ORONO, Maine — Isa Parekh needed a change of scenery.
The University of Maine’s transfer defenseman, after making the Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Rookie Team in 2024-25 at Bemidji State, suffered a concussion eight games into the campaign last season and wound up underperforming.
“I lost a lot of my confidence. I struggled. I didn’t play too well, especially compared to my freshman year when I had a great year,” said junior Parekh, who decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal.
“It was a hard decision. I loved all my friends there. They’re all great guys,” Parekh said. “But I wasn’t going to get anything done over there, so I wanted to see if anyone else wanted me.”
UMaine head coach Ben Barr called Parekh, who’s making the most of the opportunity. Parekh enters this weekend’s home series against sixth-ranked Quinnipiac tied for the team scoring lead with three points on a goal and two assists, which he tallied in last weekend’s split at Holy Cross.
He is also tied for the team lead in plus-minus at plus-2. 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.
It only took him 4:54 to register his first point in a Black Bear uniform as he nicely set up a five-on-three power play goal by Robert Morris transfer Tanner Klimpke in last Friday night’s 4-1 victory. Just 2:39 later, he again fed Klimpke, this time for a five-on-four power play goal.
“I came out hot and matched my point total from last year in the first period. It was good to get that monkey off my back,” said Parekh, who had only two assists in 27 games last season after notching three goals and 15 assists in 35 games his freshman year.
In the 3-2 overtime loss Saturday night, he scored UMaine’s first of two goals in a span of 49 seconds with 3:27 remaining as the Black Bears erased a 2-0 deficit.
“On Saturday, it took me about a period to get into the game. I wasn’t really moving my feet,” Parekh said. “But I thought I played really well in the second and third periods. I had an opportunity to go to the net and get a chance and I scored.”
He said the hockey environment has been much different than it was at Bemidji State in Minnesota.
“Here, you get a lot of coaching, a lot of individual video work and a lot of work on individual skills, which I didn’t get there,” Parekh said. “It’s really good here. Everything has been amazing.”
“He’s a good player,” Barr said. “If he stays healthy, he’s going to keep getting better and better every day. He’s very good on the power play. He sees the ice really well and makes the right decisions. It’s nice to have a guy like him who can distribute the puck. He can also shoot it when he gets a chance.”
“He’s a helluva player,” UMaine graduate student left wing and captain Owen Fowler said. “He is a great puck mover, and he can skate. He can walk the blue line, get the puck to the hole and distribute up top. He had a great weekend on both sides of the puck.”
“I take pride in my skating,” said Parekh, who was a preseason All-CCHA selection in both the coaches and media polls before the 2025-26 season. “I can move east to west pretty well with my edges.”
After last year, Parekh isn’t putting any expectations on himself.
“I just want to go out every game and be myself,” said the 6-foot, 163-pound Parekh. “I want to get back to the hockey I played my freshman year. I want to be more confident. I’ve been working on stuff, and I feel more confident already.”
Klimpke called him a “real good player.”
“He is smooth and skilled. and he is good at finding those passing lanes and moving the puck. We developed a chemistry over the summer, and I hope we can continue to connect on plays like that throughout the year,” Klimpke said.
When he showed up to the optional six-week practice sessions in July in Orono, Parekh was “really nervous but really excited to see what this is. And it is a step above up from where I was. Not player-wise but just in everything we do.”
He said their intense practices prepare them well for games, and he loves the area.
Golf is another of his passions, and he has enjoyed teeing it up across the state, with teammate Charlie Russell being one of his primary playing partners.
He has heard a lot about playing at Alfond Arena, and the energized game night atmosphere. That was one of the reasons he chose UMaine over other schools.
“I’ve heard a lot of stories about playing at Alfond and the fans and how ridiculous it gets,” Parekh said. “I have a buddy at Holy Cross, Owain Johnston, and he said playing there was the most insane thing he has ever done in his life.”