The name Loic means “famed warrior” in the French and Breton languages.
The University of Maine’s hockey team has its own Loic, Loic Usereau, who is a freshman defenseman that will take a two-game goal-scoring streak into Friday night’s Hockey East game at Boston University. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
Usereau’s teammates said his name is appropriate for him.
“He is a warrior, all right,” said junior defenseman and assistant captain Frank Djurasevic. “We have a lot of warriors in our locker room and he’s definitely one of them.”
“It’s pretty fitting,” said senior Brandon Chabrier, Usereau’s defense partner.
Usereau said he didn’t know what his name meant.
“I’ll have to ask my parents,” he said with a smile.
Usereau has been one of the Black Bears’ most improved players.
After being a healthy scratch for six of the team’s first eight games, he has become a fixture on the blue line since the 6-2 victory at UMass on Nov. 6.
He scored his first goal in the 6-5 overtime win at UMass Lowell on Jan. 24 with a wrist shot from the high slot that tied the game 5-5 with 7:14 remaining in regulation.
And he notched his second one with a brilliant individual move in the first period of the 3-2 overtime loss to Providence last Saturday. That gave UMaine a 2-1 lead and he came 5.6 seconds away from it being his first game-winner only to have the Friars tie it with an extra-attacker goal before winning it in OT.
He has four assists to go with his two goals in 20 games.
“He has made so much progress,” said UMaine senior defenseman and co-captain Brandon Holt.
Holt said that progress is all about confidence.
“From the first day he stepped on the ice, I could tell he had a lot of potential, a lot of talent,” Holt said about Usereau. “He plays hard, he defends hard and he has some offensive upside. To see him finally have confidence to play his game is nice and he is obviously helping us.”
Usereau acknowledged that his confidence has gone way up since what he described as his “rocky start” to the season.
“I’m moving my feet way more and I’m carrying the puck more,” said Usereau, who is a smooth skater. ”I feel I have gotten way better from where I was last year until now. Playing with (Chabrier) has helped me a lot. He has been a great leader for me and we’re roommates on the road, too.”
Usereau, a native of Montreal suburb Saint-Michel in Quebec, began his journey that led him to Orono in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League in 2021-2022 when he played for Shawinigan.
“I had never really thought about playing junior hockey. I didn’t think I was good enough to make it. When I got there, I was just happy to be there. It wasn’t what I had expected,” said Usereau, who played just seven games that season and was a healthy scratch for several games.
“I got there when I was 18 which isn’t the normal route. Most get in when they’re 17. I told my dad I was thinking about going back home,” Usereau added.
But he returned to Shawinigan in 20222-23 and, after playing in 24 games and notching a goal and four assists, he was traded to Chicoutimi.
He appeared in 29 games for Chicoutimi and had two goals and four assists before putting together outstanding seasons in 2023-24 and 2024-25 when he tallied 26 goals and dished out 67 assists in 130 games.
He said he adopted a different mindset in Chicoutimi.
“I didn’t think too much about what the coach thought of me or where they thought I should have been in the lineup,” Usereau said. “I thought I was a first or second pair kind of guy and I proved it in the first 20 games of the season.”
Chabrier said it has been “pretty cool” to listen to Usereau’s story and what he went through en route to Orono.
“I have a lot of respect for him as a player and a person,” Chabrier said. “Watching him grow as a player and a person is pretty special.”
Chicoutimi has the only Olympic-sized ice sheet (200 feet-by-100 feet) in Canada’s three Major Junior leagues, so Usereau had to adapt to the smaller ice sheets in college hockey.
UMaine’s Alfond Arena is 200-by-85.
He said the disparity in rink size wasn’t a factor in his lack of playing time in the early part of the season.
“It was just finding my spot in the lineup and finding a way to play that could help the team. And that’s what I’m doing right now,” said the 6-foot, 176-pound Usereau.
The freshman is a “hard-nosed kid,” according to UMaine head coach Ben Barr.
“He struggled with the speed of college hockey at the start but he works hard and he keeps getting better and better,” Barr said. “He has turned himself into a good player. His improvement from day one up until today has been fantastic.”
Barr said Usereau isn’t “naturally gifted” or flashy but he compensates by being fearless and not afraid to make a play or have the puck on his stick when the game is on the line.
Barr said he made an “incredible play” on his goal against Providence.
“He had his first shot blocked but he went and got the puck,” noted Barr, who watched him ward off a Friar with one arm while skating down the middle of the slot and then flipping a backhander past goalie Jack Parsons.
“You have to be pretty brave to make a play like that, especially against a team as good defensively as Providence,” said Barr. “You’re looking for those kind of intangible things that so many of our players have had.”
Usereau said he decided to play at UMaine because “it has a great program, a good coaching staff, the rink (renovations) are amazing and it’s close to my home.”
Saint-Michel is a little over five hours from Orono.
He is thoroughly enjoying his first season at UMaine.
“We have a great group of guys and game nights are really special. The fans bring so much energy. It’s really great,” said Usereau.
Usereau’s goal for himself and Chabrier over the final eight games of the regular season is to “try to be steady out there and help the team in a positive way. Keep making plays and moving our feet.”
