UMaine hockey seeking offensive improvement Injuries plague first half of season for 7-6-4 Bears

Three University of Maine hockey veterans said they expected to enter the Christmas break with a better record than their current 7-6-4 slate [4-3-2 in Hockey East].

But head coach Shawn Walsh said he is satisfied with it in lieu of the 30 man-games lost to injuries.

“Considering what we went through, I’m pleased with our record,” said Walsh. “Health was the biggest issue. We never had an entire team available. But we persevered. We didn’t let it destroy us.”

Maine was without top returning scorer Niko Dimitrakos (broken wrist) for the first eight games.

Peter Metcalf (knee), the leading 1999-2000 point-getter among defensemen, has missed the last eight as has impressive freshman LW Brendan Donovan (lacerated kidney), who was among the team’s leading point-getters. Chris Heisten (knee) was leading the team in scoring when he went down two games before the break.

The glaring weakness has been offensive production.

Maine has been held to three goals or less 13 times and two goals or less 10 times.

Walsh cited three reasons for his team’s 2.94 goals-per-game average.

“It has been a combination of our youth; the fact we don’t seem to have a go-to guy who can get a point or two every single night and, the third thing, is college hockey has become much stingier,” said Walsh.

Virtually every forward was mired in a slump for some period of time during the first half.

Gray Shaneberger has gone 13 games without a goal or assist; Tommy Reimann and Todd Jackson have gone 11 and 9 games without a goal, respectively; Dan Kerluke has only one goal in his last 11 games; Lucas Lawson has just one in his last six games and Robert Liscak began the season goal-less in 10 games.

“We haven’t been consistent offensively,” said Reimann.

However, a few Bears have stepped up lately. Senior right wing Matthias Trattnig has a personal-high, four-game, goal-scoring streak; sophomore center Marty Kariya has two goals and five assists in his last four games and freshman defenseman Francis Nault has assists in four of his last five games.

Walsh feels his team has been very good defensively.

His Bears have surrendered only 2.29 goals per game.

“We did an exceptional job killing penalties [89 percent] and our power play has been pretty good [18.7 percent],” added Walsh.

Goalie Matt Yeats, after a slow start, has allowed only 10 goals in his last six starts.

“I feel a lot better out there now,” said Yeats. “I couldn’t get into my rhythm early in the season. I don’t know if it was the pressure of coming back as the No. 1 goalie or what. But I took a step back, refocused and things have gone well since.”

Maine will gain the services of Vermont transfer Don Richardson when they play Dec. 27-28 in the College Christmas Classic in Florida. The right winger should be able to jump-start the offense, according to Walsh who labeled Richardson a “creative, buzzing kind of high-energy player.”

Donovan will be back and Metcalf might also be available. Heisten could be back as early as the Boston University series Jan. 12-13.

“We’re a better team than the record shows,” said junior defenseman and co-captain Doug Janik. “We’ll get a few guys back and, hopefully, we’ll get things rolling in the second half.”