It began with a pair of freshmen from Massachusetts.
It was 1977 and the University of Maine’s hockey program was making its debut in NCAA Division II.
Jeff Nord and Jim Tortorella were two goalies with completely different styles.
Nord was more of a stand-up, angle goalie who minimized his movement by being positionally sound while Tortorella was a quick, flashy netminder who was very active in and around his crease.
The two of them supplied the first four UMaine teams with a chance to win every night and they played vital roles in the Black Bears going 78-47-2 in those four seasons, along with qualifying for the ECAC playoffs in their second and last year in Division II and their second season in Division I.
The team posted 25 and 23 wins in those seasons, respectively.
UMaine has since earned the title of Goaltender University, or “Goalie U” as former Black Bear and Detroit Red Wing Jimmy Howard said recently, by becoming the first school to produce five goalies with 100 career wins in the National Hockey League: Jimmy Howard (246 wins), Ben Bishop (222), Mike Dunham (141), Garth Snow (135) and Jeremy Swayman (101).
Twelve goalies have played in the NHL.
Current sophomore goalie Albin Boija just became the fifth Black Bear goalie to be named an All-American, joining Dunham, Howard, Swayman and Blair Allison.
Boija is also the 10th goalie to earn All-Hockey East status along with the other four All-Americans, Snow, Mike Morrison, Scott King, Bishop and Victor Ostman.
King, Snow, Dunham and Howard have been inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.
King, now an orthopedic surgeon in Pennsylvania, teamed up with fellow British Columbian Al Loring to backstop the Black Bears to their first of 20 NCAA Tournament appearances in 1986-87.
King was an exceptional puckhandler and was the first of several UMaine goalies who received passes from teammates on the penalty kill before they would pass the puck to a teammate or rifle it down the ice.
It was one in a long list of innovative ideas and moves employed by UMaine assistant/goalie coach Grant Standbrook and late head coach Shawn Walsh.
King’s story was interesting.
In his first Hockey East road game, he beat Boston University 7-5 but, as he pointed out in 2018, three of the goals allowed came on shots from the blue line and two were from center ice.
“The first thing [Walsh] said to me after the game was I needed to get my eyes checked,” recalled King.
He visited an optometrist in Old Town, found out that he needed glasses (and/or contact lenses), and the rest is history.
The following year, King and Loring helped lead UMaine to its first Frozen Four appearance at Lake Placid.
UMaine lost to Lake Superior State in the semifinals and UMaine and Minnesota wound up meeting in the last third-place game ever held.
UMaine won 5-2 but the highlight of the game was Loring and Minnesota goalie and Hobey Baker Award winner Robb Stauber shooting the puck down the ice to each other while referees were laboring over the assessment of penalties stemming from a skirmish in the chippy affair.
A linesman eventually skated out to take the puck away and end the Loring-Stauber game of pass, but Stauber had concealed a puck so the game continued much to the delight of the fans.
Walsh and Stanbrook combined again to make a goalie move that produced UMaine’s first national championship in 1992-93.
UMaine trailed Lake Superior State 4-2 after two periods of the title game. Dunham was in goal.
The move was made to put Snow in goal for the third period because, like King, he was an exceptional puck-handler. Dunham wasn’t as good with the puck.
Lake Superior State was a heavy dump-and-foreheck team, but Snow was able to get to their dump-ins and shoot the puck up the ice before the Lakers could establish their forecheck.
Snow helped trigger UMaine’s attack and Jim Montgomery scored three third-period goals to give UMaine a 5-4 win and its first national title.
Snow was another goalie who would receive passes from teammates on the penalty kill. He had four assists in the 1990-91 season and three apiece in two other campaigns for a school-record 10 in his career.
Current UMaine goalie coach Alfie Michaud was the next goaltender to backstop a national championship in 1998-99, earning tournament Most Valuable Player honors for allowing just seven goals in four NCAA tourney wins. Michaud allowed only three goals in Frozen Four wins over Hockey East rivals Boston College (2-1 in overtime) and New Hampshire (3-2 in overtime).
The list of quality goalies continued with Allison capably bridging the gap between Snow-Dunham and Michaud. Allison’s 32 wins in 1994-95 is a school record. Snow and King own the school record for career wins with 66 each. Allison has 62.
Matt Yeats, Mike Morrison and Frank Doyle were solid before Howard came on board. Michaud, Yeats and Morrison went on to play in the NHL as did the next three goalies: Howard, Bishop and Scott Darling.
Howard still owns the school records for lowest goals-against average in a season (1.19) and career (1.84); best save percentage in a season (.956) and career (.931) and most career shutouts (15).
Swayman holds the career record for saves (3,130).
Bishop was another great puck-handler who would be involved in the penalty kill.
Dan Sullivan led them to an NCAA tourney berth in 2011-12 and Martin Ouellette was good for a few years before there was a spell of average goaltending until Swayman burst onto the scene and became the first Black Bear to win the Mike Richter Award in 2019-20.
The Richter Award goes to the nation’s top Division I goalie.
Victor Ostman and Boija have been the goalies for four-year head coach Ben Barr. Boija was named a second team All-American this season as well as a second team All-Hockey East pick and Ostman was an All-Hockey East second team choice in 2022-23. Ostman stopped all 12 shots he faced in his NHL debut last week.
You could find dozens of memorable performances from UMaine goalies, but the two that stand out would have to be Howard’s school-record 63 saves in a 2-1 triple overtime win over UMass in the 2004 Hockey East championship game, and Swayman’s 48-save gem in a 1-0 seniors night win over Providence in 2020.
Swayman made 21 saves in the third period alone during his last game as a Black Bear.
Given all of this history, UMaine has certainly earned its reputation as Goaltender University.
