ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men’s hockey team is rested after having last weekend off but could be shorthanded this weekend due to injuries and a suspension.
UMaine entertains Northeastern University on Friday night at 7 p.m. and the University of Massachusetts on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Sixth-ranked UMaine is 15-5-3 overall and 7-3-3 in Hockey East; Northeastern is 9-11-3 and 4-8-3 and No. 20 UMass is 13-10-2 and 4-7-2.
The Black Bears could be down to just 11 available forwards instead of the usual 12 on Friday night.
In addition to co-captain Lynden Breen, who has been sidelined since Nov. 30, 2024, with a broken fibula, sophomore left wing Anthony Calafiore will be out with a lower body injury. Sophomore right wing Charlie Russell is questionable after sustaining an upper body injury in the first game of a Jan. 17-18 series against the University of Connecticut.
He missed the second UConn game and just returned to practice on Monday.
And graduate student right winger Ross Mitton will miss Friday’s game after receiving a one-game suspension from Hockey East for the contact-to-the-head five-minute major he received late in the second UConn game.
That means junior winger Aidan Carney is likely to play for the first time since March 8, 2023.
Carney, who has been plagued by injuries, is the son of UMaine Sports Hall of Famer Keith Carney, a two-time Black Bear All-American and 16-year NHL defenseman.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr indicated he could also move a defenseman up front to fill the void before Mitton returns on Sunday.
“We just have to get through it,” said Barr. “It’s the next-guy-up (mentality).”
Barr pointed out that his team didn’t have a good practice week leading up to that last series with UConn, which yielded a 4-2 loss and 2-2 tie in Orono.
UMaine senior center and alternate captain Nolan Renwick agreed but said the practices have been “much better” since the UConn series.
“I don’t know what it was. We were a little lackadaisical that week. We weren’t executing and didn’t have our normal compete level and it showed that weekend. We didn’t play our best,” said Renwick. “This week, our energy has been really high and our compete level has been really high. The boys have been battling out there and it’s going to show this weekend.”
Senior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale concurred.
“We’ve been more locked in during practice. If you aren’t locked in for practice, you aren’t going to be locked in for the game. Practices have been a lot better this week,” said Breazeale.
Renwick and Breazeale said having a weekend off is beneficial.
“In Hockey East right now, it’s tough sledding. Everyone is good, everyone is hard to play against and everyone is physical and strong,” explained Renwick.
”On Monday, I said ‘Wow, my body actually feels pretty good.’ Usually, it’s pretty sore (after playing over the weekend),” Renwick added.
“You get that extra time to work on some specific stuff, situational stuff,” said Breazeale. “And you get to reflect a little bit. You can sit down and talk about what you really need to do and take the time to (work on things) be able to do that.”
The one issue that has been plaguing the Black Bears of late is a lack of goal scoring.
UMaine has scored only 14 goals in its last seven games resulting in a 3-3-1 record.
Its power play is just 3-for-22 in those seven games.
“We scored in the first half of the season so we know we can score,” said Renwick. “We have good players on this team. It’s not because we aren’t getting chances. It’s that last piece of putting the puck in the net.”
“We’ve been working hard on the little details,” said sophomore right wing Josh Nadeau.
“We have to get grittier around the net front. We need that little extra intensity,” said Breazeale. “We’re visualizing and seeing ourselves scoring goals. Hopefully the dam will break this weekend.”
Barr said his team hasn’t been able to play “really simple” when it needs to score.
“Shot, rebound. Shot, rebound hasn’t been our thing,” said Barr. “What you need to do when you’re struggling to score is shoot, screen, tip, rebound. We haven’t been good at scoring those types of goals.
“There has to be a willingness to do that. We have to add that to our way of playing in tight games,” Barr said. “Harrison Scott scores a lot of goals like that. Thomas Freel is great at the net front. It has to be something everyone will do.”
Scott continues to lead UMaine in scoring with 15 goals and 12 assists. His .65 goals per game is sixth-best in the nation among 64 Division I schools.
Russell is next with five goals and 14 assists and senior left wing Taylor Makar has seven goals and 10 assists. Freel’s eight power play goals are second best in the nation. Brandon Holt is the top point-getter among defensemen (two goals and 14 assists).
Sophomore goalie Albin Boija has the nation’s fifth-best goals-against average (1.63) and 12th highest save percentage (.928). His record is 14-5-3.
Northeaster features Biddeford’s Jack Williams (12 goals and 17 assists, nation’s eighth-best points per game at 1.26) along with Cam Lund (11 & 15) and Dylan Hryckowian (12 & 12); defenseman Vinny Borgesi (5 & 15) and goalie Cameron Whitehead (9-11-3, 2.64, .914).
UMass, which has the nation’s second-best power play percentage (30.1), has been led by Cole O’Hara (14 & 21, nation’s third-best points per game average of 1.40), Aydar Suniev (14 & 13) and Dans Locmelis (5 & 19) along with defenseman Francesco Dell’Elce (6 & 13) and goalie Michael Hrabal (11-8-2, 2.38, .924).
