Schutte key cog in Maine ‘D’

The University of Maine Black Bears may be having their problems putting the puck in the net but they have been compensating on the defensive side.

The men’s hockey team enters this weekend’s nonleague games at Brown and Dartmouth having allowed only 23.5 shots on goal and 1.9 goals per game.

One of the subtle keys to the Black Bear defense has been the emergence of sophomore defenseman Mike Schutte.

But he pointed out that defense requires a total team effort.

“The forwards have been doing a great job back-checking. That has made things a lot easier for us,” said Schutte, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound native of Burlington, Ontario. “The coaches have done a great job drilling it into their heads how important it is for them to come back through the middle of the ice and pick up their men. The forwards have been getting back in a flash.”

He added that the team has been able to keep the opposing shots to the outside and limit the number of second and third shots.

“And both of our goalies are playing really well,” said Schutte referring to Matt Yeats and Mike Morrison.

Schutte has been pleased with his individual development.

“I’m really happy with my progress. I’ve learned a lot over last year and, hopefully, I’ll keep learning. Things are falling into place for the team and myself,” said Schutte, who takes as much pride in his defense as he does in his offense.

He didn’t dress for the first 12 games a year ago before earning his shot and dressing for 21 straight games.

Schutte, who played forward some of the time, wound up playing in 23 games. He racked up two goals and seven assists.

He has played in all 10 games this season and has two goals and two assists.

“Last year was a learning year for me. I felt I had to pay my dues. It was the same thing as my first year in juniors,” said Schutte who kept a positive attitude and took advantage of his opportunity when it came.

“Like coach [Shawn Walsh] says, ‘If you don’t have the best of everything, you have to make the best of everything you have,”‘ said Schutte. “The coaches helped me out with my defense and my defense partners made things a lot easier.

“I’m not the best skater around so I have to think the game more. The pace of the game has slowed down in my head this year. Last year, I had to catch up with the speed,” said Schutte.

He said going up against his team’s speedy forwards in practice every day is beneficial.

“We’ve got one of the quickest teams in the country and that has got to help me. It makes it hard on us in practice because the forwards come at us full speed. But that makes it easier in the games,” said Schutte, who has good offensive skills and plays on the power play in addition to taking a regular shift. He also gets some time on the penalty kill.

Although Brown and Dartmouth are both 1-5, Schutte said the Bears aren’t taking them lightly.

“You never know in college hockey now. Anybody can beat anyone else,” said Schutte. “You’ve got to show up [ready to play] every single night. These are two very important games for us.”