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Men's Ice Hockey Travels to Vermont
Nov. 26, 2008
The University of Maine men's ice hockey team extended its unbeaten streak to seven games with a 1-1 tie against Merrimack last Saturday night. Maine is 7-3-1 on the season and 4-2-1 in Hockey East play. The Black Bears carry that streak into Gutterson Fieldhouse when they face Vermont on Saturday night. Vermont is 8-3-2 on the season and 5-3-1 in Hockey East play after downing Massachusetts 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday night. A LOOK BACK: Maine skated to a 1-1 tie with Merrimack on Saturday night at Alfond Arena. The Warriors took a 1-0 lead at 14:07 of the second period. Maine goalie Scott Darling (Lemont, Ill.) went behind the net to play the puck, only to see it take an odd bounce and land on the stick of Merrimack's Pat Kimball. Kimball found Francois Ouimet who was able to score his third goal of the season. Merrimack held the 1-0 until midway through the third period. Maine's Robby Dee (Plymouth, Minn.) got the puck to Will O'Neill (Salem, Mass.) on the blueline. O'Neill fired a shot that Keif Orsini (Montreal, Quebec) tipped past Merrimack goalie Joe Cannata. The game remained tied through regulation and a five minute overtime period. Darling made 23 saves and moves to 5-1-1 on the season. Cannata made 16 saves and moves to 1-1-3 on the campaign. SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) who has five goals and five assists for 10 points. Chris Hahn (Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan) has four goals and two assists for six points. He has a team-high three power play goals. Tanner House (Cochrane, Alberta) has three goals and three assists for six points, while Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) is also chipping in with six points on two goals and four assists. Josh Van Dyk (Woodstock, Ontario) has five points on five assists. Jeff Dimmen (Colorado Springs, Colo.) has two goals and two assists for four points. Both of Dimmen's goals have been game-winners. Spencer Abbott (Hamilton, Ontario) has a goal and three assists for four points, while Simon Danis-Pepin (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec) has four assists. Scott Darling has seen action in seven games in goal for the Black Bears. He is 5-1-1 with a 0.99 goals against average and a .960 save percentage. He has two shutouts on the season. Dave Wilson (Caledon East, Ontario) is 2-2-0 with a 2.76 goals against average and a .901 save percentage. UNBEATEN IN SEVEN: Maine is currently unbeaten in seven straight games. That is the longest unbeaten streak since posting a nine-game unbeaten streak to start the 2006-07 season. Maine's seven games unbeaten streak is the third longest unbeaten streak in the country. Air Force has a 12-game unbeaten streak, while Notre Dame has an eight game unbeaten streak. LOOKING FOR A UNBEATEN NOVEMBER: Maine is 5-0-1 in the month of November. The last time Maine had an undefeated November was during the 2002-03 season when Maine posted a record of 7-0-0 in November. SHORT-HANDED GOALS: Maine got a pair of short-handed goals on Saturday, Nov. 15 in its 3-0 win over Providence. Both Tanner House and Gustav Nyquist notched short-handed goals. They are the first two short-handed goals of the season for the Black Bears. WHITEHEAD WINS 250TH GAME: Maine head coach Tim Whitehead won his 250th career game on Friday, Nov. 21 against Merrimack. A WEEKEND OF FIRSTS: Maine junior Brett Carriere (Ottawa, Ontario) scored his first collegiate goal on Friday in Maine's 2-1 win over Merrimack. The goal turned out to be the game-winner. Rookie Will O'Neill also notched his first goal in the game as well. POWER PLAY CLICKING: After starting the season 2-for-26 on the power play in its first four games, Maine turned that around against Niagara. In the weekend sweep against the Purple Eagles, the Black Bears finished 4-for-9 with the man advantage. For the season, Maine is 9-for-60 on the power play. NYQUIST TIED FOR SECOND IN HOCKEY EAST IN FRESHMAN SCORING: Rookie Gustav Nyquist is tied for second in Hockey East in scoring among freshmen. Nyquist has five goals and five assists for 10 points. Providence's Matt Bergland leads the league with two goals and nine assists for 11 points. Northeastern's Alex Tuckerman has four goals and six assists for 10 points, while UMass Lowell's David Vallorani has two goals and eight assists for 10 points as well. DARLING AMONG HOCKEY EAST AND NATIONAL LEADERS: Rookie Scott Darling leads Hockey East in both goals against average at 0.99 and in save percentage at .960. Darling is 5-1-1 on the season and has allowed two goals or less in all six of his collegiate starts. Darling ranks second in the nation in save percentage and second in goals against average. PENALTY KILLING IMPRESSIVE AS OF LATE: Maine's penalty killing has been impressive of late. The Black Bears have currently killed off 33-of-34 penalties. Maine's penalty killing percentage of 92.6 ranks among the Hockey East leaders. Maine is second in Hockey East in penalty killing, trailing just Northeastern who is killing penalties at a 92.8 clip. MAINE LEADS HOCKEY EAST IN TEAM DEFENSE: Maine is currently leading Hockey East in team defense. The Black Bears are allowing just 1.64 goals per game. UMass Lowell and Northeastern are tied for second, each allowing 2.00 goals per game. SCOUTING VERMONT: Vermont is 8-3-2 on the season and 5-3-1 in Hockey East play. The Catamounts are led by Peter Lenes who has five goals and 12 assists for 17 points. Viktor Stalberg is adding six goals and six assists for 12 points. Brian Roloff has four goals and six assists for 10 points, while Dean Strong is also chipping in with 10 points on a goal and nine assists. Justin Milo has six goals and three assists for nine points, while Corey Carlson has three goals and six assists for nine points as well. Mike Spillane and Rob Madore have split time in goal for the Catamounts. Spillane is 4-2-1 with a 2.83 goals against average and a .896 save percentage. Madore is 4-1-1 with a 2.60 goals against average and a .912 save percentage. Vermont is coached by Kevin Sneddon (Harvard '92) who is in his sixth season at Vermont. He has a record of 91-84-28 with Vermont and an overall record of 141-183-46 in his 11th season as a head coach. MAINE AND VERMONT ALL-TIME: Maine and Vermont have met 25 times with the Black Bears holding a 13-10-2 lead in the all-time series. The two teams finished 1-1-1 in the series last year. Maine holds a 5-3-2 lead in the last 10 games. MAINE PLAYERS AGAINST VERMONT: Maine senior class has played against Vermont nine times. Chris Hahn leads the way with two goals and an assist, while Jeff Dimmen has a goal and an assist. Simon Danis-Pepin is chipping in with an assist. Dave Wilson has seen action in two games in goal against the Catamounts. He is 2-0-0 with a 0.51 goals against average and a .984 save percentage. VERMONT CONNECTIONS: Maine's Theo Andersson and Vermont's Viktor Stalberg both hail from Gothenburg, Sweden and played for Frolunda. Maine's Ryan Hegarty and Vermont's Chris Atkinson both played for the U.S. National Development Program. Maine's Robby Dee and Will O'Neill both played for the Omaha Lancers as did Vermont's Corey Carlson, Jack Downing and Mike Spillane. Maine's Matt Duffy, Brian Flynn and Mark Nemec.
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