ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine men's ice hockey team will return the the Alfond and do battle against the Colorado College Tigers on Wednesday, January 2nd. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 pm.
GAME INFORMATION
Game #17: Maine Black Bears vs Colorado College Tigers
DATE: Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019
TIME: 6:00 p.m. EST
SITE: Alfond Arena -- University of Maine -- Orono, Maine
2018-19 RECORDS: Maine 5-9-2 (3-3-2 HE), Colorado College 7-9-2
GAME NOTES: Maine (PDF)
About the Black Bears
• Maine faced-off against the Princeton University Tigers in two non-conference games three days after Christmas, December 28th and 29th. The Black Bears hit three crossbars in the first game, while they hit two in Saturday night's bout. Princeton held off Maine as they took both of the games played in the historic Hobey Baker Rink.
• Ryan Smith and Eduards Tralmaks guided the Black Bears to a three-point weekend on November 30th and December 1st at Vermont. Smith netted a game winning goal in game one of the series, while Tralmaks tallied two goals of his own in the Saturday stalemate. For his 74 total saves, Jeremy Swayman earned his second Defensive Player of the Week honors of the 2018-19 season.
• The Black Bears hosted their second ECAC opponent of the 2018-19 season in #10 Quinnipiac. The Bobcats were victorious both nights in Orono.
• Maine made the trip down 95 to Boston to take on Hockey East foe Boston University. The two rivals split the series with BU taking the first game, 3-2, and UMaine winning the second, 3-1.
• Jeremy Swayman tallied 79 saves on the weekend and earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors. Chase Pearson finished the series with two goals and two assists, while his line mate, Mitch Fossier, finished with one goal and one assist.
• The Black Bears hosted their first Hockey East series of the 2018-19 season on November 2nd and 3rd. Maine defeated UMass Lowell in the first game, 4-3, and dropped game two, 1-0. Chase Pearson scored two goals in the victory, while Jeremy Swayman posted 44 saves in Saturday night's bout.
• Along with his week one Rookie of the Week nod, Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup was named to the "10 Players in the Spotlight" by NE Hockey Journal.
• Last year's sophomore class finished with 51 assists, good for second overall in Hockey East behind Boston College's sophomores, with Chase Pearson and Mitch Fossier finishing first and second.
• The four-member Class of 2022 includes Simon Butala, Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup, Edward Lindelow, and Adam Dawe.
• The UMaine roster includes three NHL draft picks, with Patrick Shea being selected by the Florida Panthers in 2015, Chase Pearson being drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in 2015, and Swayman being taken in the 2017 draft by the Boston Bruins.
About the Tigers
• Colorado College finished with a record of 15-17-5 last year, ultimately being defeated by Denver, in the NCHC conference tournament.
• The Tigers return all five of their top five scorers from 2017-18 in Nick Halloran, Mason Bergh, Trey Bradley, Westin Michaud, and Christiano Versich.
• Alex Leclerc, who appeared in 36 games last year while going 15-15-4, posted a 3.21 goal against average and a .907 save percentage.
• Mike Haviland, who guided the Colorado College hockey team to its best season in five years in 2017-18, signed a multi-year contract extension in the offseason to remain head coach of the Tigers.
The Series with Colorado College
• The Black Bears enters Friday's game – the 13th meeting between Maine and Colorado College – with a record of 6-5-2 in the all-time series.
• Maine and Colorado College first met in 1985.
• The Black Bears last battled the Tigers on December 30, 2009, earning a 3-2 win in the championship game of the Florida College Hockey Classic at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida.
About Head Coach Red Gendron
• Red Gendron, who enters his sixth 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.
Past 12 Games
• Chase Pearson and Mitch Fossier have combined for 19 points over the past 12 games.
• Pearson has scored seven goals and assisted on four others over the previous 10 games.
• Fossier has found the back of the net one time, while he has dished out seven assists.
Early Season Accolades
• Freshman Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup and has earned two regional achievements.
