BOSTON – The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team is conspicuously absent from this year’s Hockey East Championship weekend, but Maine is still well-represented thanks to its women’s team.

For the first time ever, Hockey East kicks off a women’s tournament Saturday, capping an inaugural season that has two teams, Providence and New Hampshire, ranked in the top 10 in the country.

“I have been with Hockey East for several years on the men’s side of things,” said first-year New Hampshire coach Brian McClosky. “This organization reminds me very much of how the men looked not too long ago, and I can only imagine that we will grow just like they have to become one of the premier leagues in the country.”

Thanks to a strong finish of four wins in their last five games, the Black Bears enter this weekend’s tournament as the third seed. They draw the inauspicious task of facing New Hampshire in the first round, although they did play the Wildcats tough in the teams’ last game, a 3-0 UNH win at Alfond Arena.

“That game was a tough one to swallow,” said Maine senior forward Cindy Biron, a 1998 graduate of Lewiston High School. “We outplayed then all night and had a few breakaways, but we couldn’t get it by the goalie.”

The teams actually went into the final period scoreless before UNH notched two early goals and cruised to the win.

“Any time you play New Hampshire, you get up for the game,” said Biron. “The rivalry is there in all of the sports, but especially in hockey.”

As if the Black Bears’ task wasn’t great enough, they will be facing the most decorated player from this past season, and the most decorated team.

At the league’s innaugural conference awards banquet on Friday, UNH goaltender Jen Huggon was named the league’s Player of the Year and named to the first All-Hockey East All-Star first team. Huggon also walked away with the award for the best goaltender, limiting opponents to 0.89 goals per game, and with the ITECH Three-Stars Award for the player garnering the most three-stars nominations throughout the season.

“She’s a great goaltender for sure,” said Maine junior forward Karen Droog, who was Maine’s lone selection to the All-Hockey East team as a second-teamer. “It’s not like she’s unbeatable, but we need to hit the right spots at the right times and get a few bounces along the way.”

The game on Saturday against UNH could be the final collegiate game for Maine’s seniors, a list that includes Biron.

“It is kind of bittersweet,” said Biron. “At least if we do go down, it will be against New Hampshire. There’s really no better way to close out a year or a career than playing New Hampshire in a game as important as this.”

Should Maine get by the Wildcats at Matthews Arena in Boston on Saturday, the Black Bears would advance to the championship game, also at Matthews Arena, at 2 p.m. Sunday

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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