UM’s Carney, Dunham advance/One step closer to ’92 Olympics

University of Maine defenseman Keith Carney and goalie Mike Dunham were two of the 29 players chosen from among 80 players at the United States Olympic Hockey Festival to participate in the Final Selection Camp in St. Cloud, Minn. on Aug. 1-10.

Two other Black Bears, defensemen Matt Martin and Chris Imes, did not survive the cut.

There are expected to be between 40-50 players at the August camp including a handful of pro players who survived a tryout camp in Lake Placid on May 22-26. The players are attempting to make the ’92 Olympic team.

Carney, who was a junior at Maine this past season, was one of seven defensemen chosen from the festival and Dunham, who was a freshman, was one of only two goalies with the other being Mike Gilmore, who played at Michigan State.

Carney had a goal and three assists in the festival for the North team, which won the gold medal with a 10-3 win over the South in Friday night’s championship game in St. Cloud. He scored his goal in the gold-medal game.

Dunham was the starting goalie for the South in the title game after winning his two round robin games. Dunham made 73 saves on 80 shots in the round robin games but surrendered seven goals on 27 shots in the first two periods of the gold-medal game. Providence College’s Mike Heinke played the third period.

Martin was Carney’s defense partner in the festival and had one goal and three assists, including two assists in the title game, and Imes scored a goal for the South team in the tournament.

Carney said he was satisfied with his performance in the festival.

“I thought I did okay. Things went pretty well,” said Carney, who was a first team Eastern All-American at Maine. “I tried to concentrate on defense. I wanted to play well in the defensive zone and move the puck and I did that for the most part. It helped being on the North team because we had some good players. Winning the gold medal also helped.”

Carney said being paired with Martin was advantageous.

“Even though we weren’t defense partners at Maine, we knew each other and how we played,” said Carney. “I thought we played pretty well together. I’m sure we finished on the plus side (plus-minus). Matty played well.”

Carney also said Dunham and Imes had good tournaments for the South.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Carney said he plans to attend on-ice and dry-land training sessions that will be held in the Boston area in July for New England players who made the cut.

And he said he is “pretty confident” about his chances in August.

“I know there will be a lot of good players at the camp but I’m going in there positive,” said Carney.