Five University of Maine hockey players will play their last regular season games at Alfond Arena this weekend when the ninth-ranked Black Bears entertain the University of Massachusetts (11th in one poll, 12th in the other) in a two-game series with significant playoff implications.
Game times are 8 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday. It will be Seniors Night on Saturday.
This is the final regular season weekend in Hockey East.
UMaine (20-10-2 overall, 12-9-1 in Hockey East) comes into the series in third place with a two-point lead over UMass (19-10-3, 12-8-2) and nationally ranked Providence (18-11-3, 11-8-3).
Providence hosted Boston University on Thursday night and will entertain Northeastern on Saturday afternoon.
UMaine needs one win of any kind to finish above UMass and secure a home ice berth for the quarterfinals a week from Saturday. UMaine has already earned three points via a 1-0 win at UMass on Feb. 3.
Teams get three wins for a regulation and two for an overtime or shootout win and one for an overtime or shootout loss.
UMaine has already sewn up a top-five finish and a first-round bye into the quarterfinals. A top-four finish would mean it would host a quarterfinal game.
Four seniors, center Lynden Breen, right wing Donavan Houle and goalies Victor Ostman and Connor Androlewicz are assured of their first winning seasons at UMaine after going 25-49-11 in their first three campaigns.
Graduate student left wing Ben Poisson was on an 18-11-5 team his freshman year but the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the playoffs before the Black Bears were to host UConn for a best-of-three quarterfinal series.
All five had to deal with the loss of head coach Red Gendon, who died unexpectedly on April 9, 2021.
“It’s been quite a ride, that’s for sure,” said Poisson, who has tallied 30 goals and 41 assists in 150 career games. “We’ve seen this program at its lowest and to see where we have brought it to now is awesome.”
The players said despite the ups and downs, the time they’ve spent has been special and memorable.
“I have made friends for life,” said Swede Ostman (85 games, 35-37-7, 2.82 goals-against average, .905 save percentage). “Coming here to a new country, I’ve learned so much off the ice and on the ice. I’m so grateful for everything from the school, the coaches, my teammates and the fans. The fans have obviously been great.”
Even though Androlewicz has played in just six games in his career, he said “I wouldn’t trade this for the world.”
“It has been super special,” said Breen.
Poisson said the “community feel and support is second to none. The entire state and a lot of the northeast rallies around you as does the whole school. It’s quite special. I’ll never forget that.”
Third-year UMaine head coach Ben Barr said he owes a lot to the five seniors.
“It has been tough for them. They lost a coach they loved. But they helped us acclimate and moved the program forward. They’re a huge part of culture,” said Barr. “They brought a lot of positivity to our program.”
Bradly Nadeau (6 goals, 23 assists), brother Josh Nadeau (15 & 24) and Breen (7 & 20) lead UMaine in scoring and goalie Albin Boija is 7-5-1 with a 2.08 goals-against average and .912 save percentage. UMass has been paced by Scott Morrow (6 & 23), Jack Musa (11 & 17) and Aydar Suniev (12 & 13) along with goalie Michael Hrabal (15-8-1, 2.47, .915).