Highlights: Maine 3 UMass 2

Maine defeats UMass 3-2 on a Connor Leen goal in overtime at Alfond Arena on October 25, 2013

Highlight Reel: MIH vs. Boston University 2/15

Some of the highlights from Friday night’s tie vs. BU.

Tape to Tape Podcast: Providence/Maine Preview

Bryan and Cody preview Maine’s matchup vs Providence College from today’s episode of Tape to Tape.

All Access: Merrimack vs. Maine (Sat.)

Some postgame sound after Merrimack’s 3-2 victory over Maine Saturday night.

Tim Whitehead

Merrimack Head Coach Mark Dennehy

Connor Leen

Joey Diamond

All Access: Men’s Ice Hockey vs. Mercyhurst

Some post game sound from Saturday night’s 5-2 loss to Mercyhurst.

Tim Whitehead

Connor Leen

Brice O’Connor

Weekend Recap: Maine, Mercyhurst Split Weekend Set

Bryan Roche and Alex Quirk breakdown Maine’s two game series vs. Mercyhurst.

(Excuse the echo, Garage Band wasn’t playing nice…)

Hockey Preview: Mercyhurst vs. Maine

Are things finally getting back to normal in Orono? It may be too soon to say but the Men’s Ice Hockey team took a step in the right direction last weekend as the Black Bears were able to defeat Minnesota Duluth and #11 Cornell to capture their sixth Florida College Classic title.

The team returns home to the frozen tundra (in comparison to Estero) that is Maine, first making their annual stop in Portland where the Black Bears will take on Mercyhurst University in the first game of a weekend set. Game two will take place at Alfond Arena in Orono. The Lakers of Mercyhurst come to Maine on a three game winning streak, winning four of their last five overall. Maine is riding their first winning “streak” of the year after two straight victories in Florida. It is the first time all season that the Black Bears have won back to back games.

A bit about the Lakers

Mercyhurst sits second in Atlantic Hockey with a 7-3-0 record in conference, 8-6-1 overall. Scoring goals hasn’t been an issue, especially on the man advantage as the Lakers travel to Maine with the sixth best power play in the country, converting 23.08% of their opportunities (15-for-65). Leading the way is sophomore forward Chris Bodo and his six power play goals, tied for most in the country. The St. Thomas, ONT native has come on strong as of late, putting up a line of 5-2-7 in his last five games, three of those goals coming on the man advantage.

Bodo isn’t the only Laker with the hot hand as sophomore forward Mathew Zay has also put up seven points in his last five games (2-5-7). Sophomore forward Daniel Bantage has tallied four goals and two assists in last five contests. Bantage and Bodo both lead the team with eight goals. Fellow sophomore and leading scorer Ryan Misiak (4-10-14) has put compiled a 1-3-4 line in his last five games. Mercyhurst has outscored their opponents 13-5 during their current three game winning streak.

The issues for this Lakers squad come on the defensive end as the team has the 51 (out of 59) ranked defense in the nation, allowing 3.20 goals a game. Senior Charlie Carlin and sophomore Grant Gettinger are the only two defenseman with a positive plus/minus rating, both at a +1. Mercyhurst gave up a season-high seven goals to American International four games ago. AIC currently has the 45 ranked offense in the country.

Goaltending has been a toss-up for the Lakers as junior Jordan Tibbett and senior Max Strang have split time in net. Tibbett comes into the weekend with a 3-3-0 record, 2.61 goals against average, and a .930 save percentage. The junior has seen time in seven contests, starting five. In his last game, Tibbett stopped 42-of-43 shots en route to a 3-1 victory over Clarkson. Strang has played in ten games, starting 9 and has put together a 5-3-0 record along with a 3.32 GAA and a .903 save percentage. The senior netminder was named Atlantic Hockey USA Travel Team Goalie of the Week for the week of Dec. 17. Strang’s last start came Dec. 18 where he stopped 37-of-39 shots in the 3-2 victory over Canisus. Do not be surprised if Tibbett and Strang split starts this weekend.

This is a young Mercyhurst squad that plays in the weak Atlantic Hockey conference but touts an effective offense and a strong power play. The Lakers brought back 23 of their 26 players from a season ago and will only graduate four seniors this upcoming spring. The heart of this team lies in it’s sophomore class and with not much roster turnover expected in the next couple of seasons, this is a Mercyhurst squad that could be making some noise in the near future.

Can the offense build off of Saturday’s performance?

The Black Bears shocked everyone Saturday night when they hung a six spot on #11 Cornell. What made it even more miraculous was that the Maine clawed back from a 3-0 deficit halfway through the first period. Mike Cornell, Kyle Beattie, Mark Anthoine, Devin Shore and Connor Leen all found the back of the net with Ryan Lomberg adding an empty netter in the end. For Lomberg, it was his second goal of the weekend as he provided the only offense in Maine’s 1-0 victory over Minnesota Duluth.

