ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine’s men’s hockey team will have to replace departed players who produced 36.1 percent of the goals last season as they look to continue their climb toward becoming one of the country’s elite programs.
UMaine finished 23-12-2 a year ago and earned its first trip to the Hockey East semifinals and the NCAA Tournament since the 2011-12 season.
One of the ways to compensate for the missing goal production will be to get more offense from the defense corps, which scored just 15 goals a year ago.
Brandon Chabrier (6 goals, 16 assists, 22 points) and Brandon Holt (4-11-15) were the only defensemen to score more than two goals and accrue more than 10 points.
The entire defense corps has returned and the addition of point-producing Merrimack College transfer Frank Djurasevic should give the Black Bears some more punch on the blue line.
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As a freshman at Merrimack last season, Djurasevic had four goals and six assists for 10 points in 35 games. His 72 shots on goal were third highest on the team.
Prior to coming to Merrimack, he had 10 goals and 36 assists in 54 regular season games for the British Columbia Junior Hockey League champion Penticton Vees in 2022-23. He added two goals and 12 assists in 17 playoff games.
He was a finalist for the league’s top defenseman award and was a team captain.
“He does a real good job getting pucks to the net,” said UMaine senior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale. “There’s no extra stickhandling at the blue line. He gets the puck and rips it and that’s going to create a lot of offense for us, we hope.”
Breazeale added that Djurasevic has “a bomb for a shot” and is an excellent skater.
The 6-foot-2, 201-pound Djurasevic said when he is at his best, he is a two-way defenseman.
“I want to defend against the other team’s top line and be able to shut those guys down. At the same time, I want to be able to produce on the other side of the puck. Being able to get pucks through to the net, being involved in the second layer (on the rush) and on the power play have been things I have been good at,” said Djurasevic. “But, for me, all my individual things come from a team standpoint.”
UMaine fourth-year head coach Ben Barr said he is looking for Djurasevic to be a responsible player.
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“He is definitely good enough to make plays and be part of the offense,” said Barr. “But first and foremost, he has to be a shut-down defenseman.”
He agreed with Breazeale’s assessment that one of Djurasevic’s strengths is his ability to get pucks to the net.
“He isn’t flashy but he’s efficient. At times, getting pucks to the net from the point has been a struggle for us. He will help us with that,” said Barr.
Djurasevic joined his new team during their optional six-week summer workout program and said it was extremely beneficial.
“I was able to get a jumpstart on everything instead of just coming in September. It was awesome,” said the New Rochelle, N.Y. native. “I was able to jell with my teammates and get used to the coaching staff and how the day-by-day (routine) is.”
UMaine graduate student center and co-captain Lynden Breen praised Djurasevic’s offensive ability and predicted he will have a major impact on the team.
“Picking him up is going to be massive for us,” Breen said.
Djurasevic said he has thoroughly enjoyed everything so far and that he has been able to make a smooth adjustment to his new team and the systems.
“I pick things up pretty quickly. I’ve been watching extra video with the coaching staff and been talking to my teammates. That has helped,” said Djurasevic.
The Black Bears will come into the season with high expectations. They were picked 11th in one preseason national poll and 12th in the other.
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“You want to have expectations. We like that. We’re a humble team. That’s part of our character and identity. We want to be even higher than that,” said Djurasevic. “We want to finish the year as national champions. That’s our goal.”
Djurasevic will be making his Alfond Arena debut at 7 p.m. Saturday when the Black Bears open the season against Atlantic Hockey team American International College from Springfield, Mass.
Djurasevic played against UMaine a year ago but both games were at Merrimack in North Andover, Mass.
“I’ve been thinking about it every day since I committed here. You hear special things about the Alfond, about the crowd, the noise, everything like that. I can’t wait for Saturday to walk out here at 7 o’clock and see the crowd,” said Djurasevic.
