For the veterans on the University of Maine’s hockey team, this weekend’s series against the nation’s top-ranked team, the Boston College Eagles, is going to be a new experience.
The Black Bears enter the series nationally ranked as well, 13th in both major polls, for the first time in more than a decade. Sellout crowds are expected on both Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. at the Alfond Arena.
“This is an amazing opportunity,” said UMaine junior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale. “We have worked really hard for a long time for this.”
UMaine will enter the series with a 5-1 record and is coming off a road sweep at Merrimack College, a team that reached the NCAA Tournament last year and was picked to finish third in the Hockey East preseason coaches poll. UMaine previously got a split at Quinnipiac, the defending national champion and preseason favorite to win the ECAC title.
UMaine’s three road wins are just one shy of their number of road wins for all of last season (4-9-4) and only two fewer than the last two seasons combined (5-22-5).
UMaine was 7-22-4 two years ago and improved to 15-16-5 last year.
UMaine’s 5-1 start this year is the program’s best since the 2006-07 season, which was the 11th and last time UMaine reached the Frozen Four.
Boston College is 7-1 overall and has won four straight. Both teams are 2-0 in league play.
UMaine third-year head coach Ben Barr said it will be a “great test” for the team.
“We haven’t seen a high octane offense like this yet,” Barr said. “This is a tremendous challenge and opportunity.”
BC’s scoring average of four goals per game is tied for sixth among 64 Division I teams in the country. The Eagles have 14 NHL draft choices compared with UMaine’s one, and three of them are BC’s leading scorers.
Freshman Will Smith (5 goals, 7 assists) was the fourth overall selection (San Jose) last June, while fellow freshman Gabe Perreault (1 goal, 10 assists) was the 23rd overall pick (New York Rangers) and sophomore Cutter Gauthier (8 & 2) was the fifth overall selection (Philadelphia) two years ago. The other first-rounder, freshman Ryan Leonard (3 & 4), is the fifth-leading point-producer. He was the eighth overall pick of the Washington Capitals.
Smith centers a line between Perreault and Leonard and the three were linemates for the U.S. Under-18 National Team Development program last year and they combined for 155 goals and 188 assists.
UMaine’s only draft pick, freshman left wing Bradly Nadeau, a first round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes (30th overall) is UMaine’s top scorer with five goals and three assists and he is the reigning Hockey East Rookie of the Week.
Eagle freshman defenseman Aram Minnetian, a fourth round pick of Dallas (125th overall), is the reigning Hockey East Defender of the Week.
UMaine hasn’t played at home since sweeping Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Oct. 12-13.
“Our fans are so into the game. It’s the most unique [environment] in college hockey. There’s no better place to play,” Breazeale said.
Barr said it will be treated like any other series and noted that the team can’t get caught up in the buzz.
“There was a lot of excitement for the last two weekends last year and look what happened,” said Barr, whose team was swept at home by UMass and then lost its Hockey East home playoff game to Vermont.
The Black Bears entered the UMass series unbeaten in its previous seven games (4-0-3).
“That was because we couldn’t execute. It wasn’t an effort thing, it was a mental thing,” the coach said. “When you play a team like BC, you can’t have a guy having an off night because that can potentially cost you. These types of teams make you pay for every mistake you make.”
Breazeale said he knows they will have to contain their emotions and not get too high or too low.
“We have to play our game and trust the process. We have to be fully locked in for 60-plus minutes each night,” Breazeale said.
UMaine has won the last four meetings with BC and is unbeaten in five (4-0-1).
One of the reasons is goaltender Victor Ostman, who has a 1.60 goals against average and .939 save percentage in those five games. The senior has played in all six games this season and has a 2.15 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage.
Freshman Jacob Fowler, a third round draft pick of Montreal (69th overall) has played all eight games for coach Greg Brown’s Eagles and has a 2.12 GAA and a .923 save percentage.
Brown played for BC and was a long-time assistant at BC under Hall of Fame coach Jerry York before replacing him two years ago after York retired.
He knows all about Alfond Arena.
“It’s a great atmosphere. Our older players have been telling our young guys about it,” said Brown, who added that the fact both teams are nationally ranked will enhance the atmosphere.
He said he has been impressed with UMaine and expects a great series.
“We’re going to have to break the puck out of our [defensive] zone. They come at you hard on the forecheck and their defenseman pinch in at the points,” Brown said. “We’re also going to have to create space [in the offensive zone] so we can generate scoring chances.”
