University of Maine men’s hockey head coach Ben Barr and his coaching staff will be in the market for goalies after freshman Mathis Rousseau and sophomore Gage Stewart entered the NCAA Division I transfer portal, which opened on Monday morning.
Freshman right wing Miguel Marques, the team’s fourth-leading scorer this past season, also entered the portal, along with defensemen Bodie Nobes, Simon Motew and Luke Coughlin, junior left winger Anthony Calafiore, and freshman right winger Nick Peluso.
The transfer portal will be open until April 27 for undergraduates. Graduate students can transfer at any time.
Players who enter the portal can still return to their school if they don’t find a better destination, given that there is a roster spot open and the coaching staff invites them back. They are not assured a scholarship, even if they had one previously.
UMaine had a disappointing 18-14-3 campaign, 12-11-1 in Hockey East, after earning NCAA Tournament berths the previous two years. UMaine won the Hockey East tournament for the first time since 2004 in 2024-25.
Junior goalie Albin Boija, a second team All-American two years ago who struggled mightily this season and ultimately lost his job to Rousseau, announced recently that he will be returning to UMaine in the fall.
Rousseau, who was Canada’s starting goaltender in the World Junior Championships during the 2023-24 season, had an up-and-down year for the Black Bears.
He finished with an 8-7 record, a 2.59 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage.
He allowed three or more goals in eight of his 15 starts including four with four or more. He surrendered two or fewer in the other seven, including two shutouts and one game in which he allowed one goal.
He started UMaine’s last six games and went 4-2 with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.
Stewart never appeared in a game during his two seasons at UMaine.
Marques produced 23 points in 33 games with 10 goals and 13 assists. His 13 assists were tied for second on the team and his 10 goals were fourth-most. He had two power play goals and a game-winner. He was tied for fourth in plus-minus at plus-12.
Players receive a plus-one if they are on the ice when their team scores an even-strength or shorthanded goal and a minus-one if the opponent scores.
He was the Black Bears’ highest draft pick as he was chosen 87th overall in the third round by the Nashville Predators.
Calafiore didn’t register a point in 13 games and was minus-six. He will conclude his UMaine career with three goals and two assists in 53 games.
Coughlin, Motew and Peluso each had two assists, Motew and Coughlin in 10 games and Peluso in eight. Nobes had one assist in 15 games.
Peluso was plus-two, Coughlin was even, Motew was minus-one and Nobes was minus-three.
Motew transferred to UMaine from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
Nobes notched a goal and five assists and was a plus-five in 55 career games at UMaine with his lone goal coming in the 5-1 loss to Penn State in the NCAA Tournament’s Allentown Regional a year ago.
