Junior center Brendan Walsh is enjoying an offensive resurgence for the University of Maine men’s hockey team.

He had 13 goals and 24 assists in 65 games at Boston University before transferring to Maine a year ago.

Walsh is currently tied for second on the team in scoring with nine points on five goals and four assists through nine games.

However, he maintains that his strong suit is defense and that is his top priority.

“It’s defense first. I’m just getting the bounces right now,” said Walsh. “Goals are like bananas, they come in bunches.”

He had a bunch this past weekend, four to be exact, in Maine’s sweep of Providence.

Maine coach Shawn Walsh pointed out that Brendan (no relation) put up impressive offensive numbers in junior hockey and said he expected him to generate offense this season.

“He’s one of the top players in this league. He’ll create offense with his tenacity. I like having him on a different line than Steve [Kariya]. It adds to our team value,” said coach Walsh, who has put Walsh on the first power-play unit.

Brendan Walsh has worked on his shot after practice and has focused on releasing it quickly.

“Steve [Kariya] does that to perfection. He’ll come down the far side and get his shot off quickly,” said Walsh, the league’s player of the week. “All the goals I scored last weekend came off quick releases.”

“Grant (assistant coach Grant Standbrook) has told us to shoot to the five-hole. I think Paul [Kariya] passed that on to Grant and Steve. If you shoot to the five-hole, the puck will always come back to the front of the net. You have a better chance of creating a rebound and keeping the play going,” added Walsh. “I try not to use a slap shot unless I’m penalty-killing and have time to tee one up.”

He also said his four-goal weekend gave him a “good boost of confidence” and that the Bears have benefited from a basic approach to offense in practice lately.

“We’ve concentrated on things like stopping in front of the net [to look for rebounds] after taking a shot instead of just skating by the net,” said Walsh.

Maine senior right wing Marcus Gustafsson has had his mother, Inger, and sister, Anna, visiting him from Knivsta, Sweden.

“My mother had never seen me play over here,” said Gustafsson, who wasted little time scoring when he notched his third goal of the year 1:16 into Friday night’s 6-1 win.

“My mother missed the goal. She was getting her tickets,” said Gustafsson.

He added that his mother has been captivated by the loud fans and the atmosphere at the Alfond Arena.

“I think she has watched the crowd more than she has watched the games. It has been like a big show to her,” joked Gustafsson. “It turned out to be a great weekend for them to come and watch the games.”

Maine swept 6-1 and 3-2. Gustafsson had an assist to go with his goal on Friday.

His mother and sister will also attend the Friday afternoon game in the Governor’s Cup Tournament between the Bears and New Hampshire at the Tsongas Arena at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell before flying home on Sunday.

Maine coach Walsh confirmed that this weekend’s fourth annual Governor’s Cup Tournament will be the final one.

It will have been held at each of the four rinks: Maine’s Alfond Arena, the University of Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse, New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center, and the Tsongas Arena at UMass-Lowell.