ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men's hockey team will return to action this weekend with a pair of games against Miami (Ohio) on Friday and Saturday. Both games between the Black Bears and the RedHawks will be streamed on GoBlackBears.com
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GAME INFORMATION
GAME #2-3: Maine Black Bears vs. Miami (Ohio) RedHawks
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, Oct. 20, 2017 and Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017
SITE: Alfond Arena – Orono, Maine
2017-18 RECORDS: Maine 1-1-0 (1-1-0 HE), Miami 0-2-0 (0-0-0 NCHC)
LIVE VIDEO: GoBlackBears.com
LIVE STATS: GoBlackBears.com
TWITTER: @MaineIceHockey
Maine games notes (PDF)
Miami game notes (PDF)
About the Black Bears
• UMaine opened up the season by splitting a two-game series with Hockey East foe UConn.
• The Black Bears won the opener, 4-3, on the strength of a
Nolan Vesey goal just 28 seconds into overtime while
Rob McGovern made 35 saves for the win.
• The Huskies used a strong first period in the second game to get a 5-1 win.
• The trio of
Rob Michel (1-1-2),
Brendan Robbins (1-1-2) and
Chase Pearson (0-2-2) all tallied multiple points in the series.
• UMaine faced Acadia University in an Oct. 1 exhibition contest and came away with a 3-1 victory after goals from
Tim Doherty,
Alexis Binner and Michel.
• The Black Bears return with 74 percent of their goal-scoring from 2016-17 and 63 percent of the total offense with seven of the top 10 point-getters from last year overall pulling the sweater on again.
• Last year's freshmen class finished with 36 goals, good for second overall in Hockey East behind Boston University's rookies, and had the most face-off wins in the conference at 581.
• The 10-member Class of 2021 includes defensemen
Alexis Binner,
Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi,
Brady Keeper and
Cameron Spicer, forwards
Jack Quinlivan,
Kevin Hock,
Adrian Holesinsky,
Emil Westerlund and
Eduards Tralmaks and goaltender
Jeremy Swayman.
• Swayman will be joining a goaltending corps that includes
Rob McGovern, who went 9-15-13 last year in 29 appearances with a 2.99 goals against average, a .912 save percentage and one shutout, as well as
Stephen Mundinger, who saw action in three games.
About Miami
• The RedHawks are coming off a 7-5 exhibition win over the U.S. National Team Development Program on Oct. 13.
• Miami opened its season with a pair of non-conference games against Providence, dropping both tilts of the home series, 3-1 and 3-2.
• Casey Gilling, Grant Hutton and Austin Alger all found the back of the net for the RedHawks against the Friars, with Gilling and Hutton adding assists.
• Last season, Hutton led all MU defensemen in goals (9) and points (19).
• Senior defenseman Louis Belpedio was named to this year's Preseason All-NCHC team to follow up his All-NCHC Honorable Mention honors in the 2016-17 season.
• Ryan Larkin has started both regular season games for Miami, posting a 3.05 goals against average and a .885 save percentage.
• Larkin has received the nod in 35 of the last 38 games for Miami.
• The RedHawks have been shut out just three times since March 1, 2014.
The Series with Miami
• The Black Bears hold an edge of 5-2-1 in the all-time series with the RedHawks.
• Last season, UMaine traveled to Oxford for a two-game series and tied the first night, 3-3, before dropping the second game, 5-0.
• The Black Bears first faced the RedHawks in the 1990-91 season, taking a two-game series with 11-4 and 10-1 wins in Orono.
About Head Coach Red Gendron
•
Red Gendron, who enters his fifth year behind the bench of the Black Bears, has won two NCAA Hockey National Championships and a NHL Stanley Cup as an assistant coach.
• He assisted head coach Shawn Walsh with the UMaine 1993 NCAA Division I National Championship team.
• Before being named the head coach of the Black Bears, Gendron was associate head coach at Yale University; the Bulldogs earned the 2013 NCAA Division I National Championship.
• Prior to Gendron's two seasons at Yale, from 2005-11, he was an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts.
• Gendron spent 11 seasons in professional hockey with the New Jersey Devils organization.
