ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine men's hockey team will remain at home this weekend, welcoming the rival New Hampshire Wildcats on Friday and Saturday for two huge Hockey East battles. The weekend will also serve as the
40th Anniversary Celebration of Alfond Arena and Maine Hockey. Friday's puck drop is set for 7 p.m. while Saturday's
is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and can
also be watched locally on WVII/WFVX/WPME/FOX College Sports. The call of both games can be heard online or on 103.9 WVOM-FM.
Â
GAME INFORMATION
Game #24: Maine Black Bears vs. New Hampshire Wildcats
DATE: Friday, Jan. 19, 2018
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Alfond Arena – Orono, Maine
2017-18 RECORDS: Maine 12-9-2 (6-6-1 HEA), New Hampshire 9-11-2 (4-7-1)
Game #25: Maine Black Bears vs. New Hampshire Wildcats
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
SITE: Alfond Arena – Orono, Maine
Maine game notes
UNH game notes
About the Black Bears  Â
• Maine topped UMass on Tuesday night, 3-1, to earn some valuable Hockey East points in the rare weekday tilt.
• Canon Pieper, Peter Housakos and Emil Westerlund found the back of the net for the Black Bears while Jeremy Swayman turned away 34 shots.
• Last weekend, Maine had two tough Hockey East battles, ultimately falling 5-3 to No. 10/9 Northeastern on both Friday and Saturday.
• Eduards Tralmaks opened the scoring midway through the first period on Friday, but four unanswered goals saw Northeastern put an end to Maine's nine-game unbeaten streak.
• Maine beat Boston University, 3-0, on Jan. 6 and earned a 4-4 overtime tilt at Brown on Jan. 8.
• Swayman made 31 saves for his first career shutout while Nolan Vesey, Ryan Smith and Brendan Robbins each found the back of the net in the win at BU.
• Chase Pearson tallied two goals and one assist in the tie at Brown.
About the Wildcats
• UNH is coming off a two-game set against Boston schools this past weekend, falling to BU, 3-2, at home on Friday and dropping a contest at BC, 5-2, on Sunday.
• UNH tied Brown, 4-4, on Jan. 6, just two days before Maine also tied Brown with a 4-4 score.
• The Wildcats have 10 players in double-digit scoring, including team-leader Michael McNicholas (5-17—22), who has 11 assist on the power-play.
• The Wildcats started the year with five-straight wins, sweeping UMass Lowell and Colgate before splitting a home series with Colorado College.
• UNH – who was tabbed eighth in the Hockey East Preseason Coaches' Poll – has outscored opponents by a 64-60 margin this year.
The Series with the Wildcats
• Maine and UNH have squared off 128 times prior to Friday's game, with Maine holding an edge of 63-58-7 in the all-time series.
• The teams met three times last year, with all meetings taking place in December 2016.
• UNH took both games in a home-and-home series Dec. 2-3, winning 5-1 at the Whittemore Center and then 4-3 at Alfond Arena, and then won a matchup at SNHU Arena, 6-4, on Dec. 30.
• The Wildcats and Black Bears first played on Dec. 15, 1979 at Alfond Arena, with John Tortorella scoring the game-winning goal in the Black Bears' 5-3 victory.
• Maine has had two different nine-game winning streaks in the heated series.
• Current Maine assistant coach Alfie Michaud had seven career wins against UNH, including a stretch of five-straight beginning with a Feb. 1, 1998 win and stretching to the April 3, 1999 National Championship, 3-2, overtime win at Arrowhead Pond.
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.
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 played a "home" contest against Boston University on Nov. 18, 2017, but it took place at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
• After 40 years of intercollegiate play, UMaine held an all-time record of 823-593-119.
National Stat Check
• As a team, Maine's 3.39 goals per game average is ninth in the country and second in Hockey East behind Northeastern (3.68).
• Black Bear blue liners are averaging .74 goals per game, which is tied for sixth in the country and equal with UMass Lowell for tops in the conference.
• Freshman goaltender Jeremy Swayman is third overall among rookies with nine wins.
• Swayman's .927 save percentage is seventh in the country, tops in Hockey East and second nationally amongst rookie netminders.
Spreading the Wealth
• Maine has 10 players in double-digit scoring, which ties with this weekend's opponent, UNH, for first in the conference.
• The Black Bears have received goals from 19 different players, assists from 20 and points from 21.
• Maine's 19 goal scorers ties for first in Hockey East with UConn, UMass and UMass Lowell.
• The Black Bears had 11 players find the scoresheet in a 5-3 win over Quinnipiac on Dec. 8, marking the first time since a 5-3 win over Princeton on Nov. 27, 2015 that 11 players earned a point in a game.
• Against Quinnipiac on Dec. 8, UMaine had 10 different players earn a spot on the scoresheet for the fourth time this season.
• The Black Bears also had 10 different point-getters in back-to-back games, doing so against Miami on Oct. 20 and 21 and then against BU on Nov. 17.
Up Next
• Maine will head to UMass on Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27 to close out the regular season series against the Minutemen.
Â
