Two teams stuck at .500 will try to jumpstart their seasons when the University of Maine men’s hockey team will entertain the University of Massachusetts for a two-game series at Alfond Arena on Friday and Saturday nights beginning at 7 p.m.
UMaine is 4-4 and is coming off 7-2 and 3-2 (overtime) losses at Boston University in its Hockey East openers.
UMass is 4-4-1 and 1-0 in Hockey East and is coming off a non-conference split with ECAC team Harvard, losing 2-1 and winning 4-2.
UMaine is 3-1 at Alfond Arena and UMass is looking for its first road win after three losses.
UMaine sixth-year head coach Ben Barr spent five seasons at UMass as an assistant and then as the associate head coach before landing the UMaine job. He has gone 6-5-1 against UMass coach and mentor Greg Carvel.
The teams split a pair in Amherst, Massachusetts, a year ago with UMaine unleashing a 54-shot barrage en route to a 6-2 victory in the opener before the Minutemen responded with a 4-0 triumph in the second game behind Jackson Irving’s 37-save gem.
Barr said the Minutemen are very similar to BU.
“They have a lot of really good high-end players,” Barr said. “They have some veteran defensemen who are really good players in this league. They have three to four lines of high-end guys. We’re going to have to win the energy and physical battles.”
The UMaine coach said it is important to get off to a good start. In Friday night’s loss, BU scored three goals in the game’s first 1:31 and never looked back.
He also said he needs more from his veteran players.
“We have players who can get better for us right now. It’s never about how many goals and assists you have. We need some of our veteran guys to chip in a little bit,” Barr said. “Are we just going to throw the puck all over the place and run around or are we going to forecheck, shrink the game a little and try to grind?”
The veteran line of senior center and alternate captain Sully Scholle between graduate student left wing and captain Owen Fowler and senior right wing Charlie Russell has combined for just two assists between them over the past four games.
Junior right wing Thomas Pichette and junior center and linemate Oskar Komarov have each played in just four of the eight games. Pichette has an assist but Komarov has yet to produce a point.
Fowler said it is important for the team to execute minor things, like passing.
“The puck shouldn’t be bouncing off your stick or anything like that,” he said. “The tiny details add up to wins or losses and whether or not the puck goes into the net for you.”
Right wing Lee Parks had his five-game goal-scoring streak snapped last weekend but he extended his points streak to seven games with an assist each night. He leads UMaine with five goals and three assists. Senior center and linemate Max Scott (2 & 6), an alternate captain, and senior left wing Tanner Klimpke (4 & 3) are next.
Isa Parekh (2 & 3) and Lukas Peterson (0 & 5) head up the defense corps in front of goalies Albin Boija (3-2 record, 2.03 goals-against average and .914 save percentage) and Petter Wickstrom Stumer (1-2, 3.32, .875).
UMass has been led by left wing Jack Musa (2 & 10) and linemates Vaclav Nestrasil (5 & 2) and Jack Galanek (3 & 2) along with Egor Barabanov (2 & 3) and Maxim Masse (1 & 4). Francesco Dell’Elce (2 & 2) is the top point-producer among the defense corps and Ethan Eskit has appeared in six of eight games between the pipes and is 2-3-1 with a 1.67 GAA and a .944 save percentage.