Weekend With The Black Bears

In a weird scheduling quirk this weekend, BU is essentially playing two road games. Friday they will play up in Orono vs Maine and then the next night will play at home against the Black Bears. Granted, BU traveled to Orono on Thursday, but they have to travel back to Boston after Friday's game to play Saturday. I can't remember if BU and Maine have ever played a home in home on back to back nights before. It seems a little ridiculous to make both teams travel that distance. Why not just play two at one school one year and then play two the next year at the other? BU and Vermont already do this. It doesn't make sense.

From the Vault
Sean Maguire sticks away Ryan Lomberg on the doorstep in a
November 2013 game at the Alfond. Maine won this game 7-0
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Anyway… Maine was one of the last teams in Division I to find the win column this year. They started the season with three straight ties (Michigan State, North Dakota and Union) before losing eight in a row. The Black Bears first win came on November 20th at home against Vermont. Tuesday night, they were 47 seconds away from handing Quinnipiac their second loss on the year, but surrendered an extra attacker goal. They finished with an impressive tie though. Overall, Maine is 5-13-6 and sit in dead last in Hockey East with just 6 points.

Maine has a tendency to play well on the first night of a series and then get routed in the second game. Take their mid November series with Lowell and two series with New Hampshire for example. In the Lowell games, Maine lost 2-1 on Friday before getting dumped 6-0 on Sunday. Moving to the first UNH series in earlier December, Friday's game ended in a 3-3 tie. Saturday was a 5-3 UNH win. In the second series with UNH, Maine lost game one 5-4 and then got shelled 7-0 the next night.

What does that really mean? Well, it seems once a team gets up a few goals on the Bleak Bears, they don't have the fight to get back in the game.

Scouting the Black Bears
Will Merchant and Blaine Byron are your offensive leaders at 13 points a piece. Merchant has eight goals and five assists and Byron has posted five goalsand eight assists. Other players to watch include Natick native Cam Brown, Steven Swavley and Dan Renouf. This Maine team is a far cry from the Maine teams of the early 2000's that were consistently competing for Hockey East hardware and National Titles.

In goal, Rob McGovern and Matt Morris have both made 13 appearances. McGovern is 1-9-3 on the year with a 2.60 GAA and a .914 save percentage. Morris has an identical save percentage, but his GAA is slightly less impressive at 3.00.

Out of League Common Opponents
Union
Maine 1, @ Union 1 (October 16)
Maine 0, @ Union 2 (October 17)

BU 3, @ Union 5 (October 10)

Quinnipiac
Maine 0, @ Quinnipiac 4 (October 20)
Quinnipiac 3, @ Maine 3 (January 19)

BU 4, @ Quinnipiac 1 (December 12)

BU Notes
- Coach Quinn said earlier this week that Nik Olsson will be out for both games.

- I wouldn't be surprised if both Connor LaCouvee and Sean Maguire see time this weekend. Then again, I could be dead wrong.