Bears’ Robitaille `quiet,’ but important

University of Maine Coach Shawn Walsh calls him “the quiet guy.”

On a lot of college hockey teams, someone with 18 goals and 19 assists in 32 games would be considered anything but “the quiet guy.”

But junior center and tri-captain Martin Robitaille’s 37 points place him sixth on the team in scoring. However, he does several other “quiet” things that help the Bears win and he will play a very important role in this weekend’s Hockey East series against Providence College’s Friars in Providence.

“If there is a better defensive forward in New England than Martin Robitaille, I’d like to know about it,” said Walsh. “In a lot of cases, he takes the other team’s top (offensive) player. I always want him on the ice with a minute to go in a one-goal game. He’s also our top penalty-killer.”

Robitaille’s defensive role will be magnified by the fact Walsh considers Providence to have “the most creative set of forwards in the league.”

“Our job will be to shut their forwards down,” said Walsh.

Robitaille is looking forward to the challenge.

“I like playing against Providence. They’re the type of team I like to play against,” said Robitaille. “They have good, crafty forwards and I like to try to stop them. Good defense beats good offense. If we concentrate on playing good defense and they make mistakes, we’ll capitalize on them.”

Robitaille has always concentrated on the defensive aspect of the game, even when he played in offensive-minded leagues like the Quebec AAA League.

“I’ve always tried to play good defense. I like it. I like playing in the defensive zone and getting the puck out of the zone,” said Robitaille.

That’s not to say Robitaille doesn’t also place a premium on point production.

Prior to scoring in the first period of last Saturday’s 7-3 win over Merrimack, Robitaille hadn’t scored a goal in four games. He had just one assist over that stretch.

“My confidence was a little down and when you score a goal, especially the first goal, it helps your confidence,” said Robitaille.

“It’s important to get your confidence level up, especially with so many big games coming up.”

Robitaille is Maine’s third-leading scorer against the Friars with 3 goals and 5 assists in 10 games. His linemate, left winger Scott Pellerin, is the Bear leader with 9 & 4 in 10 games and junior center Mike Barkley has 4 & 5 in 9 games.Robitaille had the two game-winners in Maine’s 3-2 and 4-3 double-overtime wins over the Friars in their NCAA Tournament quarterfinal best-of-three series two years ago.

“Robitaille has hurt us, but they have a lot of good players who have hurt us,” said Providence Coach Mike McShane.

The Friars’ leading scorers against Maine have been LW Lyle Wildgoose (6 & 10), LW Mario Aube (5 & 9) and RW Rob Gaudreau (7 & 6).