When the late Shawn Walsh took a bottom-of-the-pack University of Maine hockey program and transformed it into a national power with two NCAA championships, one of the building blocks was the recruitment of older freshmen.
They were usually at least 20 years old and were mature, mentally and physically.
Many of them weren’t household names when they came to Maine but they filled important roles and became known over the course of their careers.
Third-year Black Bear head coach Red Gendron has followed that blueprint with this season’s nine-member freshman class. Seven of the nine players are at least 20 years old and another is 19.
Additionally, Gendron and his coaching staff have continued to address the need to bulk up. Seven of the nine freshmen are at least 6-foot-2 and five of them weigh 205 pounds or more.
The Black Bears need to win more puck battles and develop more of a physical presence if they are to finish above where they were picked in the two preseason polls: 11th (Hockey East Writers and Broadcasters Association) and 10th (Hockey East coaches).
Maine finished last season 51st among 59 Division I teams in goals allowed (3.26), which shows it was spending too much time in its own end. It also reflected that the Black Bears had inexperienced and inconsistent goaltending, although it was significantly better at the end of the year.
One of the freshmen is, 6-foot-4, 220-pound Rob McGovern, a goaltender. He will push junior Matt Morris and sophomore Sean Romeo.
McGovern was 13-8 with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage for the Bay State Breakers of the United States Premier Hockey League last year.
The freshmen know they will be called upon to make important contributions this season and they are ready for the challenge.
“A lot of us are 94s [born in 1994] and that maturity helps,” said 21-year-old freshman forward Danny Perez, who stands 6-4. “We’re here for school and hockey, not to mess around. We know what we’re here for and what we want to do. And we want to contribute right off the bat.”
“We have a lot of big guys who like to take the body. That will make us a hard team to play against,” 6-foot-6, 225-pound defenseman Stephen Cochrane said.
Freshman forward Brendan Robbins said playing a couple extra years of juniors helped his body mature, which may lead to earlier success in the tough Hockey East than a player would experience coming right out of high school.
Freshman forward Dane Gibson is hopeful his classmates will step into big roles right away.
“There will be a little bit of pressure on us but I think we’ll rise above it and be good this year,” he said.
Gibson will be one of the freshmen expected to have an immediate impact.
He was the third-leading scorer in the prestigious British Columbia Junior Hockey League with the Victoria Grizzlies last season as he notched 89 points in 56 games including a league-high 57 assists.
Maine had just five players with nine or more goals during its 14-22-3 season a year ago and three have departed.
Gendron will look for his veterans to elevate their point production as they take more prominent roles, but the freshmen will have to produce more than the 23 goals registered by last year’s newcomers.
“[Gendron] recruited us for a reason. Hopefully, whatever he recruited you for, you do your job and, hopefully, we can have a good season,” Robbins said.
“There will be a little bit of pressure because we’re representing the University of Maine and there is a long history and tradition here,” Perez said. “And we want to bring that back. So there is that pressure but we’ll feed off that. We want to contribute right away. We’re all really competitive and we’re a hard-working group. We’ll help out this team in any way we can.”
Defenseman Keith Muehlbauer knows the team will need at least a couple of the freshman defensemen to factor into the lineup right away.
Cochrane, Muehlbauer, Rob Michel and Sam Becker will be vying for playing time along the blue line and it will be important for them to mature rapidly.
Becker, Michel and Becker have offensive potential while Cochrane should supply a gritty, hard-nosed component that will be welcomed in Orono.
The 6-foot-2 Michel was the Defenseman of the Year in the Central Canada Hockey League a year ago as he amassed 53 points (16 goals, 37 assists) in 57 games. Becker had eight goals and 40 assists in 55 games for the Minnesota Magicians of the North American Hockey League and Muehlbauer had 18 goals and 40 assists in 75 career games for Eastview High School in Minnesota. Cochrane had two goals and 13 assists in 49 games for the Bay State Breakers in Massachusetts.
It would be nice if they could chip in offensively but it is more important for them to make smart decisions with and without the puck and get the puck out of their own end as quickly as possible.
In addition to Gibson, Perez and Robbins, Justin Rai is the other incoming forward.
The shifty Rai, like Gibson, had an impressive run in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League with 36 goals and 41 assists in 76 games for the Prince George Spruce Kings over the past two seasons. He had 31 points in 25 games last season before concussion-like symptoms ended his season prematurely.
Perez was a two-time Eastern Hockey League all-star and had 48 goals and 41 assists in 86 games over the last two seasons for Wilkes Barre/Scranton. Robbins had 18 goals and 26 assists in 50 games for the Islanders Hockey Club in the United States Premier Hockey League.
In addition to providing some offense, the freshman forwards could help out in other ways like supplying energy, physicality and defensive integrity.
Gendron likes the class.
“They are very mature and very focused,” Gendron said. “They each bring different elements to the table.
“They are, by and large, an older group and they have the amount of maturity that comes with the combination of how they were developed by their families and the experiences they’ve had with other coaches in other programs. We have high hopes for these people.”
Maine opens against Michigan State in the Ice Breaker Tourney at 8 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.