The six goals Saturday night has to come as a relief to this struggling Black Bears squad. Coming into the weekend, Maine owned the worst offense in the country, averaging a meager 1.33 goals per game, leaving the team searching for answers. In a conversation with sophomore forward Stu Higgins, he echoed the belief of his teammates when saying the offense will eventually come around, “it has to.”

So what lead to Saturday night’s outburst? It can be argued that the team’s increased physicality played a big factor. This Maine team doesn’t possess much offensive skill, at least not much that we’ve seen, so they have to rely on being the bigger, badder team on the ice. The Black Bears hit hard and hit often Saturday night, not relenting after Cornell put them in a hole early. Eventually the smash-mouth hockey wore the Big Red down and Maine was able to secure the comeback victory.Maine is going to have to capitalize on their strength and play this physical brand of hockey for the rest of the season if they have any hopes of making a run in the Hockey East tournament.

Morris firmly established as backup, scheduled to start Saturday

Martin Ouellette was fantastic in net Friday night and helped guide the Black Bears to a 1-0 shutout victory over Minnesota Duluth. The junior netminder stopped all 31 Bulldog shots, notching the second shutout of his college career.

Things weren’t as peachy Saturday night.

Ouellette was yanked at the 10:33 mark of the first period after allowing three Cornell goals on six shots.

Matt Morris, not Dan Sullivan, was called into duty and the freshman performed fantastically. The Ridgewood, NJ native stopped 22-of-23 shots in 49:27 of relief, giving his team the spark they needed to come back and secure the victory. For his efforts, Morris was named the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Co-Rookie of the Week, sharing the honor with Northeastern’s Kevin Roy.

Morris will have a chance to backup last Saturday night’s performance in Orono as he’s scheduled to get the start in game two of the weekend series. Barring a string of catastrophic performances, Ouellette will remain this team’s number one goaltender as he has consistently given Maine a chance to win on a nightly basis.

Injury bug continues to cripple Maine

Maine will be without freshman forward Connor Riley, senior forward Klas Leidermark, and junior defenseman Brice O’Connor this weekend as a new wave of injuries has struck the team. Riley and Leidermark suffered concussions in Saturday night’s victory while O’Connor sustained a shoulder injury. Nick Pryor, who missed all of last weekend with the flu, Adam Shemansky (mono), and Joey Diamond (neck) are all questionable.

For a Black Bears team that ended first semester battered and bruised, this is not the news anyone wanted to hear going into the second half. With the balance of their conference schedule in front of them, don’t be surprised if Maine plays it safe this weekend, lineup wise, against an Atlantic Hockey opponent.

Final thoughts

If Maine can bring the physical presence shown Saturday night teamed with timely scoring, they will have a chance to beat Mercyhurst and their porous defense both nights. The Black Bears will have to stay disciplined and not let the Lakers’ effective power play get to many chances. Defensively, Maine just needs to keep trending in the right direction. Smarter play has helped this Black Bears defensive corps improve each game, that along with having confidence in their goaltender.

There’s still a large hill to climb but two wins this weekend can only point Maine in the right direction, giving them the confidence they lacked in the first half.

Remember, both of this weekend’s games can be heard online only on WMEB Plus. Coverage starts at 6:50 on Friday and 6:45 on Saturday. For a more detailed look at this weekend’s matchup, check out our By the Numbers feature.

MIH: Black Bears’ Tumultuous Semester Concludes with Parker’s Dismissal

Sophomore forward John Parker has been dismissed from the University of Maine Men’s Ice Hockey team for violating team rules.

According to a source close to the team, the decision was made over a week ago to dismiss the Green Brook, NJ native. In an interview with the Bangor Daily News, head coach Tim Whitehead said Parker committed “several alcohol related infractions,” which untimely lead to his release.

The right winger skated in 33 games a season ago scoring three goals and tallying four assists, leading all freshman on the squad. He was expected to play a bigger role on this years team.

Known for his speed, Parker suffered a broken foot before coming to school this year, causing him to miss Maine’s first 15 games. There was some hope that the sophomore would return in the second half of the season but most likely he would have sat out as a medical redshirt with three years of eligibility remaining.

The source also stated that the latest incident with Parker had taken place right around the same time freshman forward Ryan Lomberg earned himself a three game suspension for violating team rules. The two incidents were reportedly not related.

Whitehead called Parker “a great kid” when speaking with the BDN but felt that a dismissal was warranted.

Sitting at 2-11-2, Maine is in the midst of its worst starts since the 1982-83 season, a season in which the Black Bears finished 5-24-0. With Parker’s release coming off the heals of Lomberg’s suspension, the issues on the ice are no longer this team’s only concern.

