Hockey team opens conference play; Bears face football power Delaware.
Three tests, three passing grades.
According to University of Maine hockey coach Tim Whitehead, the Black Bears faced four very distinct tests during the opening month of the season.
First came the tournament against two of the best teams in the country. Maine left the Maverick Stampede in Omaha with two wins and several turned heads across the country.
The second test was a home tournament against underdog opponents. Maine won both games and captured another tournament title.
Test No. 3 pitted Maine against one of the toughest home-ice teams in the country, St. Lawrence. After a nail-biting 3-2 win, Maine crushed the Saints 7-2 in the last game.
The next test is this weekend as Maine opens up conference play against Merrimack in a rare Thursday game and against Boston University on Saturday.
“We’re finally into league play,” said Whitehead. “The games against non-conference opponents are crucial because ultimately they help us into the NCAA tournament, but these games against the league count double. Our goal is the league championship and this is a big step.”
Merrimack comes to town as one of the hottest teams in the country. Overall, the Warriors are 2-2-1 and have one of the better goaltenders in the league in Casey Guenther, who has a 2.17 goals-against-average and a .921 save percentage in five games.
“I really expect a lower scoring game on Thursday,” said Whitehead. “We both have very good goaltending, no matter who we choose to start against them, and their defense traditionally is big and solid.”
Merrimack has struggled to score goals this season, however, and has been outscored 11-10 in five games. Brent Gough, Matt Johnson and Tony Johnson currently lead the team with three points each.
The Terriers will be a much different animal for the Black Bears to tame. Boston University, despite having played three games (Maine will have played six before Saturday’s game), is ranked No. 7 in the country and has an All-America candidate of its own between the pipes in Sean Fields, who this season in three games has a 2.67 GAA.
“Boston University always has very aggressive forwards,” said Whitehead. “They traditionally have one of the best defensive corps in the country.”
According to the rotation used through all of the games played this season, Jimmy Howard is next in line to start Thursday’s game, while Frank Doyle would get Boston University on Saturday. Whitehead has yet to officially announce the starters for the games.
Hen Hunting
After a win in a crucial spot, the Maine football team finds itself in another must-win situation this weekend when it travels to Delaware to take on the Fightin’ Blue Hens.
Last week, Delaware knocked off Division 1-A opponent Navy 21-17 and has risen to No. 2 in the latest national polls. The Blue Hens are undefeated in the Atlantic-10 at 5-0, and are 8-0 overall. A Delaware win would put the Black Bears down by three games with three to play in the race for the A-10 title, and all but eliminate them from post-season contention with four losses overall.
One bright spot for Maine this week was Ron Whitcomb, who was named the Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Week. Last weekend against James Madison, Whitcomb passed for 189 yards and two touchdowns to lead his team to a 20-13 win. On the season, Whitcomb has thrown for 1,333 yards, 13 touchdowns and a 57.6 percent completion percentage.
Maine’s other big offensive threat, junior tailback Marcus Williams, rushed last week for 117 yards on 31 carries, but was hobbled for a bit in the fourth quarter. He started the game wearing a knee brace and appeared to tweak the knee again later in the game.
Williams last week moved into seventh all-time on the Maine career rushing list. He now has rushed for 2,390 yards in two and a half years.
Delaware’s offense is a high-powered machine that features former Georgia Tech star Andy Hall and a pair of running backs, Sean Bleiler and Antawn Jenkins. Its defense stifled what had been the No. 1 rushing offense in Division 1-A last week against Navy. The Midshipmen had been averaging nearly 325 yards per game on the ground, and Delaware held them to 180.
jpelletier@sunjournal.com
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