ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men's hockey team will hit the road for the first time this season, traveling to UMass Lowell for a pair of Hockey East tilts on Friday and Saturday. Friday's puck drop is at 7:15 p.m. while Saturday's will take place at 4:00 p.m., while both games can be heard on
103.9 WVOM-FM and streamed online.
GAME INFORMATION
Game #7: Maine Black Bears at UMass Lowell River Hawks
DATE: Friday, Nov. 3, 2017
TIME: 7:15 p.m.
SITE: Tsongas Center – Lowell, Mass.
2017-18 RECORDS: Maine 2-4-0 (1-1-0 HEA), UMass Lowell 3-5-0 (0-4-0 HEA)
Game #8: Maine Black Bears at UMass Lowell River Hawks
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017
TIME: 4:00 p.m.
SITE: Tsongas Center – Lowell, Mass.
Maine game notes
About the Black Bears
• UMaine played its second-straight non-conference series with an NCHC school this past weekend, dropping two close games to No. 8/8 Minnesota Duluth.
• On Friday night, the Black Bears battled back to tie the game on an
Eduards Tralmaks goal in the third period before the Bulldogs potted the game-winner midway through the frame for the final 2-1 edge.
• Saturday night's game saw a 35-save performance from
Jeremy Swayman but a first period power-play goal proved to be the winning goal for the Bulldogs in the 2-0 affair.
• UMaine split a non-conference series with Miami (Ohio) last weekend, dropping the Oct. 20 contest, 7-5, before storming back for a 6-3 win on Saturday, Oct. 21.
• The Black Bears won the season-opener against UConn, 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 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.
• 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.
About UMass Lowell
• The River Hawks enter the weekend at 3-5-0 after dropping both games of a home-and-home Hockey East series with Northeastern last weekend.
• On Friday, UML lost 3-1 and then on Saturday, the River Hawks were edged in overtime, 5-4.
• All five of UML's goals on the weekend came off the stick of different players so now 14 different River Hawks have found the back of the net while 15 have assists.
• UML's three wins came from a 3-1 win at Clarkson, a 5-0 stomping at St. Lawrence and a 5-2 win over Omaha at the Tsongas Center.
• Ryan Lohin leads the team in points with one goal and nine assists for 10 points while Kenny Hausinger is second overall – and leads the team in goals – with nine points on five goals and four assists.
• Christoffer Hernberg and Tyler Wall have both started four games in goal for UML, with Hernberg going 3-1-0 with a .951 save percentage, 1.34 goals against average and one shutout while Wall is 0-4-0 with a 4.60 goals against average and a .846 save percentage.
• UML, tabbed to finish second in the Hockey East Pre-Season Poll, are coming off a 27-11-3 overall record in 2016-17.
The Series with UMass Lowell
• UMaine leads the all-time series with the River Hawks at 79-40-4.
• UML and UMaine split last year's two-game series, with the Black Bears topping the then-ranked No. 5 River Hawks, 5-2, at Alfond Arena behind a hat-trick from
Blaine Byron '17 and a 31-save performance from
Rob McGovern.
• The teams played again two days later at the Tsongas Center, with UML taking that match, 4-1.
• The two squads first met on Jan. 14, 1978, with UMaine dropping that road tilt, 5-1.
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.
Balanced Attack
• So far this season, the Black Bears have received goals from 11 different players and points from 17.
• The 17 different point-getters for the Black Bears is tied with Providence, Boston University, and UMass Lowell for third-most in the conference, with Northeastern (18) and UMass (19) and Vermont (19) at the top.
• All 19 skaters that suited up for the Black Bears in the two-game season-opening series against UConn recorded at least one shot on goal, with
Chase Pearson's 10 leading the way.
First Points
• In the first four games of the season, seven skaters registered their first point in a Black Bear uniform.
• After sitting out last season after transferring,
Tim Doherty and
Canon Pieper have each found the scoresheet for UMaine, with Doherty tallying two goals and one assist for three points while Pieper has three assists.
• Five rookies have also tallied their first points, with
Eduards Tralmaks,
Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi and
Brady Keeper scoring their maiden goals and
Alexis Binner and
Emil Westerlund dishing out helpers.
Offensive Output
• The UMaine offense exploded in the two-game series against Miami (Ohio), scoring five goals on Friday, Oct. 20 and then six in Saturday, Oct. 21's 6-3 win.
• In the Friday contest, the Black Bears had five different goal-scorers and 10 different point-getters.
• The next night, UMaine notched five goals in a single period for the first time since the first period in a 7-3 win over North Dakota on Oct. 22, 2010.
• Also notable in the 6-3 win was that each goal came from a different player (
Eduards Tralmaks,
Patrick Holway,
Brady Keeper,
Patrick Shea,
Mitchell Fossier and
Tim Doherty).
• The last time UMaine had six different goal scorers came in a 7-0 win over Boston University on Nov. 14, 2013.
Home-Heavy Start
• UMaine had a six-game home stand to start the 2017-18 season, which tied for the longest home stand to start a season in program history, matching the beginning of the 1981-82 season.
• It was the 11th time ever that the Black Bears 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.
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).
• Boston College had the second most players at three, with one each coming from Christopher Brown, Austin Cangelosi and JD Dudek.
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.
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.
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.
-UMaine-
