ORONO, Maine — Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
In assessing another discouraging University of Maine hockey season in which the Black Bears finished 11-21-4 and again finished 11th in Hockey East with a 5-15-2 record, it can be viewed either way.
An optimist will say UMaine won three more games than a year ago, but the pessimist will respond that seven of those wins came at the expense of teams that are 54th or worse among the 60 Division I programs in the Pairwise Rankings, which emulate the NCAA tournament selection process.
The optimist would argue that the freshman class scored 36 goals, second most in Hockey East behind Boston University. That equalled the total of the 2008-2009 freshman class that included NHLers Gustav Nyquist, Brian Flynn and Spencer Abbott.
The pessimist will point out that leading scorers Blaine Byron (18 goals, 23 assists) and Cam Brown (4 &-35 ) both graduate and that nobody else had more than 23 points. Byron and Brown concluded their careers with 108 and 106 career points, respectively.
The optimist will say the Black Bears averaged 2.83 goals per game, nearly a goal more than a year ago (2.00) and that the power play was much improved (18.7 percent success rate to 14.1 percent). The pessimist will point out that they allowed slightly more goals this season (3.47 over 3.39) and were a dismal 52nd in the country in scoring defense (3.5 gpg).
The optimist will note UMaine’s impressive wins over 22-9-3 UMass Lowell and 21-13-2 Quinnipiac, but the pessimist will counter by saying the Bears went 1-8-1 in their last 10 games and got drop-kicked out of the Hockey East playoffs by Vermont, 5-0 and 5-1.
Pessimists and optimists alike have to agree that the fact UMaine has gone 22 games without a win on the road (0-18-4) is embarrassing, and that three straight seasons with at least 20 losses is unacceptable.
“As a coach, you always feel you can find a way [to produce more wins],” said fourth-year head coach Red Gendron, who honored the scholarships held by players recruited by former coach Tim Whitehead, slowing the implementation of his own recruits.
That resulted in a few years of limited scholarship money, even though it was “the right way to do it,” as Gendron said.
“It’s on me. The bottom line is we didn’t build the necessary depth we needed to get more wins,” said Gendron.
“We took some huge strides in many ways this season. We became a much better offensive team and a much better team in terms of blocking shots. And we had a great freshman class, among the best in the country in terms of production.”
Gendron, who noted that most nights he played 12 freshmen and sophomores, is already looking forward to next season.
“I believe we could have been better than we were in terms of wins and losses this season. But I’m pretty excited about the future,” he said
“I know next year is going to be an outstanding year for our program.”
Replacing Byron and Brown will be a challenge but the next seven highest point producers return. Junior Nolan Vesey (10 assists) had a career-high 13 goals and was noticeably quicker.
Center Chase Pearson (8 assists) led the freshmen with 14 goals and displayed the potential to become a quality forward with continued development. Sophomore Rob Michel, who didn’t score a goal as a freshman, netted nine this season to go with 10 assists. The smooth-skating, hard-nosed defenseman could become one of the league’s elite blue-liners.
Speedy sophomore winger Brendan Robbins was another bright spot with his 19 points, eight more than his freshman season. Freshmen Mitch Fossier (8 & 8), Patrick Shea (5 & 11) and Ryan Smith (4 & 6) had solid freshman campaigns and should improve those numbers next season. Classmate Peter Housakos (1 & 1), was a useful fourth-liner and penalty-killer.
Junior Cedric Lacroix (5 & 5) was the team’s most physical forward and one of the top penalty-killers. Sophomores Danny Perez (3 & 1) and Malcolm Hayes (0 & 1), junior transfer Robin Hoglund (0 & 1) and freshman Jake Pappalardo (no points) will vie for more ice time.
UMaine will have new forwards including transfers Tim Doherty (Brown) and Canon Pieper (Quinnipiac), who practiced with the team this season. Incoming freshmen include Swede Emil Westerlund, Adrian Holesinksy from Slovakia and Eduards Tralmaks from Latvia, although Tralmaks may play another year of Juniors.
Westerland is a 27-goal scorer in the Swedish Elite Under-20 junior league.
UMaine must get production up front from some of the newcomers to complement the veterans.
“Doherty and Pieper could be very good players for us right away,” said Gendron.
The defense corps should be improved with all but senior assistant captain Eric Schurhamer (3 & 9) returning.
Accompanying Michel on blue line will be Patrick Holway (4 & 9), who had an impressive freshman season, vastly improved junior Mark Hamilton (2 & 10), who was one of the nation’s top shot blockers, and sophomores Sam Becker (0 & 4) and Keith Muehlbauer (0 & 2), who both made positive strides as did redshirt freshman Stephen Cochrane.
The newcomers will include Brady Keeper, the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Most Valuable Player; Swede Alexis Binner from the United States Hockey League’s Green Bay Gamblers, and Cam Spicer from the Islanders Hockey Club.
Keeper had 23 goals and 25 assists in 48 games for the OCN Blizzard in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
Six-foot-seven Hungarian Under-20 team defenseman Oliver Herner redshirted this season and will be in the mix.
“Our defense will be more mobile,” said Gendron.
Consistent goaltending has been an issue for three years but incoming freshman Jeremy Swayman could help solve the problem. He has a 2.89 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage in the USHL.
Sophomore Rob McGovern won nine games (9-16-3) and showed some improvement. He had a respectable .912 save percentage but his 2.99 GAA ranked 52nd in the country. Matt Morris (2-6-1, 4.27, .883) graduates and freshman Stephen Mundinger (3.06, .895) will also return.