ORONO — Nobody with the University of Maine men’s hockey team is enjoying this week off.
The Black Bears will be reflecting on a disappointing Hockey East split against UMass-Lowell last weekend before playing two games at Boston University on Nov. 16-17.
After a 4-3 win Friday at Orono, UMaine was lackluster in a 1-0 loss the following night.
“Our team’s not happy,” said sophomore goalie Jeremy Swayman, who made a season-high 44 saves in the loss. “We’re going to use that going into this off weekend to work on the things we need to work on and be ready for BU in two weeks. The main thing is sticking to our identity of playing hard in both the D-zone and offensive zone, getting gritty in front of the net and not taking penalties.”
Maine is the most-penalized team in the nation with 159 minutes.
Maine (3-4-1, 1-2-1 Hockey East) has won just once in six games since a season-opening two-game sweep of St. Lawrence.
“The bottom line is, we need to be better than this. That’s just how it is,” said Maine Coach Red Gendron.
Against UMass-Lowell, the Black Bears were good in the win after a week of addressing on-ice discipline issues. They weren’t penalized until midway through the second period, enabling them to overcome an early two-goal deficit.
Saturday was a different.
The River Hawks had four power plays in the first period and three in the second period.
“Eventually it has to come from within,” Gendron said. “It’s the players in the locker room. They have to have enough. They have to get their minds in the right place. We work hard to help them learn how to do that, and then they have to do it.
“That being said, this is on me. I’m the head coach here. Something doesn’t go right, it all comes back to me. But I was pretty angry with the penalties (Saturday night).”
Despite the penalties, Maine didn’t allow a power-play goal in Lowell’s 10 chances in the two games and is 11th in the nation in killing penalties (87.8 percent). Last season, killing penalties was a weakness
“Penalty kill had a good night (Saturday), but when you’re killing that many penalties, it’s hard to generate offense. It’s tough,” said Maine defenseman Rob Michel. “(It’s) a good week for us to recoup and focus on our discipline issue, for sure. If we continue to trust our process, I think that will be good.”
With the split, Maine failed to move above .500 in Hockey East play. The shutout also spoiled Swayman’s best goaltending effort of the season, his second 40-save game this season.
“We’re definitely not happy,” Michel said. “We like our team and how close we are, it’s just sticking to what we’re doing. It’s a learning process, for sure. I think we’ve learned you can’t take any team lightly, especially in Hockey East.”
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