• After his opening weekend efforts, Schmidt-Svejstrup earned the Rookie of the Week award passed out by Hockey East.
• The New England Hockey Journal also recognized the Sweden native with a spot on the "10 Players in the Spotlight".
It's Worth Noting from 2017-18…
• Jeremy Swayman's 16 wins mark the most by a Maine freshman goaltender since Ben Bishop went 21-8-2 in his rookie 2005-06 season.
• Sophomore Eduards Tralmaks was tied for sixth in the league in rookie scoring (11-14—25).
• Sophomore Brady Keeper finished third in the league for rookie defensemen scoring (6-16—22).
• Maine had 13 players in double-digit scoring and has received goals from 19 different players, assists from 21 and points from 21.
• Maine scored a goal in all three periods in nine games last season.
Career Weekly Honor(s) for Swayman
• Jeremy Swayman was named the Hockey East defensive player of the week ending November 18th and December 2nd. Swayman has earned two awards during the 2018-19 season.
• The Anchorage, Alaska native was named the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week on March 5, his sixth weekly award of last season, the most in Hockey East.
• Swayman was the only player last season to have earned at least one Rookie, Player and Defensive Player of the Week award.
• He was named the league's Defensive Player of the Week on Feb. 1 and was Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Jan. 22.
• Two other times last season he was named the rookie of the week (1/8; 11/20) and on Dec. 11 he was named the league's Player of the Week.
Thirty-or-More
• 17 times last season that Jeremy Swayman finished with 30-plus saves.
• From Dec. 2 in a 6-2 win over Vermont to a 2-2 tie with UNH on Jan. 19, he made at least 30 stops in eight-straight games.
Solid Sophomore Campaign
• Mitchell Fossier (12-22—34) was eighth in Hockey East in scoring, one of the three underclassmen in the top 10.
• The Alpharetta, Ga. native scored two game-winning goals last season and assisted on three others – including both in Maine's opening round playoff series sweep of UNH.
• Fossier had 12 multiple-point games on the season and had a stretch of three-straight from Jan. 8-13 and his 15 assists on the road lead the conference.
• He lead the team in goals (12) and assists (22).
Strange Occurrence
• Maine was whistled for five penalties in its game against BC on Feb. 17 but because of other penalties occurring, the Eagles did not experience a power-play opportunity.
• It was the first time since Feb. 19, 2010 against UMass Lowell that Maine's opponent did not have a chance on the man-advantage.
• That game against UMass Lowell was also the last time Maine played a game without committing a penalty.
• The last time Maine itself did not get a power-play opportunity was on Dec. 14, 2013 against American International College.
Border Battle, cont.
• Maine's 4-3 overtime win at New Hampshire on Feb. 14 gave the Black Bears last season's series with a 1-0-2 record.
• The win also marked Maine's first overtime road win since a 3-2 victory at Vermont on Oct. 30, 2010.
• It was Maine's eighth ever overtime win against the Wildcats in 18 overtime tilts (8-2-8).
Overtime!
• Maine's 4-3 overtime win over New Hampshire on Feb. 14 marked the first time in program history that Maine had played four-straight overtime games.
• The Black Bears were 2-2-0 in that four-game stretch, topping UNH and Merrimack (4-3) but falling to Providence (3-2) and Merrimack (3-2).
• Maine played nine overtime games last season, but the program record for extra time tilts in a season is 11 (2001-02; 2012-13).
Second Period Goals
• Maine had notched 27 goals on the road in the second period to lead the league and sat third nationally in 2017-18.
• The Black Bears scored in the second period in their first 13 straight road games, until that streak came to an end on Feb. 14 at UNH last season.
• Maine's 47 second period 2017-18 goals overall was second in the conference behind Northeastern (53) and ninth in the country.
• Following the trend of last season, the 2018-19 Black Bears have second six second period goals over four games.
Five-or-More
• In eight games last season, the Black Bears scored at least five goals.
• In wins over Vermont (6-2) and Quinnipiac (7-4, 5-3) Maine scored five-or-more goals in three-straight games for the first time since a three-game stretch during the 2006-07 season against Bemidji State (7-1, 6-3) and North Dakota (6-2).