In a phone conversation Monday night with a source close to the team, an older member of the squad told the source “there’s gonna be a lot of changes” around the team and that people might start “disappearing.”

What exactly that statement means is hard to say but it appears that a change of culture is in the works. From the sounds of it, there could be some more interesting developments between now and the next time this Black Bears team takes the ice on Dec. 28 against Minnesota Duluth in the first round of the Florida College Classic.

All Access: Men’s Ice Hockey vs. BC & UNH

 Tim Whitehead and Devin Shore give their thoughts on the 4-2 loss to Boston College

Whitehead and Cornell dissect the 4-0 loss to UNH on Sunday

Football Preview: #12 New Hampshire vs Maine

The University of Maine football team is back in Orono after a two week road swing to play the 12 ranked University of New Hampshire Wildcats in the 100 battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket.

The 2-4 Black Bears have got off to a rough start to the 2012 season but things have been looking up as of late. Maine was able to topple Delaware 26-3 two weeks ago but fell to offensive juggernaut Towson 24-19 last weekend in a close contest.

A bit about at the Wildcats

UNH comes to Orono on a three game winning streak, batting Delaware, Georgia State, and Richmond. The 5-2 Wildcats offense has been explosive this season, scoring at least 34 points in six of their seven contests, and ranks fourth in the nation. Sophomore quarterback Andy Vailas has lead the charge for the Wildcats this season, completing 115 of 194 passes for 1430 yards, 16 touchdowns, and three interceptions. On the ground, Vailas has rushed for 232 yards for four touchdowns and a 3.4 yards per carry average.

Sophomore running back Nico Steriti has been a force for UNH on the ground, rushing for 672 yards and 6 touchdowns while averaging a staggering 7.7 yards per carry. Steriti is not alone in the backfield as sophomore Jimmy Owens and junior Chris Setian have each rushed for four touchdowns. Owens has rushed for 349 yards on 47 touches while Setian has rushed for 320 on 51 carries. UNH’s three headed monster at running back, along with the mobility of Vailas look to take advantage of Maine’s less than stellar run defense.

Defensively, it has been a completely different story for the Wildcats as they have allowed 40 or more points in three of their seven games this season, good enough for the 88 ranked defense in FCS football. Senior linebacker Matt Evans will be a force up front for UNH as he leads the team in tackles with 70. Senior linebacker Alan Buzbee is second on the squad with 40.

Where does Maine go from here?

Sitting at 2-4, Maine’s postseason chances are looking slimmer and slimmer each week. The Black Bears virtually need to win the rest of their contests to have a shot and playing the balance of their schedule in conference dosen’t make life any easier. The Black Bears need to take things one game at a time and keep growing as a unit. As we have said many times, there are a lot of new faces in new places and the team just needs to find the right mix to make them a serious contender not just for the rest of this season but next year as well. With most of the nucleus slated to return, it is just about time to get ready to make a serious run in 2013.

A balanced offense?

Since we were last on the air, Maine has experimented with amore of a balanced attack. David Hood re-entered the lineup two weeks ago at Delaware and rushed for 103 yards, averaging 7.4 yards a carry while Rickey Stevens rushed for 67 yards, averaging 5.2 yards a carry. Marcus Wasilewski only attempted 18 passes. The next week vs Towson, Wasilewski attempted 37 passes as the Tigers shut down the running game early. With UNH’s 114 ranked pass defense and Maine’s strong receiving corps, expect a pass-dominant attack from the Black Bears.

Homecoming and the 100th battle for the Musket

It’s homecoming at the University of Maine but more importantly, it is the 100 battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket. The Musket is awarded to the winner of the anual matchup between the two rival football programs. UNH leads the all-time series with a 48-43-8 record. The Wildcats have won eight of the last nine match ups vs the Black Bears.

Final thoughts

As stated earlier, Maine virtually needs to win out to make the playoffs. Realistically  this team is playing for next season and can play with some more comfort. While Maine’s defense has struggled this season (Michael Cole being out for the season dosen’t help) they have made strides over the past two weeks, especially the rush defense. Maine’s defense is ranked 51 overall and is matching up with the fourth best offense in the country. On the contrary, Maine is facing a miserable pass defense so this one has all the makings of a good  ol’ fashioned shootout. The best thing Maine has going for them is that they are playing their rival for the 100 time on homecoming. Hopefully the atmosphere in Orono can push the Black Bears over the edge.

WMEB Sports coverage kicks off at 11:45 AM as Brandon Poli has the pre game report and at Noon, Bryan Roche, Cody Beckett, and Liam Nee will have the call, live and commercial free from Morse Field. Not in the listening area? Click the “Listen Live” section in the header to hear all the action.