ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine men's ice hockey team will open up the 2023-24 season this weekend when it hosts Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Thursday and Friday night at Alfond Arena.

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on both evenings, with both contests streaming live on ESPN+. The game can be listened to via 92.9 FM, WLOB 100.5 FM, 1310 AM and 1160 AM or online at GoBlackBears.com/MIHRadio.

Tickets for both games are still available and can be purchased at GoBlackBears.com/tickets, by phone at 207-581-BEAR, or in-person at the Maine Athletics box office. 

GAMES 1 & 2 | RPI at Maine
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023 | 7:00 P.M. 
Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 | 7:00 P.M. 
Alfond Arena | Orono, Maine | ESPN+

A WIN ON THURSDAY WOULD...
• Bump the Black Bears to 2-1-0 in season-openers under head coach Ben Barr.
• Move Maine to 10-4-0 all-time against RPI, including a record of 4-3-0 at Alfond Arena.

ABOUT MAINE
• The Black Bears finished the 2022-23 season with an overall mark of 15-16-5 and a Hockey East record of 9-11-4.
• Maine finished tied for sixth in the Hockey East standings and hosted Vermont in the quarterfinal round ... the Black Bears fell, 4-2.
• Lynden Breen and Victor Östman both earned Hockey East Second Team All-Star honors.
• The Black Bears return the top four scorers from a season ago and eight of the top 10 overall.
• Breen led the team in points (36) and goals (21) while Ben Poisson was second in points (26) and first in assists (17).
• Östman went 14-12-4 on the year with a .918 save percentage, 2.21 goals against average and five shutouts while being named a Mike Richter Award semifinalist.
• Head coach Ben Barr enters his third season at the helm of the Black Bears.

ABOUT RENSSELAER
• The Engineers went 14-20-1 overall during the 2022-23 season with a mark of 9-13-0 in ECAC Hockey play.
• A trio of forwards in Jakob Lee (10-12-22), Sutter Muzzatti (7-15-22) and Austin Heidemann (10-10-20) are RPI's leading returning point-getters after finishing second, third and fourth, respectively, a season ago.
• All three goaltenders who saw time a season ago – Carson Cherepak, Jack Watson and Brett Miller – are back, with Watson having seen the majority of time in going 13-15-1 with a .895 save percentage and 3.08 goals against average.
• Dave Smith is in his seventh season as head coach of the Engineers.

SERIES HISTORY
• Maine leads the all-time series with RPI at 9-4-0 and is 5-0-0 in the last five meetings.
• The teams last met for a two-game series during the 2017-18 season, with Maine earning a two-game road sweep at Houston Field House with 3-2 and 5-2 wins.
• The Black Bears have a mark of 3-3-0 at Alfond Arena against the Engineers.

RPI ROOTS
• Maine head coach Ben Barr played his collegiate hockey at RPI, skating for the Engineers from 2000-04, captaining the squad as a senior in 2003-04.
• Barr recorded 64 points on 25 goals and 39 assists in 140 career games.
• Barr earned Team MVP honors as a junior after scoring 11 goals and adding 13 assists for 24 points.

THE CAPTAINS
• David Breazeale and Lynden Breen will serve as the captains of the 2023-24 Maine men's hockey team, with Ben Poisson and Nolan Renwick serving as alternate captains.
• Breazeale, a junior, and Breen, a senior, both served as alternate captains last year
• This marks the second consecutive season that Poisson is wearing an 'A' on his jersey and the first for the Renwick.

EXHIBITION ACTION
• Maine took on rival New Hampshire last weekend in an exhibition edition of the Buffalo Wild Wings Border Battle, with the Black Bears picking up a 3-2 win at Colby College.
• Josh Nadeau finished off a first-period feed from brother Bradly Nadeau to open the scoring before Lynden Breen made it 2-0 early in the third period with a power-play tally.
• After the Wildcats tied things up at 2-2, Breen set up Josh Nadeau for the game-winning goal late in the final frame.
• Victor Östman made 22 saves on 24 shots between the pipes.
-Maine-