• Three times last season, Maine responded to a loss or tie on Friday night by scoring six goals the next night to win, doing so against Miami (6-3) on Oct. 21, UMass Lowell (6-2) on Nov. 4 and Vermont (6-2) on Dec. 2.
Blanking BU
• With Maine and Jeremy Swayman shutting out BU, 3-0, on Jan. 6, it marked the fifth-ever shutout for the Black Bears in the 130-game series with the Terriers.
• The only other time a Maine freshman goaltender blanked BU was on Feb. 21, 1997, when now-assistant coach Alfie Michaud made 20 saves in a 3-0 win at Alfond Arena.
The Puck Stops Here
• In Maine's two-game set at Quinnipiac on Dec. 8 and 9, Jeremy Swayman registered 50 saves in a 7-4 win on Friday and another 45 saves in a 5-3 win on Saturday for a weekend total of 95.
• It marked the first time since at least the 1985-86 season that a Black Bear goaltender registered 95 saves on the weekend, as Al Loring did it with 60-save and 35-save performances at North Dakota (game-by-game statistics not available prior to the 1981-82 season).
• It was the highest single-weekend save total since current assistant coach Alfie Michaud made 93 saves (51, 42) in January 1998.
• The last Maine goaltender to make 50 saves in a game was Matt Morris during a game against Providence on Feb. 5, 2016.
Monthly League Honors
• Goaltender Jeremy Swayman was named the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month for January after going 4-2-2 with 2.34 goals against average, .928 save percentage and his first career shutout in a 31-save performance in a 3-0 win over BU.
• Swayman was first among conference rookies in save percentage and goals against average on the month.
• Doherty finished December with eight points on four goals and four assists, with the points placing him tied for third in the league and first among rookies.
• Swayman was runner-up for Goaltender of the Month in December after going 3-0-1 in four starts and posting a 2.70 goals against average and a .934 save percentage.
Two Games, 13 Goals
• On Dec. 2 against Vermont, Maine scored six goals and then in the very next game (Dec. 8 against Quinnipiac) the team found the net seven times for a 13-goal total in a two-game span.
• It's the largest two-game span goal total for the Black Bears since Nov. 28, 2009 and Dec. 4, 2009 in 10-1 and 3-1 wins over St. Lawrence and Providence, respectively.
• Over that time, Maine's largest goal total in just a single weekend is 12, which came in last season's 5-3 and 7-2 wins over American International on Dec. 9 and Dec. 10.
Swayman Earns Bronze at WJC
• Jeremy Swayman was named to the U.S. National Junior Team roster for the 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship and took home a bronze.
• Swayman was one of three goaltenders on the final 23-player roster, joining BU's Jake Oettinger and BC's Joseph Woll.
• The last Maine player to skate for the U.S. at the IIHF World Junior Championships was Greg Moore in 2004 while goaltender Jimmy Howard was on the roster in 2003, along with Moore.
• Joining Swayman at the WJC was Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup of Denmark.
Clark Cup MVPs
• Freshman Eduards Tralmaks was named the 2017 Clark Cup Most Valuable Player after tallying 12 points on 10 goals and two assists in 14 playoff games – and leading the Chicago Steel to the Tier 1 National Championship.
• Tralmaks – whose 10 goals tied for most all-time in Clark Cup playoff history – becomes the third Clark Cup MVP to become a Black Bear.
• Goaltender Matt Morris '17 was bestowed the honor after leading the Dubuque Fighting Saints to the title in 2011.
• Former Black Bear goaltender Matt Lundin earned the award with the Sioux Falls Stampede in 2007.
Feeling the Draft?
• The 2017-18 UMaine roster includes three NHL draft picks, including two in 2015.
• In 2015, Patrick Shea was selected by the Florida Panthers while Chase Pearson went to the Detroit Red Wings.
• In 2017, Jeremy Swayman went to the Boston Bruins in the fourth round.
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