Injury bug still biting undermanned Black Bears

Just when the Maine hockey team gets senior Scott Parmentier back on its top power-play unit, it loses Cory Larose.

Parmentier returned to practice in full form Tuesday after missing two weeks – right after Larose went into the hospital with an infection in his ankle. Larose is questionable for Maine’s home series this weekend against Merrimack.

UMaine hockey coach Shawn Walsh said the team has had all its key players healthy for just 15 minutes – right before Shawn Wansborough tore a knee ligament in Maine’s second game. Walsh said freshman Adam Tate, who is seventh on the team in scoring, will fill in for Larose.

But the Bears’ power play, that continues to lead the nation at 40 percent, is not Walsh’s concern. Walsh said scoring a regular-strength goal is.

Maine has scored just two even-strength goals in its last three games. It scored four against fourth-ranked Colorado College four games ago.

While Maine went 0-6 with the man advantage in its 6-0 loss to Boston University, Walsh said the power play won’t change.

“I don’t blame the players. I blame myself,” Walsh said. “I didn’t make the right adjustments. They should have been more patient at the point.”

To solve the Bears’ even-strength scoring slump, Walsh is considering a freshman line, or, as he calls it, a kid line with first-year players Matthias Trattnig, Tuomo Jaaskelainen and Dan Kerluke.

Trattnig is sixth on the team in scoring with three goals and two assists in seven games. Kerluke, who filled in for Parmentier the past two weekends on the Bears top power-play unit, is fourth with three and three. Jaaskelainen has an assist and two goals in seven games.