ORONO, Maine—The University of Maine women's ice hockey team will play its first home series of the season Friday against Sacred Heart, returning to the Alfond after a weekend sweep.

GAME INFORMATION
Game No. 1: Sacred Heart Pioneers vs. Maine Black Bears
Date: Friday, Oct. 12, 2018
Time: 2 p.m.
Site: Alfond Arena
2017-18 Record: Sacred Heart (27-6-2, 13-5-1 NEWHA), Maine (19-14-5, 11-9-4 HEast)

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 Game No. 2: Sacred Heart Pioneers vs. Maine Black Bears
Date: Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018
Time: 2 p.m.
Site: Alfond Arena

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 About the Black Bears

• Maine won its first two games of the season at Quinnipiac University on October 5 and 6.
• The Black Bears won 2-1 in overtime on Friday and with a 3-0 shutout victory.
• Tereza Vanisova earned Hockey East Player of the Week after her four points at Quinnipiac. Vanisova scored a power play goal, overtime game winning goal and shorthanded goal in addition to an assist over the weekend.
• The last time Maine opened the season 2-0 was in 2014-15 (def. UNH 9/27/14, RMU 10/3/14), and have started a year off with that record nine times.
• Both victories gave Maine receiving votes in the USCHO poll this week.

About the Pioneers

•  Sacred Heart played its first two games of the season in a home-and-home with Post on October 5 and 6, with 6-0 and 7-1 finals respectively.
• Goaltenders Sarah Erban and Kayla Walewski split the 6-0 shutout to open the season, with Erban taking the victory with two periods of action. 
• The Pioneers went 27-6-2 last season, capturing the inaugural New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) Championship against Saint Anslem.
• Sacred Heart graduated five players, losing 134 points of total offense after a program best year.
• The biggest offensive loss came from the graduation of 30 goal and 66-point scorer Taylor Moreland to graduation. 
• The Pioneers return three of their four goaltenders from last season, including 17 game winner Sarah Erban.

The Series with Sacred Heart

• Friday's meeting between Maine and Sacred Heart is the 14th all-time meeting between the two competitors, with Maine holding the 12-1-0 record.
• These two teams have not played since Sept. 24, 2011 when the Black Bears took an 8-1 win.
• The squads first met on Oct. 28, 2005 in Orono, with the Black Bears taking a 12-1 win.
• Sacred Heart is 83-71-18 since the last meeting in 2011.

Goals Galore

• In all 13 contests, the Black Bears have had, the team has averaged 8.76 goals per game. 
• The Black Bears have scored 114 total goals in 13 games, with the highest single game total of 13 goals on Nov, 24, 2006. 
• Two different goaltenders are credited with four shutouts against Sacred Heart: Candace Currier (9/25/09, 9/25/10) and Brittany Ott (9/24/10). 
• Brittany Ott split the shutout on 9/23/11 with Currier, as did Kylie Smith with Currier on 9/25/10.

Freshmen Flash

• Maine added six new players onto the 2018-19 roster, all in their first year in the NCAA.  
• Three new skaters, Liga Miljone, Ida Press and Celine Tedenby all played in Svenska Damhockeyligan (SDHL), a professional women's hockey league in Sweden prior to their arrival at Maine.
• North American additions are Ali Beltz, a Herb Brooks award winner from Minnesota, Ally Johnson from Wisconsin, and Nicole Pateman from London, Ontario.
• Five first year players dressed in the Sept. 28 exhibition against the University of New Brunswick and all contributed on the scoreboard.
• Ida Press, Liga Miljone, Celine Tedenby and Ally Johnson all scored in the exhibition with Ali Beltz adding three assists in the game.

Record Setting Season

• With its 3-2 win over Boston University on Feb. 23, Maine set the single-season program record for wins in a season at 19.
• That win was also the program's first-ever postseason victory and two days later, the team won the program's first-ever playoff series with a 4-3 overtime comeback win.
• The first-ever national ranking for the Black Bears came on Jan. 8 after climbing to the No.10 spot in the USCHO Poll.
• Goaltender Carly Jackson set the single-season program wins record at 15 with a 28-save shutout performance against UNH. 
• Tereza Vanisova set a program record for most assists in a season last year with 30 and is third on the single season points scoring list with 46 points. 

 Balanced Attack in 17-18

• The Black Bears had 11 players in double-digit scoring in 2018-19, and skaters appearing in at least 19 games has at least one point. 
• Maine had 19 players with points, 15 with at least one goal and 19 with at least one assist.
• Six different Black Bears scored power play goals, with four players having multiple goals on the advantage.
• Michelle Weis contributed on both sides of special teams play, scoring three power play goals and the team's only shorthanded goal of the year.

Global Guidance

• Sixteen members of the Black Bears team are from places outside of the United States.
• Seven are from Canada, with five from Ontario, one from Quebec and one from Nova Scotia.
• Nine athletes are from Europe-- three from the Czech Republic, one from Latvia, one from Denmark and three from Sweden. 
• The Black Bears lead the NCAA women in European born players. The next two closest programs have four players from Europe (St. Cloud and Vermont). 
• Hockey East has the largest number of European born players of any women's hockey conference with 20. Of Czech players in its ranks, with Maine's Tereza Vanisova, Vindula Pribylova and Anna Zikova making up three of the seven in the conference.

About Head Coach Richard Reichenbach

• Richard Reichenbach enters his sixth full season as the head coach of the Black Bears in the 2018-19 season and ninth overall at Maine.
• Beginning in the 2010-11 season, Reichenbach served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Black Bears before taking over as co-head coach during the 2013-14 season.
• Reichenbach, a native of Baldwinsville, New York, is a 2006 graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He played hockey – captaining the squad as a senior, as well as playing lacrosse for the Continentals for four years.
• Following graduation, he played a year of professional hockey with the Richmond Renegades of the SPHL.

-UMaine-