ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine men's hockey team will hit the road this weekend in search of some valuable conference points, making the drive to Amherst, Mass. for a pair of Hockey East games with the Massachusetts Minutemen. The call of both games can be heard online or on 103.9 WVOM-FM while a stream will also be available online both nights and Friday's game will be shown on NESNplus, ElevenSports and TSN GO.
 

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GAME INFORMATION
Game #26: Maine Black Bears at Massachusetts Minutemen
DATE: Friday, Jan. 26, 2018
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Mullins Center - Amherst, Mass.
2017-18 RECORDS: Maine 12-9-4 (6-6-3 HEA), UMass 11-12-1 (5-8-1 HEA)
Game #27: Maine Black Bears at Massachusetts Minutemen
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Mullins Center - Amherst, Mass.

Maine game notes

About the Black Bears    
• Maine hosted rival New Hampshire this past weekend, battling the Wildcats to two tough Hockey East ties.
• On Jan. 19, Maine got goals from Patrick Holway and Daniel Perez while Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves in the 2-2 tie with UNH.
• The next night, UNH and Maine both scored one goal in each period – but not overtime – for a 3-3 tie.
• Maine and UMass faced off on Tuesday, Jan. 16, with the Black Bears taking the first game of the regular season series, 3-1.
• The Black Bears had two tough Hockey East battles the weekend before, ultimately falling 5-3 to No. 10/9 Northeastern on both Friday and Saturday.
• Maine topped Boston University, 3-0, on Jan. 6 and earned a 4-4 overtime tilt at Brown on Jan. 8.
• Swayman made 31 save 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.
• The Black Bears are led in points by Chase Pearson (4-17—21) and Mitchell Fossier (8-13—21) while Vesey (9-7—16) has a team-high nine goals.

About the Minutemen
• UMass is coming off a Tuesday night tilt with No. 16 Boston College, dropping the road game, 2-1.
• The weekend saw the Minutemen split a home-and-home with No. 8/9 Northeastern, winning the home contest on Friday, 3-0, before losing on the road, 5-0.
• Matt Murray made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season while Mitchell Chaffee scored two goals in the win.
• The Minutemen scored a program-record three short-handed goals in win at Vermont Jan. 13.
• A trio of rookies lead UMass in scoring in team leader Oliver Chau (8-11—19), Mitchell Chaffee (9-7—16) and John Leonard (6-10—16, while seven players total have at least 11 points.
• Murray has appeared in 14 games in goal for UMass, starting 13 of them, and holds a 4-8-1 overall record to go with a 3.09 goals against average, .899 save percentage and two shutouts.
• Ryan Wischow has made 12 appearances in goal, starting 13 games while going 7-4-0 with a 3.03 goals against average and a .899 save percentage.
• UMass has had two different three-game win streaks on the season, with one in November including a series sweep of Quinnipiac (2-1, 6-3).

The Series with the Minutemen
• Maine and UMass have squared off 84 times prior to Friday's tilt, with Maine holding an edge of 54-21-9 in the all-time series after a 3-1 win at Alfond Arena on Jan. 16.
• The Black Bears swept the series last season, skating to a 4-1 win (1/27/17) and a 2-1 win (1/28/17) at Alfond Arena.
• Nolan Vesey scored the game winner in the 4-1 win and Rob Michel found it in the 2-1 win the next night, with Rob McGovern tying a career-high with 44 saves.
• Maine and UMass first met on Jan. 26, 19179 at Alfond Arena, with the Black Bears winning 8-3.

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.

National Stat Check
• As a team, Maine's 3.32 goals per game average is 11th in the country and second in Hockey East behind Northeastern (3.58).
• Black Bear blue liners are averaging .72 goals per game, which is tied for eighth in the country and equal with UMass Lowell for tops in the conference.
• Freshman goaltender Jeremy Swayman is tied for third overall among rookies with nine wins.
• Swayman's .926 save percentage is seventh in the country, tops in Hockey East and thirdnationally amongst rookie netminders.

Spreading the Wealth
• Maine has 12 players in double-digit scoring, a number that leads Hockey East.
• 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.

Chase in the Circle
• Chase Pearson leads Maine with a .543 winning percentage at the face-off dot, a number that places him sixth in Hockey East amongst players who have taken at least 150 face-offs.
• Pearson's 309 total wins is tops in the league and eighth nationally.
• The captain has won at least 10 face-offs in 22 out of 25 games played so far this season and currently has a five-game streak to go with the 17-game streak that he opened the season with.

Thirty-or-More
• With a 31-save performance in Maine's 2-2 with UNH on Jan. 19, Jeremy Swayman made it 11 contests this season in which he has made 30-plus saves.
• From Dec. 2 in a 6-2 win over Vermont to the 2-2 tie with UNH on Jan. 19, he made at least 30 stops in eight-straight games.

Second Period Goals
• The Black Bears scored a goal in the second period in eight straight contests until it came to an end on Jan. 13 and have done so in 19 out of 25 games played this season.
• The team has scored 19 second period goals in road contests, which leads the league and is third nationally.
• Maine's 34 total second period goals is tops in the conference and fifth in the nation.

Up Next
• The Black Bears return home to host Merrimack next weekend, battling the Warriors on Friday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3.

-UMaine-