ORONO, Maine - Maine heads to North Andover, Massachusetts for a weekend series against the Warriors from Merrimack College. The Black Bears are coming off a weekend set against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The series opened up Friday night at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. Nearly 5,000 fans braved the winter weather to see a one-goal game that saw the Irish hang on against the Black Bears, 3-2. The Black Bears ventured to Alfond Arena the following night for the series finale. Despite a hot start, Notre Dame was able to rally for the 4-2 victory. Senior Captain
Cam Brown notched is 100th career point on 2 assists becoming teh 55th Black Bear in history to reach the century mark.
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Scouting The Black Bears
Senior Captains
Cam Brown and
Blaine Byron have carried the torch this year for the Black Bears, currently playing at a point per game pace.
Cam Brown currently leads the team in assists with 29 along with points with 33.
Blaine Byron leads the team in goals with 14, and is second on the team in points with 32. (One more and he will be the 56th Black Bear to eclipse the 100 point mark.) Defense will be another major key for the Black Bears, and quarterbacking the back end is junior
Mark Hamilton. Hamilton currently leads Hockey East and is second in the country in blocked shots with 77 on the year. The Black Bears as a team rank 1st in the country in blocked shots with 469 and are fourth in blocks per game at 15.63.
Scouting the Warriors
Merrimack College has been on a role in Hockey East play over their past 6 games. They are 4-0-2 in their last 6 including a sweep of Boston University 3-1 and 4-1, and the a 6-3 drubbing of Boston College. A key catalyst for the Warriors has been goaltender Collin Delia who carries a 6-5-2 record along with a .934 save percentge and a 1.93 goals against average. Merrimack looks to continue getting scoring from Brett Seney and Hampus Gustafsson who currently lead the Warriors. Seney has accrued 9 goals and 18 assists through his first 29 games this season and senior Hampus Gustafsson has 14 goals and 10 assists for 24 points through the 2016-2017 season.
-UMaine-
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