Focus key for Bears Discipline aids unbeaten streak

ORONO – The University of Maine men’s hockey team was adrift in a sea of mediocrity after its first 12 games. The Black Bears were 6-6 including an uncharacteristic 4-4 record at Alfond Arena where they had gone 17-1-1 a year ago en route to earning a berth in the NCAA championship game.

The 10-6-2 Bears have finally strung together an unbeaten streak, going 4-0-2 over their last six games to open a little distance over the .500 mark. They have outscored their opponents 26-12 and have allowed just two goals in their last three games.

“We’ve had a different mindset,” said senior right wing and co-captain John Ronan. “We just want to focus on ourselves and our work ethic every game. A lot of that came from discipline. We had discipline [penalty] problems early. Basically, guys are battling right now, they’re competing in practice [for a spot in the lineup] and it’s translating into games.”

Sophomore center Mike Hamilton agreed.

“We know we’re going to have a good lineup no matter who’s in and who’s out,” he said. “So you have to work hard and compete every day to be in the lineup.”

Junior defenseman and co-captain Jeff Mushaluk and junior goalie Jimmy Howard said Maine’s back-to-back Hockey East wins over UMass (6-2) and Providence (8-4), following the streak-opening 5-4 win at UMass Lowell, helped turn things around. It represented the first time they had won back-to-back weekend games since a home sweep of Niagara on Oct. 15-16.

“We had been splitting every weekend and winning those two gave us confidence. It was really huge for us,” said Mushaluk who also noted that Maine’s “attention to detail” has been better lately.

Howard said, “We just needed a little boost. And those wins definitely got the ball rolling for us. Now we’ve just got to keep it going.”

He added that they have “really tried to key in on defense because that’s what wins championships.”

Hamilton pointed out that “defense comes first. That’s a key even when it comes to generating offense.”

Hamilton and Mushaluk are two of the six veterans who played in the NCAA championship game loss to Denver who have been healthy scratches at one time or another this season. They are also among the five who have regained their spots as Hamilton has played in the last eight games and Mushaluk in the last six.

“With any team, there’s a bit of a process to figure out your role on the team,” Mushaluk said. “Some guys have felt they had to fill someone’s shoes from last year when all they really had to do is play within themselves. Some guys have really stepped up their play and other guys have had to adapt to new roles.”

The players said the team has benefited from the emergence of a productive freshman class.

“They have fit in really well. They have scored some big goals, they have been physical, they’ve been doing well defensively and Matt Lundin has done real well in the net so far. They’ve been a big key for us,” said Hamilton.

Maine’s freshmen have scored nine of the team’s 61 goals and dished out 22 of the 101 assists.

Maine, ranked 11th in the current USCHO.com/CSTV poll, will visit Harvard Saturday night.