The University of Maine men’s hockey team and archrival the University of New Hampshire will face off before the regular season even starts.
The two teams will play a charity men’s hockey exhibition game at the Jack Kelley Rink at the O’Neil/O’Donnell Forum inside Colby College’s Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center in Waterville on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 5 p.m.
This will be the only exhibition game for the Hockey East adversaries.
UMaine will open its regular season on Thursday, Oct. 12, when it entertains ECAC team Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from Troy, New York, in the first of a two-game series. UNH’s season opener will be the following night when it hosts Hockey East foe Boston University.
The Colby College facility holds 1,796 and tickets will go on sale on Aug. 29. They will be available through the UMaine Athletics box office for $20 and aren’t included as part of the UMaine season ticket package.
Proceeds will go to the Alfond Youth and Community Center in Waterville, which is a non-profit organization that serves more than 8,000 members annually and features a number of community-focused programs like child care and after-school programs.
“Obviously, UNH is a very good team and a rival,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “We’ve had great games with them the last two years. Being able to play them in an exhibition will be a great test for us. It will be fun for the players to play in an unbelievable facility at Colby and it is for a good cause.”
UMaine has usually played Canadian college teams in an exhibition game in the past but Barr said the Canadian schools have changed their schedules so doing that wasn’t possible.
The Black Bears are coming off a season in which they won eight more games than the previous campaign. UMaine wound up 15-16-5 overall, 9-11-4 in Hockey East and earned the sixth seed for the playoffs.
The Black Bears had been picked to finish last (11th) in the preseason coaches poll.
UMaine was upset by 11th seed Vermont, 4-2, at the Alfond Arena in Orono in the first round of the playoffs.
New Hampshire went 11-21-3 overall, 6-15-3 in Hockey East, and finished 10th.
UNH lost its first round game to No. 7 Providence 2-1 in overtime at Schneider Arena in Providence.
The rivals will play three times during the upcoming regular season, with UNH visiting Orono on Dec. 1 and UMaine traveling to Durham for a two-game set on Feb. 16-17.
UMaine and UNH met twice in Durham, New Hampshire, last season and skated to 2-2 and 0-0 ties on Feb. 17-18. UNH wound up winning both shootouts 1-0 to earn the extra Hockey East point.
They split a pair of games in Orono during the 2021-22 season with UMaine winning the opener 6-3 and UNH rebounding to earn a 5-2 victory the next night.
Tickets can be purchased by visiting goblackbears.com/tickets, by phone at 207-581-2327 or at the Alfond Arena box office.