Spreading the Wealth
• In UMaine's season-opening series with UConn, five different players found the back of the net for the Black Bears.
•
Rob Michel,
Brendan Robbins,
Nolan Vesey,
Tim Doherty and
Peter Housakos all tallied goals, with Doherty's goal marking the first point of his career.
• All 19 skaters that suited up for the Black Bears in the two-game series recorded at least one shot on goal, with
Chase Pearson's 10 leading the way.
Top Hat-Tricks
• The Black Bears had four different players register a hat-trick during the 2016-17 season, the most of any Hockey East school.
•
Mitchell Fossier,
Blaine Byron,
Nolan Vesey and
Chase Pearson all recorded one hat-trick for UMaine a season ago.
• Northeastern had five hat-tricks but from two players in Zach Aston-Reese (3) and Dylan Sikura (2) while Boston College had the second most players at three, with one each coming from Christopher Brown, Austin Cangelosi and JD Dudek.
Six Days a Week
• In the 2017-18 season, UMaine has games scheduled to be played on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
• It's the second time that UMaine will play games on those exact days of the week, replicating the 1989-90 schedule.
• UMaine is one of eight teams this year that will play on a Wednesday (Bemidji State, Princeton, Bentley, Brown, UNH, RPI and Providence), taking on UNH on Feb. 14, 2018.
• The Black Bears played Acadia on Sunday, Oct. 1, making them one of seven teams with a Sunday tilt on the schedule.
• UMaine has played a game on all seven days in a week seven times in program history.
• Three times UMaine has played games on just Friday, Saturday and Sunday during a season - a low in terms of days of the week with games.
Home-Heavy Start
• UMaine is in the midst of a six-game home stand to start the 2017-18 season, which ties for the longest home stand to start a season with 1981-82.
• This is the 11th time ever that the Black Bears have had a six-game home stand on the schedule.
• The longest home stand overall in program history belongs to a 10-game slate during the 1989-90 season.
Non-Conference Opponents
• In addition to the normal competitive Hockey East slate, the Black Bears have an exciting non-conference schedule in 2017-18 and have four games on the scheduled against teams ranked in both the preseason USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll.
• A two-game series against 2017 National Runner-up No. 6/11 Minnesota-Duluth awaits the Black Bears in the final weekend of October while No. 14/13 Quinnipiac is on the schedule in early December.
Fresh Faces
• The Black Bears welcomed 10 freshmen to the fold this fall, making it the third largest freshmen class in Hockey East this year behind UMass (13) and Vermont (12).
• The 10 new Black Bears are tied for third largest NCAA freshman class, joining Cornell, Minnesota Duluth and Quinnipiac.
• The new group includes one goaltender, four defensemen, and five forwards.
• It marks the second-straight year the UMaine has had 10 freshmen on the roster.
• The last time that the Black Bears had more than 10 freshmen on the roster came in the 2007-08 season, which marked the rookie year of the likes of Brian Flynn, Scott Darling and Gustav Nyquist.
Going the Distance
• The Black Bears will travel a total distance of 12,438 miles to get to opposing rinks during the 2017-18 season.
• UMaine's travel on the bus will total 6,466 of those miles – both in the United States and in Ireland – while 5.972 of them will come in the air when the team flies to Ireland for the Friendship Four.
• When UMaine begins an eight-game road-trip that starts on Dec. 8 at Quinnipiac and ends on Jan. 13 at Northeastern, the Black Bears will traverse 3,140 miles.
• Some of the places within 3,140 miles of Alfond Arena include freshman
Brady Keeper's hometown of Cross Lake, Manitoba (2,180) and freshman
Cameron Spicer's hometown of Erie, Colo. (2,205) – but not quite to freshman
Jeremy Swayman's hometown of Anchorage, Alaska (4,450).
Clark Cup MVPs
• Freshman
Eduards Tralmaks was named the 2017 Clark Cup Most Valuable Player after tallying 12 points on 10 goals and two assists in 14 playoff games – and leading the Chicago Steel to the Tier 1 National Championship.
