Lundins relish chance to watch sons UM’s Matt, Mike battle UNH

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ORONO – When Jeff and Kathy Lundin came to Orono from Apple Valley, Minn., this weekend, they figured they would spend time with their sons, Mike and Matt, and watch Mike man the blue line for the University of Maine’s hockey team against nationally ranked Hockey East powers Boston College and New Hampshire.

In addition to taking a regular shift, Mike Lundin also plays on power play and penalty-killing units.

Matt is a freshman goalie who backs up junior goalie Jimmy Howard.

The chances of him playing were remote at best.

That is until Howard, a second team All-American, injured his knee with 4:16 left in the second period of Sunday afternoon’s game against UNH. Lundin came in and stopped all 14 shots he faced over the final 24:16 as Maine triumphed 3-0.

“It was really a treat,” said Jeff Lundin. “I was nervous for him. I know how he felt. I thought he did a good job.

“When you think about it, we were leading by only one goal, 1-0, New Hampshire was on the power play and he comes in cold with no warmup. That’s about the worst scenario I can think of for a goalie coming in,” added Jeff Lundin.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead said under NCAA rules, they would have had to take their one time-out to warm up Lundin and he was reluctant to do so. He felt he might need it later in the game.

“I sent [co-captain] John Ronan out to ask Matt if he wanted a warmup. He said yes but he also said he was fine,” said Whitehead. “So I decided let’s get it going.”

Kathy Lundin said, “It was scary at first. But then as I could tell he was getting more confident, it was really fun to watch.

“It was exciting. We were glad that we were here to see him play because we’re not here very much. It was real fun to be here and actually see him play,” added Kathy.

Matt Lundin said he “completely forgot” his parents were on hand until right after the game.

“I was so worried about going into the game. All of a sudden, I got off the ice and saw my parents and like ‘Wow, it’s exciting for them, too.’ So it was good for the family. My brother was out there as usual,” said Matt Lundin.

There was an added treat for the family because Black Bear woman’s basketball player Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa, who is also from Apple Valley, sang the national anthem before the UNH game.

“She has a beautiful voice,” said Kathy Lundin, who is an elementary school music teacher.

Mrs. Lundin said they know her family.

Hugstad-Vaa went to a different high school. She attended The Breck School while the Lundins went to Apple Valley High.

Lundin may be back between the pipes this weekend when Maine travels to Northeastern and UMass-Lowell.

Whitehead said Howard’s status is questionable due to swelling in the knee.

Whitehead said he was “very impressed” by Lundin’s performance and said it followed a “great week of practice.

“I wasn’t surprised by his performance. He keeps getting better. He’s very eager to learn. Grant [assistant Standbrook] was in town and does an excellent job with our goalies,” said Whitehead. “Like Jimmy, Matt is very focused and strong on the puck. He competes hard and he’s real natural playing the puck because he played the puck a lot in high school. He’s like a third defenseman.”

Injury update

Freshman right wing Rob Bellamy, who missed this past weekend’s games with a shoulder injury, could return this weekend. Sophomore center Michel Leveille (shoulder) may also return after missing four games but his status is a little more uncertain, according to Whitehead.

Leveille was the Hockey East Rookie of the Year last season.

Freshman defenseman Travis Ramsey will be available although he has been sidelined with a rotator cuff injury and is working his way back into shape. He got hurt on the first shift of his first game, the 4-3 win over Niagara on Oct. 15.

Penalty-killing exceptional

Maine will enter the Northeastern-UMass Lowell weekend having allowed just five goals in their last four games, all in Hockey East play. But the Bears have managed to score only eight and are 2-2 in those games.

“We’re going to play a lot of small games [three versus three in a small space] in order to work on our creativity and shooting,” said Whitehead.

Maine has allowed two goals per game, tying the Bears for fourth-best in the country.

Maine’s penalty-killing has been exceptional, allowing just one power-play goal over the last 39 manpower disadvantages.

Maine’s 91.5 percent efficiency rate on the penalty kill is fifth best in the nation.

“[Junior right wing] Greg Moore said it best: our penalty-killers are outworking the other teams’ power play. If we do that, we give ourselves a chance to shut it down,” said Whitehead. “We’ve had good goaltending and shot blocking and we’re eliminating second shots. One area we need to improve is we have to get stronger on our clears.”

He praised fourth-line wingers Keith Johnson and Travis Wight for their penalty-killing.

“They give us speed and hustle and they’re tough enough to block shots. Keith blocked three on one shift,” said Whitehead.

He said the penalty-killing of Johnson and Wight has been “huge because it takes a lot of heat off Ronan, [Ben] Murphy, Moore and [Derek] Damon, who also play on the power play.”

He added that junior defenseman Steve Mullin’s effective penalty-killing reduces the work load on Mike Lundin and Bret Tyler, who also see power play duty.