ORONO, Maine - Maine looks to get back on track as they welcome the Irish to the state of Maine for a two game Hockey East series beginning at Portland's Cross Insurance Arena, before finishing at hallowed Alfond Arena. Maine is currently coming off a two-game road trip as they took on Providence College at Schneider Arena. The games were back and forth battles that resulted in Providence taking both games by scores of 4-1 and 5-3.
Friday, 2/10 in Portland, ME
Saturday 2/11 in Orono, ME
Scouting The Black Bears
Maine is going to look to get production in numbers this coming weekend as Saturday night at Providence, Maine had 7 different skaters register a point in their 5-3 loss against the Friars. Maine also will look to Senior Captains
Cam Brown and
Blaine Byron to keep up their point per game season's in their quest for 100 points, and more importantly, a push for home ice the first round of Hockey East playoffs. Brown currently leads the team in points with 4 goals and 26 assists for 30 points while
Blaine Byron remains one behind with 13 goals and 16 assists. 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 69 on the year. The Black Bears as a team rank 4th in the country in total block shots with 437.
Scouting the Irish
Notre Dame is looking to continue momentum as they took 3 of 4 points from the University of Vermont this past weekend. In dramatic fashion Friday night, the Irish saw themselves down 2 goals in the waning minutes of the 3rd period, but a two-goal outburst in the final 3:10 of the period allowed the Irish to capture a point, before holding home ice the second night, winning by a final score of 4-1. Notre Dame is led in scoring by Hobey Baker candidate Anders Bjork. He is currently tied for the team lead in goals with 16, and leads his team in assists with 22 for a total of 38 points. Notre Dame has the ability to score with their depth as 11 players currently have notched at least 10 points on the year. Junior defenseman Jordan Gross currently leads their defensive core with 7 goals and 17 assists for 24 points, good for forth in team scoring. Lastly, Maine is going to look to solve Cal Petersen in net. He has started every game for the Irish this season, compiling a 15-9-4 record with a 2.11 goals against average and .925 save percentage.
-UMaine-
