Maine faces Merrimack -and a hot goalie -in the first round of the playoffs.
It is a scene Maine college hockey fans still have fresh in their minds. Less than a year ago, the Black Bears were heavily-favored going into the Hockey East quarterfinals against Massachusetts, and lost the series in two games at home.
In that series, Massachusetts had a stud freshman goaltender by the name of Gabe Winer.
This year, Maine is No. 2 in Hockey East and will face Merrimack, which, by chance, has one of the hottest netminder in all of college hockey down the stretch – and he’s a freshman.
“(Jim) Healey has really emerged for them down the stretch,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. “That goaltender is very hot right now, and that makes it all the more important for us to get to the net and get some quality shots on him early.”
Healy has lost just once in his last six games for the Warriors, getting every one of those starts and going 2-1-3. In the loss, Healey gave up four goals on nine shots and was pulled, but in the other five, he faced an average of 35 shots per game, and allowed just 11 total goals.
For Maine’s offense, then, the trick to the series will be capitalizing on the opportunities that Merrimack will almost assuredly give them.
“We’ve juggled our lines so much this year,” Whitehead said, “and I imagine we’ll continue to do that this week. We’ve adjusted each weekend to fit the opponent, and it has been working for us.”
Last week against Boston College, one of Maine’s most productive lines was its so-called fourth line of Cameron Lyall, Ben Murphy and John Ronan.
“That’s our fourth line,” Whitehead said with a laugh. “They have been solid out there and they didn’t give up any goals while making a difference on the offensive end. The fact that we can go that deep is encouraging.”
Of course, mentioning Healey as one of the top goaltenders down the stretch also merits mentioning Maine’s duo of Jimmy Howard and Frank Doyle. Doyle, a senior, and Howard, a sophomore, have split time throughout the season, and will continue to do so in the playoffs.
“I see no reason to change that up right now,” Whitehead said. “After all, it has worked so far.”
Howard set a record last Friday for most career shutouts at Maine with his eighth. It was also his fifth of the season. Doyle, meanwhile, has posted five this season as well, giving the duo 10 for the season in 26 games. Howard leads the nation with a 1.18 goals-against average, and with a .956 save percentage, two of the best regular season numbers in those categories all-time.
“The other piece to it, of course, is defense,” Whitehead said. “Especially against BC last weekend we saw the defense not allow solid scoring chances in front of the net.”
Maine opens its series with Merrimack on Friday night at Alfond Arena, with game two scheduled for Saturday night. Game three, if necessary, will be Sunday.
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