UM women take on UConn for playoff berth

ORONO – The Hockey East women’s tournament won’t be held until March 20-21 at Northeastern University’s Matthew Arena.

But for either the University of Maine Black Bears or the Connecticut Huskies, it will be wait until next year.

The Bears and the Huskies square off on Saturday and Sunday afternoon in Storrs, Conn., with Maine needing a win or two ties to sew up a playoff spot.

New Hampshire, Providence, and Northeastern have already earned playoff spots. Maine is two points behind third-place Northeastern.

UConn, which trails Maine by two points, needs a win and a tie to earn a berth. Although the teams would be tied, UConn would win the tiebreaker by going 2-1-1 vs. Maine this season.

The teams split in Orono in January.

Maine career 100-point scorers Meagan Aarts and Karen Droog, both seniors, said they don’t want their careers to end on Sunday.

“We have to play our game, skate hard, do our offensive zone [systems], and play well in the defensive zone,” said Droog, who has 110 points in 110 career games.

“We know we can do it,” said Aarts, who has 111 points in 114 games. “We seem to play to the caliber of our competition. We play like we can against teams that are supposedly better than us. We seem to struggle against teams that are below us [in the standings]. We’ve got to be focused. We’ve got to forget last weekend [a win and loss to last-place Boston College, which hadn’t won a league game].”

Maine coach Rick Filighera said he feels his Bears have a little more talent, but that is no guarantee they’ll come out with a win.

“We need a thorough 60-minute effort. If we do that, we’ll win. We can’t afford to have lapses. We don’t score enough goals to have lapses,” said Filighera, whose Bears are 10-15-4 overall, 7-9-2 in Hockey East.

Aarts’ 20 points lead Maine followed by 17 apiece produced by Tristan Desmet and Droog. Lara Smart has been solid in goal (8-15-4, 2.56 goals-against average, .916 save percentage).

UConn, 9-15-6 and 5-9-4, is led by 10-goal scorer Tiffany Owens, 13-point producer Sara Mahoney, and goalies Shannon Murphy (2-10-3, 2.96, .902) and Kaitlyn Shain (7-5-3, 2.31, .924).

Colby, Bowdoin teams still alive

Jim Tortorella’s Colby College men’s hockey team and the Bowdoin College women’s hockey team coached by Kevin McGonagle will try to claim NESCAC championships this weekend.

Tortorella’s 14-6-4 Mules will face 15-8-1 Trinity College (Conn.) in a 4 p.m. semifinal today after host Middlebury (Vt.) College (22-3) meets 15-8-2 Hamilton College (N.Y.) at 1.

The championship game is Sunday at 1.

Bowdoin, 18-4-1, is hosting the women’s tourney and will play 11-12-1 Hamilton in the 1 p.m. semifinal today with 20-3 Middlebury and 15-9 Williams to meet at 4. The title game will be at 1 on Sunday.

“We’re finally healthy now,” said Tortorella. “We had as many as eight guys out of the lineup at one time during the season. I’m proud of the kids and what they accomplished. A lot of players stepped up in the face of adversity.”

Junior defenseman Patrick Walsh had seven goals and 14 assists and was named a first team All-NESCAC choice.

Leading scorer Nick Bayley (14 & 21) was a second-team pick.

Tortorella said Bangor junior Jared Gordon (2 & 4 in 24 games) has had a productive year on the blue line.

“He has been a steady player. He has been an integral part of our defense. He is a converted forward who was very offensive-minded. But has learned how to combine the two [offense and defense] now,” said Tortorella.

The Bowdoin women, who have been to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four the last two years, have been led by Britney Carr (15 goals, 22 assists), NESCAC Rookie of the Year Meghan Gillis (17 & 19), and Marissa O’Neil (17 & 17).

Carr and O’Neil were All-NESCAC second-team picks.