ORONO – Sophomore left wing Mike Hamilton was one of the University of Maine men’s hockey team’s playoff heroes a year ago.

After scoring four regular-season goals, Hamilton notched three goals in the postseason, including a pair of game-winners. His other goal triggered a four-goal, third-period rally that gave the Bears a 5-4 win over Harvard in their NCAA Tournament opener.

His game-deciding goals came in the 1-0 victory over Boston University in the Hockey East semifinals and the 2-1 overtime triumph over Wisconsin in the NCAA quarterfinals.

But goals have been few and far between for Hamilton this season. He entered Friday night’s Hockey East quarterfinal series opener against UMass Lowell with only three goals in 34 games. He does have 13 assists, however.

He said he tries not to think about his goal drought because “then you start gripping your stick too tight.”

“You have to relax out there, play your game and get back to the things you did to get here,” said Hamilton. “Most of my mindset will be on my defensive play. A lot of your offense comes off your defense, so I’m looking to play strong defensively, especially in the playoffs when one or two games could be the end of your season.”

He said he will have a little extra confidence entering the playoffs based on his playoff performance a year ago.

“I had a pretty good playoff run last year, so it’s kind of in the back of my head. I know I can do it, so I’m looking to do that again,” said Hamilton, who has gone 14 games without a goal.

He is working diligently on his shot in practice.

“I’m trying to really bear down. I’ve been shooting every puck in practice to score rather than just trying to throw it on net. Every situation is different. Sometimes you shoot for rebounds, sometimes you shoot to score. I’m just trying to work on that as much as I can,” said Hamilton.

Maine is enigma for UML

UMass Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald said Maine is an enigma to him and his River Hawks.

Maine swept the season series 5-4, 2-0, and 5-3.

“We struggle with Maine. We’ve played well against New Hampshire, Boston University, and Boston College. You’ve got to give Maine credit. They take us off our game or I take us off our game against Maine,” said MacDonald.

He was also concerned that he has only one player who has tasted victory in the postseason: senior defenseman Peter Tormey.

Tormey is the lone senior who sees ice time, and the only playoff wins UML has mustered occurred during Tormey’s freshman year when the River Hawks beat Northeastern two games to one in their quarterfinal series.

The River Hawks were swept by New Hampshire two years ago and by UMass last season.