UNH ‘Cats loaded for Bear in big HE face-off

On Nov. 14, the University of Maine’s Black Bears straggled out of Amherst, Mass. after managing just a tie in two games against the University of Massachusetts. UMass had been picked to finish last by the league’s coaches.

But the Bears regrouped and have gone 15-2-1 in Hockey East ever since.

That enables them to control their own destiny in their two-game series at Durham, N.H. against the University of New Hampshire in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown this weekend. Maine leads UNH by one point and needs one win to collect the league championship.

A win would also give Maine three victories over UNH this season, ensuring that Maine would win the season series regardless of the Hockey East playoffs. The Bears are already 2-0 vs. UNH.

In addition, it would go a long way in locking up a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament’s Eastern Regional.

“Looking back at the UMass weekend, a lot of people thought we put ourselves in a difficult position,” said Maine senior right wing and captain Steve Kariya. “But we still controlled our own destiny, we fought hard throughout the rest of the year and we’ve really improved as a team.

“I feel very fortunate to be in this position,” added Kariya.

Maine junior right winger Jim Leger said “we learned a lot from that weekend. Any team can play with any other team on a given night. We’ve made a lot of gains since then.”

The Bear players said this will be the most hostile environment they will encounter this season with sold-out crowds each night.

“But I’ve never seen a fan score a goal,” said Kariya. “It’ll come down to staying composed and patient and playing good road hockey.”

Maine junior center Cory Larose said the crowd will be crazy but he loves playing at UNH.

“When we beat them last season in the [league] quarterfinals, the rink became silent. That was a good feeling,” said Larose.

UNH senior center and co-captain Jason Krog, the nation’s scoring leader, said the Bears taught his team a lesson last month when Maine triumphed 4-3 at Alfond Arena and outshot UNH 28-19.

“That really set us back in our place. It showed us we still had stuff to work on. We went back to basics,” said Krog. “We have to keep their [number of] shots down. We’ve got to play strong defensively. We gave them too many opportunities in Orono.”

Krog added that his team has to win the “one-on-one battles for the puck. We’ve got to be hungrier.”

Players on both teams agree that this series will be memorable and will help prepare them for the playoffs.

“This is what hockey players live for,” said Krog.

Maine junior center Ben Guite said, “I had trouble sleeping last night [Wednesday] and I’ll probably have trouble sleeping tonight. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve dreamed about scoring the game-winning goal in games like these.”