Shields happy to finally get his shot Right winger making up for only being able to practice his scoring last year

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ORONO – There are a dozen or so pucks scattered around the faceoff dot in the circle to the left of the net.

Colin Shields takes wrist shots in rapid-fire succession. Some nestle in the back of the net. Others ring off the goalposts. A few others sail wide.

A few minutes later, linemate Martin Kariya sets himself up in the other faceoff circle and slides passes to Shields, who one-times them toward the net.

Right wing Shields has scored seven goals through his first seven college games to lead the Bears and Hockey East in that category. He scored at least one goal in five games.

You could say he is making up for lost time. He was expected to help the Bears put pucks in the net a year ago before learning, a few days before the season opener against North Dakota, that he was ineligible. He had taken a full course load in the fall semester at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, and that made him a transfer student in the eyes of the NCAA, so he had to redshirt.

“Scoring has always been my biggest asset,” said Shields, who led the North American Hockey League in scoring with 46 goals and 95 points in 55 games for the Cleveland Barons two years ago.

“That’s the role I’ve had on every team I’ve played on. I’ve never been a checker or a defensive specialist. So I’ve always worked on my shot,” explained Shields. “The more I work on it, the more confidence I have in it. Goals are hard to come by in college hockey these days.”

He said the best time to work on his shot is after practice.

“During practice, we’re working on systems and different things. You may only get 20 shots during a practice. So I like to stay after and shoot a couple hundred pucks,” added Shields.

Kariya calls Shields a “legitimate goal scorer. He has been our best player over our first seven games.”

Senior defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf said Shields “has a quick release and he gets his shots on net.”

Senior right winger Niko Dimitrakos said Shields catches goalies off guard “because he’s not a big, imposing guy and he gets his shots off so quickly.”

UMass-Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald said, “He has great poise and gameness. He understands how to play. He understands the subtleties of the game. You can tell his best hockey is ahead of him as well.”

Shields has been understandably pleased with his start.

“I’ll certainly take it. I’ve been real fortunate. I’ve been in the right place at the right time and I’ve tried to shoot the puck a lot,” said Shields. “If you put your shots on net, anything can happen. My game is to be around the net and shoot from anywhere.

“Goalies are so big and take up so much net that you have to release your shot as fast as you can. You have to shoot when they don’t expect it. Any goalie these days is going to stop the puck if he can see it and he’s ready for it.”

Senior goalie Mike Morrison said Shields has a “pretty heavy shot. When he is winding up to shoot, you don’t realize that it’s going to come so fast. He can score from the blue line if the goalie isn’t ready.”

The other member of the line, sophomore left wing Todd Jackson, said Shields “knows how to get open and that makes him so effective.”

“He’s always talking out there,” said Jackson.

Shields hails from Glasgow, Scotland, and is believed to be the first British national team player to play in Hockey East.

His father, Martin, was a hockey player and coach and his mother, Margaret, was a figure skating instructor.

“My mother used to take me to figure skating classes,” said Shields, who played youth hockey in Glasgow.

“When I was about 12, my dad got back into [pro] coaching, so I had a chance to practice with his team in Paisley [Scotland] two or three days a week in addition to my [youth hockey] practices and games,” said Shields.

He and his father knew there would come a time he would have to head across the Atlantic if he was going to continue at a high level in the sport. He went to Wilcox, Saskatchewan, and the Notre Dame School when he was 14.

“We felt it was best to get into it right away rather than wait until I was 16 or 17. It was tough being away from home, but it made it a lot easier to play hockey. There wasn’t a lot to do besides hockey and school,” said Shields, who then moved on to Kitchener, Ontario, to play Junior B hockey.

From Kitchener, it was on to Cleveland.

“The coach in Cleveland [Tim Alexander, now an assistant at Bowling Green] was real good to me and gave me a good opportunity there,” said Shields. “The owner of the team also owned the rink, so we had ice time any time we wanted it.”

Last year was a trying one for Shields, but he knew he made the right decision to stay and practice with the team “because this was the best place for me to develop as a player. My heart was here. I wanted to stay and be a part of the team and the program.”

“It was definitely the toughest year of hockey I’ve ever been through,” said the swift-skating Shields. “But I made the best of my time. I spent a lot of time on off-ice training. I improved my strength. [Former Maine strength and conditioning coach] Jim St. Pierre helped me out a lot. He spent a lot of extra time with me. He didn’t have to. He pushed me quite a bit.”

It paid dividends when Shields got to play in the World B Pool Championships in Slovenia for Great Britain and notched six goals and three assists in five games. He was the tournament’s third-leading goal scorer.

“That certainly broke up the second semester. That was a lot better,” said Shields. “Having a lot of success playing with and against older guys gave me more confidence to bring into this year.”

The 5-foot-11, 176-pound Shields was a sixth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2000 and considers that “one of the highlights of my career prior to coming to Maine.”

He has been encouraged by his start, but he knows he needs to keep improving if he is going to play in the NHL.

“Getting stronger is definitely going to be the key for me at the next level,” said Shields. “I’ve got to continue to work hard on my strength. We’ll see where it takes me.”

He is hoping it takes him and the Bears to another NCAA Tournament berth this season.

“I have big expectations for the team and for me personally. Everybody’s mindset is on having a good season. Maine has a great tradition,” said Shields. “We’re going to take things one game at a time and see what happens.”

He said he enjoys living in Maine.

“It’s nice and quiet and it gives you a chance to focus on hockey. There aren’t too many distractions,” said Shields.