Liscak leads Bears into Everblades tournament Maine center has ‘no problem’ with physical play

He plays on a power play unit. And he centers the checking line.

That best describes the versatility of University of Maine junior center Robert Liscak, who is third on the team in goals with seven and is tied for second in game-winners with two entering the Everblades College Hockey Classic in Estero, Fla. on Saturday and Sunday.

It takes a special kind of player to play on a checking line because his primary responsibility is stopping the other team’s top line.

Liscak doesn’t mind it at all.

“When you play against the other team’s top line, you get plenty of good scoring opportunities because those guys don’t like to play defense. It’s better that way for me,” explained Liscak, who had 17 goals and 16 assists in 66 career games over his first two seasons.

Liscak and linemates Todd Jackson and Gray Shaneberger had the difficult chore of matching up against the high-powered line of Ben Eaves, Tony Voce and A.J. Walker in Maine’s last series against Boston College and they held that line to one even-strength goal in two games.

The Eaves line had 15 goals and 18 assists in its previous six games.

And Liscak matched that with an even-strength goal of his own as Maine earned a 5-2 win and 3-3- tie.

“When you play against shifty, skilled guys like Voce and Eaves, you’ve got to be aware where they are and where the puck is. You always have to be in good position to check them and not allow odd-man rushes. And you have to be physical from the opening minute to the final minute. You need to wear them down. You want to make them feel that they don’t want to go on the ice against you or touch the puck,” said Liscak, who has six assists to go with his seven goals in 16 games.

Liscak, a native of Skalica, Slovakia, said interim head coach Tim Whitehead wants him to play physically “and I have no problem with that. I like to play that way.”

Whitehead has been pleased with Liscak’s play, especially of late.

“He’s a good all-around hockey player,” said Whitehead. “He’s very smart. He’s aware offensively and defensively. He can help out in a lot of situations: power play, penalty-killing, face-offs and checking line.”

He said Liscak was inconsistent earlier in the season but has been much more consistent in recent weeks.

“He’s back on track being physical and making himself somebody who is tough to play against,” said Whitehead. “That’s an important part of his game.”

Liscak said, “When I came back [this fall], maybe I thought I’d be a top scorer. And I wasn’t doing the little things right. But the last month or so, I’ve been doing the little things and I’ve started playing better.”

Liscak, who has overcome serious injuries to both knees during his career at Maine, said he is looking forward to the tournament, which has four nationally-ranked teams.

“Whoever gets two wins against top-ranked teams will jump up in the rankings,” said Liscak who expects the Bears to make their usual second-half stretch run.

“We’ll have a stronger second half as usual. We have some young defensemen who struggled the first couple of months. They didn’t know what to expect from college hockey. But they’ve learned a lot and have gotten much better.