ORONO, Maine — When the University of Maine hosts New Hampshire in a Hockey East quarterfinal at 7 p.m. on Saturday, goalie Albin Boija will be between the pipes for the Black Bears.
The freshman has come out of nowhere to backstop the 22-10-2 Black Bears to a virtually-assured first NCAA Tournament berth since the 2011-12 season.
Boija has started the last six games and 10 of the last 11 after winning the job from fellow Swede Victor Ostman, the All-Hockey East second team goalie a year ago.
His 2.07 goals-against average this season is seventh best in the country among goalies at 64 NCAA Division I schools. It is the lowest among freshman goalies.
His .917 save percentage is 18th and tied for fourth among freshmen.
He was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Week after stopping a league-high 60 shots in a sweep of UMass last weekend. He had 26 saves in the 2-1 win last Friday and a career-high 34 in the 4-3 triumph on Saturday. He made 16 saves and didn’t allow a goal in the third period of Saturday’s win.
It was the third time he has been honored as he was the Defender of the Week one week and the Goalie of the Week another.
“His play has been important in righting the ship for us in the second half,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr, whose team has won three in a row after a 1-5 stretch. “He works hard and is incredibly competitive. He gets ticked off even when he gives up a goal in practice. He is a hard-core competitor.”
Graduate student left wing Ben Poisson said Boija “thinks he should stop every shot and that’s the mentality you want out of a young goalie.
‘“He is super flexible. He is really good at moving side to side. He’s never out of a play. He can always surprise you by making a save you’d never expect him to make,” Poisson added.
Boija said he’s getting better with experience.
“I feel like I have been developing, for sure,” said Boija. “We’re practicing so much and I’ve been playing a bunch of games. I’ve been getting better.”
He said his competitive nature and disdain for giving up goals, even in practice, is “how it’s got to be for a goalie.
“You hear that the goalie legends were never happy giving up a single goal,” he said.
Last month, in a two-game series with Providence, he made 27 saves in a 2-1 win over the Friars and made 28 more the next night in a 4-3 overtime loss.
Providence coach Nate Leaman said Boija was the difference between his team leaving with just one win instead of two.
“He’s athletic and quick and does a real good job reading plays and situations,” Leaman said.
Boija has allowed two goals or less in 10 of his 14 starts.
“His biggest strength is he never gives up on a play,” said senior center and co-captain Lynden Breen. “It’s easy to give up on a play after making the first save but he’s always battling for (the second shot). You love to see that from a goalie who is in the net for you every night. He is good in scrums around the net.”
Breen said Ostman has been a good mentor to Boija.
“Albin has learned a lot from Victor. Victor doesn’t get enough credit as he should. Victor stood on his head which is why we have had so much success building this program the last three years,” said Breen. “That’s the business side of that position. You have to run with the goalie who has confidence and things have been going really well for him which is awesome to see this time of year.”
Boija said Ostman and goalie coach Alfle Michaud have been “great. I appreciate them.”
Boija, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound native of Sundsvall, Sweden, was a last-minute addition to the UMaine roster when Patriks Berzins and other Latvian players were initially denied eligibility by the NCAA. But the NCAA reversed its decision in September.
However, UMaine had to find another goalie during the period Berzins was ineligible because Barr didn’t know the NCAA would overturn it, and a friend of Barr’s told him about Boija, who was coming to this country to play junior hockey.
“We looked at video of a couple goalies and Albin was the best,” said Barr.
“It was a great opportunity for me. I’m really happy I was able to skip juniors. It has been great,” said the son and oldest of three children raised by Mikael and Maria Boija.
Berzins is playing in the United States Junior Hockey League and will join the UMaine program in the fall.
Boija said he always wanted to be a goalie and split between being in net and a forward/defenseman until he decided to be just a goalie when he was 13.
“Being a goalie was natural. It’s what I wanted to do. I never had to make a hard choice,” he said.
“It’s a tough position to play, mentally,” said Barr. “For a kid like him at this level, to be put into situations we’re putting him in and to not get rattled is a really good trait. He doesn’t get rattled by anything. He just goes out and plays. He has a smile on his face. He loves it. He has been really consistent,” said Barr.
Boija said he has been happy with his season so far “but we have more work to do.”
He enjoys playing in front of the sellout crowds at Alfond Arena and is having fun.
He is looking forward to the quarterfinal against New Hampshire.
“I feel good. It is exciting for sure,” he said.