Hampden’s Meagher helps BC earn 3 points against Maine

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ORONO – Kim Meagher was asked, tongue-in-cheek, if she had circled this past weekend on her calendar.

“I actually did circle it,” chuckled the Hampden native and former John Bapst High School defenseman, who returned to the Alfond Arena this past weekend with her Boston College Eagles for a two-game series against the University of Maine. “I was so excited to come back home.”

The freshman, who has played both forward and defense for the Eagles, helped her mates post a 3-2 win and 2-2 overtime tie in the Hockey East games.

Meagher said it was “weird” playing at Alfond Arena.

“But I loved it. I love coming home. I was so excited on the way up. I couldn’t wait to get back to Maine,” said Meagher.

Meagher took a regular shift on defense and was also used on the penalty kill.

“We did pretty well. We took three points. You couldn’t ask for much more. Our goalie played awesome. That was the key,” said Meagher referring to senior Lisa Davis, who returned from mononucleosis and made 80 saves en route to Hockey East Player of the Week honors.

Meagher has one assist in nine games so far for the Eagles.

Boston College coach Tom Mutch said Meagher is “getting better and better every day.

“She works hard. She’s going to play a lot of minutes for us in her four years. She’s a real good skater. She’s got to work on things like every player but she has a great hockey body and she’s so smart away from the rink which means she is going to adapt very quickly on the rink,” said Mutch.

“She has been an awesome player for us,” said BC senior defenseman Sarah Carlson. “She works hard in practice every day. She brings a lot of energy to the team. She works hard in the corners. She’s big and strong and fun to play with.”

Meagher is third on the team in penalty minutes with 16 and Mutch said that’s because she is used to playing high school boys hockey which allows body checking. There is no body checking in women’s hockey.

“She likes to hit. She has to understand that she’s going to have to rely on her feet,” said Mutch.

Meagher concurred.

“I look to take the body too much. I see them and I want to line them up. But I can’t,” said Meagher. “So I have to go for a pokecheck or back off a little bit. That’s kind of hard for me.

“I’ve been pretty happy with the way I’ve played but I have taken too many penalties. I’ll fix that soon,” Meagher added.

She said being a regular along the blue line in schoolboy hockey prepared her well for women’s college hockey.

“It’s about the same speed and everything as boys hockey,” said Meagher who chose BC because “my brother, Andy, goes there and he loves it.

“He got me interested in going to BC and hockey obviously fell into line,” said Meagher.

Leveille expects to return

The University of Maine men’s hockey team is expected to regain the services of sophomore center and 2003-2004 Hockey East Rookie of the Year Michel Leveille this weekend for Hockey East games against UMass and Providence College.

Leveille, who has been sidelined with a separated shoulder for the last six games, said he plans to return against UMass on Friday night.

Maine plays Providence at Portland’s Cumberland County Civic Center on Sunday at 2.

He suffered his injury in a 4-3 win over St. Lawrence on Oct. 23.

Maine went 3-3 without him and all six were Hockey East games.

“Getting Michel back will be huge for us,” said junior defenseman Steve Mullin. “It will definitely give us a boost.”

Leveille, who had six goals and 34 assists last season, had two goals and two assists in seven games this season.

Freshman right winger Rob Bellamy is also likely to return from his separated shoulder.

He has missed four games.

However, senior center Ben Murphy will be sidelined with a sprained medial collateral ligament after getting hurt in the third period of Saturday’s 5-4 win over UMass Lowell.

Murphy had two goals and six assists in 13 games and, in addition to taking his regular shift, he also played on power play and penalty-killing units.

Mullin said the fact the Bears overcame four one-goal deficits to rally past UMass Lowell should provide a spark.

“That was definitely a character win we can build off this weekend,” said Mullin.