• Tralmaks – whose 10 goals tied for most all-time in Clark Cup playoff history – becomes the third Clark Cup MVP to become a Black Bear.
• Goaltender
Matt Morris '17 was bestowed the honor after leading the Dubuque Fighting Saints to the title in 2011.
• Former Black Bear goaltender Matt Lundin earned the award with the Sioux Falls Stampede in 2007.
Friendship Four
• The team will compete in the 2017 Northern Irish Connections Friendship Four Tournament to be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• The Black Bears will be joined in by RPI and Clarkson of the ECAC Hockey conference as well as Hockey East foe Providence.
• Maine and Providence will meet on Nov. 24 with the winner advancing to take on either RPI or Clarkson the following night for a chance to win the 2017 Belpot Trophy.
•The teams will square off at the SSE Arena, home of the Belfast Giants – a professional team that competes within the Elite Ice Hockey League – and host of the Friendship Four since 2015.
Feeling the Draft?
• The 2017-18 UMaine roster includes five NHL draft picks, including three in 2015.
•
Nolan Vesey went to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014.
• In 2015,
Patrick Shea was selected by the Florida Panthers while
Patrick Holway and
Chase Pearson both went to the Detroit Red Wings .
• This year,
Jeremy Swayman went to the Boston Bruins in the fourth round.
NHL Rosters
• Six former Black Bears will start the 2017-18 season on National Hockey League rosters.
• Three former UMaine net minders will stand in an NHL crease, with Scott Darling named to the Carolina Hurricanes roster, Ben Bishop to the Dallas Stars roster and Jimmy Howard to the Detroit Red Wings roster.
• Joining Howard on the Red Wings will be forward Gustav Nyquist while Devin Shore will be joining Bishop in Dallas.
• Ben Hutton will patrol the blue-line for the Vancouver Canucks.
• In all, 70 alumni of the Hockey East Association were named to opening day rosters, a new conference record.
Black Bear Rewind
• Last season, UMaine went 11-21-4 overall and 5-15-2 in Hockey East play.
•
Blaine Byron '17 led the Black Bears in points with 41 on 18 goals and 23 assists while
Cam Brown '17 was second with 39 points on four goals and 35 assists;
Nolan Vesey (13-10—23) and
Chase Pearson (14-8—22) also broke the 20-point mark.
•
Rob McGovern went 9-15-3 between the pipes for the Black Bears, making 842 saves while posting a .912 save percentage, 2.99 goals against average and his first career shutout with a 31-save performance against UConn.
• In nine decisions,
Matt Morris '17 went 2-6-1 with a .883 save percentage and a 4.27 goals against average.
The 40th Season(s)
• With the start of the 2017-18 season, the men's hockey program is celebrating 40 years of Alfond Arena and 40 years of University of Maine men's hockey.
• Alfond Arena had its first puck drop on Nov. 18, 1977, when the Black Bears battled Acadia University - the same team that the Black Bears faced this year in their exhibition contest on Oct. 1.
• The Black Bears will play a "home" contest against Boston University on Nov. 18, 2017, but it will take place at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
• After 40 years of intercollegiate play, UMaine held an all-time record of 823-593-119.
Standing in the Hall(s) of Fame
• This year marked the first time that an entire team was ever inducted into the University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame, with the men's hockey 1993 National Championship team earning that honor while an assistant coach from that team in Grant Standbrook was also inducted.
• Additionally, Paul Kariya will become a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2017 on Nov. 13.
• That 1993 squad went 42-1-2 en route to the national title while averaging 6.5 goals per game and only allowing 2.4 goals per game.
• From that team, the late head coach Shawn Walsh, forwards Jim Montgomery, Kariya, goaltenders Garth Snow and Mike Dunham and defenseman Chris Imes have already been inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame as individuals.
• Standbrook spent 21 seasons behind the bench at UMaine, serving as an assistant coach on Maine's 1993 and 1999 National Championship teams.
• In total over his career, he coached and mentored 34 All-Americans, eight U.S. Olympians and two Canadian Olympians and a pair of Hobey Baker Award winners (Scott Pellerin, Kariya).
-UMaine-
