The University of Maine men’s hockey team will have 15 newcomers on its roster this coming season including a defenseman with 140 ECHL games and two American Hockey League contests under his belt.
Dru Krebs, who played for the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets this past season and had four goals and 15 assists in 67 regular season games plus a goal and two assists in 15 playoff games, will be one of six new defensemen in the incoming class.
There will also be seven new forwards and two goalies.
The 23-year-old Krebs, a former sixth-round draft choice of the Washington Capitals from Okotoks, Alberta, had played in 58 regular season games for the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits in 2024-25 (2 goals, 10 assists) and in two games for the AHL’s Ontario Reign with no points.
Two other sixth-round draft choices will be among the other five defensemen: Ohio State transfer Chris Romaine from Boston and Norwegian Ludvig Lafton.
Romaine, a Colorado Avalanche selection, played in 27 games over two seasons at Ohio State and didn’t have a point while Lafton, a Utah Mammoth pick, had two goals and 33 assists in 56 games for the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the United States Hockey League this past season.
Lafton has played in three World Junior Championship tournaments for Norway and had a goal and eight assists in five games in the 1A World Junior tourney this past season.
The 1A tourney is one notch below the top group, which includes Canada and the United States.
The other three defensemen are Providence College transfer Alex Bales from East Amherst, New York, Bemidji State transfer Isa Parekh from Nobleton, Ontario, and Dante Siciliano from Whitby, Ontario.
Bales had two goals and six assists over 59 games in his two seasons with the Friars; Parekh had 3 goals and 15 assists in 35 games as a freshman and was named to the CCHA All-Rookie team before having an injured-marred 27-game sophomore season; and Siciliano had 5 goals and 19 assists in 38 regular season games for the British Columbia Junior Hockey League Rogers Cup champion Brooks Bandits along with five goals and eight assists in 21 playoff contests.
Four transfers are among the seven incoming forwards.
Calgary, Alberta, native Tanner Klimpke had 41 goals and 39 assists in 103 games over three seasons at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania and was an All-Atlantic Hockey America second team choice this past season when he had 16 goals and 15 assists in 40 games.
Ottawa, Ontario, native Lee Parks had 14 goals and 14 assists in 69 games for Hockey East rival UMass Lowell over two seasons including a team-high seven power play goals. Judah Makway from Trail, British Columbia, notched three goals and six assists in 33 games for Alaska-Anchorage. Arizona State’s Sam Alfano from Cayuga, Ontario, had seven goals and 11 assists in 35 games at ASU.
The incoming freshmen forwards will be Masun Fleece from Rolling Hills, California, who had 25 goals and 22 assists in 49 games for Dubuque; Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan’s Rowan Calvert, who had 31 goals and 22 assists in 67 games for the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades and Ross Campbell from Souris, Prince Edward Island, a 67-point scorer (28 goals, 39 assists in 51 games) for Charlottetown from the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
The goalies are 6-foot-6 Canisius University transfer Petter Wickstrom Stumer from Stockholm, Sweden, who had a 2.64 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage in 12 games for Canisius this past season including a 72-save gem in a 4-3 win over Lindenwood, and Lindenwood transfer Colin Ronan from Saugus, Massachusetts, who appeared in one game for Lindenwood.
Stumer and Ronan will be juniors.
The Black Bears are coming off a disappointing 18-14-3 season, 12-11-1 in Hockey East, after making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances the previous two seasons for the first time since 2006 and 2007.
They will return nine forwards, three defenseman and goalie Albin Boija and will have to replace their top four scorers.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr, who is starting his sixth season behind the bench, said he likes his group of newcomers.
“Everyone is here for a reason and I think they’re here for the right reason,” said Barr. “They are here because they want to be a part of Maine hockey. They know what we are, they know who we are and they know what we’re trying to do as a program.
“That’s a good way to start. Every day, we have to get a little better and, hopefully, when that puck drops in October, we’ll look like we know what we’re doing. That’s the goal.”
Last season was the first year players from Canada’s three Major Junior hockey leagues were eligible to play U.S. college hockey. In addition, there have been significant changes in terms of players now being able to get paid by the schools and earning Name, Image and Likeness contracts.
They were also able to transfer every year without penalty and that remains intact.
In addition, he added two new assistant coaches in Rick Bennett and John O’Connor, who replaced Jason Fortier and Eric Soltys, and Drew Bowers replaced Codi Fitzgerald as the associate director of sports performance.
“Everyone has a good team. There are so many good players out there. It will be a matter of how quickly can we come together as a group and figure out what is acceptable and what is not. That was a challenge for us last year. Hopefully we can move that along beginning this summer,” said Barr who wants his team to return to its identity of being the hardest working team in college hockey, the identity that helped the Black Bears earn those two NCAA tourney appearances.
“If we can find that again, we’ll be fine,” said Barr. “That’s non-negotiable. That has to be a standard. Everyone is going to be as good as us on paper and that will never change. So it will come down to how detailed we are and how hard we work.”
The newcomers are coming to Orono this week to begin the optional six-week training program with the veterans following them.