games and is tied for fourth in the country in goals per game at .67. He is also among the top five goal-scoring freshmen in the country.
He is tied for 10th nationally in power play goals with seven.
There are 63 Division I schools.
Poirier had a hat trick in his first college game, a season-opening 5-2 victory over Holy Cross.
He has five multiple-goal games, including three two-goal games in a row in an overtime victory over UMass Lowell and a sweep of Lindenwood.
He has scored at least one goal in 12 games.
The Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec native is tied for third in Hockey East in goals with his 18 and he was tops among freshmen.
But he wasn’t included on the league’s All-Rookie team.
In addition to his 18 goals, he also had 11 assists for 29 points in 27 contests.
UMaine has gone 4-2-1 in his absence.
Prior to coming to UMaine, Poirier tallied 94 goals and 68 assists for 162 points in 126 games for Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. He had 18 goals and 9 assists in 17 playoff games two years ago.
He was chosen in the fifth round of the 2024 National Hockey League draft by the Carolina Hurricanes.