Black Bears seek offensive improvement

Guy Perron’s first season as the women’s hockey coach at the University of Maine didn’t go as well as he would have liked.

The Bears finished fifth in Hockey East and were one of two teams that failed to qualify for the league playoffs. They were 14-15-3 overall, 5-13-2 in Hockey East with four of those wins coming at the expense of last-place Northeastern.

“When you don’t make the playoffs, that’s a disappointment. I feel we can be one of the better programs in the league,” said the 38-year-old Perron, a former two-time Black Bear men’s hockey captain.

A lack of goal production was Maine’s most glaring weakness and the Bears were also inexperienced in goal. In their last four games, all losses, they outshot their opponents 145-63 but were outscored 14-6.

Despite being second in league play in shots on goal with 32.95 per game, the Bears were fourth in goals (2.47) and last in shooting percentage (5.9 percent). They also had the worst power-play percentage (10.7 percent).

“We weren’t a very good finishing team,” acknowledged Perron.

Sophomore goaltender Rachel Gettings, who played in two games a year ago, got off to a good start but faded at the end of the season. She finished with a 14-15-2 record, a 2.35 goals-against average and a .878 save percentage.

“She did well for not playing last year,” said Perron. “Because we couldn’t sustain our offense to help her, every shot was so important to her and she lost her confidence [at the end of the year]. We demanded a lot more of her than anyone else.”

Perron has recruited two goalies “to push Rachel. And she’ll push them.”

They will graduate their top two scorers in center Tristan Desmet (17 goals & 14 assists) and linemate Andrea Steranko (10 & 13) along with defensemen Laura Maddin (0 & 10) and Emily Stevens (0 & 1).

But Cheryl White (12 & 10), who was the left wing with Desmet and Steranko, and the second line of LW Sonia Corriveau (8 & 10), C Brigitte Laflamme (5 & 10) and RW Katie Sunstrom (9 & 6) headline the list of returnees along with defensemen Julie Poulin (4 & 7), Karine Senecal (1 & 8), Kelly Law (2 & 5) and Morgan Janusc (1 & 5).

Jenna Cowan will return to the blue line after being switched to forward this season.

Left wings Amy Quirion (4 & 1) and Danielle Tangredi (2 & 2), center Sheri Wauters (2 & 1) and right wing Abby Krause (1 & 1) were newcomers who may play more prominent roles next year.

Kendall Junta and Julie Lizotte saw limited playing time and will return as will Kim MacElhaney, who was a redshirt. All are forwards.

“We outshot just about everybody but we didn’t bury our chances. We didn’t get the bounces,” said White. “Hopefully, things will change next year and we’ll start winning those close games.”

Maine went 3-6 in one-goal games in Hockey East play.

“We should be good next year,” said Gettings, who intends to develop her strength, cardiovascular fitness and reflexes in preparation for next season.

Perron has a forward and two goalies already on board for next year and he hopes to bring in two more forwards and one or two defensemen.

“We definitely have to improve tremendously. It’s going to take a couple of years to solidify the roles of our players and make them impact players,” said Perron.

White said the 2004-2005 season was a “transition year” under Perron.

“Next year, we’ll know what to expect,” said White, who added the new Shawn Walsh Hockey Center at Alfond Arena should help land top-notch recruits in the future.

The league will expand by two next season as Boston University and Vermont will be the league’s seventh and eighth teams.