Victor Ostman was one of the primary reasons the University of Maine’s men’s hockey team won eight more games last season than it had during the 2021-22 campaign.
The goaltender from Danderyd, Sweden, was a second team All-Hockey East selection a year ago and was a finalist for the Mike Richter Award, which is given to the nation’s top goaltender.
He finished his breakthrough season with a 2.21 goals-against average, 12th best in the country among 60 teams. His .918 percentage was 18th, and he posted five shutouts, tied him for second in Hockey East.
Ostman held opponents to two goals or less in 17 of his 31 starts and had a 14-12-4 record.
The Black Bears, who tied for sixth in the league after finishing last (11th) two years ago, are looking to continue their ascension up the Hockey East standings this season. Ostman, a senior this year, will once again be a key component.
UMaine’s season ended in disappointment when it lost its final two regular season games at home to UMass (5-2 and 4-3) and then fell 4-2 at home to last-place Vermont in the first round of the Hockey East tournament.
Ostman is optimistic about the upcoming season, which gets underway with an exhibition game against arch-rival New Hampshire in Waterville on Oct. 7. The Black Bears open their regular season with a series against visiting Eastern College Athletic Conference team Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, on Oct. 12 and 13.
“Last season didn’t end the way we wanted it to. We expected more,” Ostman said.
But he said the team has a solid group coming back and some promising freshmen and transfers. “It’s really exciting. We’re looking really good,” Ostman said. “We haven’t been this good at this time of year since I’ve been here.”
He said he has “high expectations” for himself and feels there is always room for improvement.
“I want to be better. I just want to be calm and slow the game down. By doing that, I can have good rebound control,” said Ostman. “I just want to be really solid every night.”
He wants to avoid the sub-par performances he felt he had in the two losses to UMass.
“Obviously, I don’t want to have any weekends where I play like that this year. I want to be consistent and give the team a chance to win every night,” said the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Ostman.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr said he is looking for Ostman to be a “little better” this season.
“His numbers were good last year. But he knows he can be even better,” Barr said. “He has shown signs of being an elite goalie at this level, and now can he do it for the whole season consistently?”
Ostman spent July 1-5 at the development camp of the National Hockey League’s Seattle Kraken. Development camps are for teams’ top prospects, along with free agents, like Ostman.
“It was really good. Just to meet their coaching staff and seeing how a professional team is run is a really cool experience,” said Ostman, who capped his week by playing in a scrimmage.
“It went well. It’s really fun to play against real good players…seeing what those guys can do,” he added. “They’re obviously all really talented and have high hockey IQs.”
“We’re lucky to have him,” said UMaine senior center and co-captain Lynden Breen. “He is going to be the backbone of the team all year. He was last year when we got going.”
Barr said he has the luxury of having depth in goal with freshman Albin Boija, another Swede, and senior Connor Androlewicz backing up Ostman.
“Albin has looked really good. He works incredibly hard, is super coachable and is competitive. And every time you throw Connor out there, the guys love playing in front of him,” said Barr. “It helps to know we have (capable) guys behind Victor.”
The Black Bears went 15-16-5 overall a year ago, 9-11-4 in Hockey East regular season play. They were 6-1-3 in a late-season stretch before the UMass series and Vermont loss.
“We’re trying to build off last year,” Ostman said. “We should be even better.”