The University of Maine men’s hockey team has named its captains for the upcoming season.
Left wing Thomas Freel and defenseman Brandon Holt will lead the way for the nationally ranked Black Bears, who were picked seventh in the U.S. College Hockey Online Division I preseason poll.
UMaine announced their selection as captains in a Friday press release. Defenseman Frank Djurasevic will serve as alternate captain.
Freel was born in Scotland and his family moved to Canada when he was eight. He is a tough, hard-nosed player who scored a career-high 11 goals last season. He was an alternate captain a year ago.
Holt is a rock-solid defenseman who is very reliable and virtually never gets beat in one-on-one situations. He also has some offensive skills.
He had a career high in points (20) and blocked shots (46) last season.
Holt was a Third Team All-Hockey East pick last season and was runner up to Boston College’s Eamon Powell for the league’s best defensive defenseman.
Freel and Holt are two of the only four current Black Bear players who are in their fourth season at UMaine. The others are defensemen Brandon Chabrier and Grayson Arnott.
Djurasevic transferred to UMaine from Merrimack and is in his junior season. He led UMaine in blocked shots last season with 49, and was also fourth on the team in total points with seven goals and 21 assists.
Freel and Holt are both seniors.
The captains will anchor a new-look UMaine team that features 13 newcomers. Five of those new additions are also NHL draft picks.
Holt told the Bangor Daily News last month that he liked what he saw from the newcomers so far.
“We don’t want to lose our identity as a hard-working, grinding team. We never want to lose that,” Holt said. “But if we add a little bit more skill and a little more playmaking and score more goals on top of our grinder-outwork-everyone mentality, that’s a recipe for success.”
UMaine plays its first exhibition game of the season on Friday, Oct. 3 against the University of New Hampshire. That game will be played at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.
