The University of Maine women’s hockey team has addressed its needs by adding two goalies, a defenseman and two wingers.

The five scholarship players have signed National Letters of Intent to attend the university in the fall.

“We needed to solidify our goaltending position and we had to find some goal scoring,” said coach Guy Perron, who added he was “very pleased” with the incoming class.

“It should be a pretty exciting year,” said Perron, who went 14-15-3 in his first season and missed the Hockey East playoffs with a 5-13-2 conference mark.

Lundy Day of Calgary, Alberta, and Genevieve Turgeon of Lac Beauport, Quebec, will challenge incumbent goalie Rachel Gettings, who played in 31 games as a first-year starter and struggled during the second half of the season.

Wingers Patricia Gagnon (Mont-Joli, Quebec) and Vanessa Vani (Mississauga, Ontario) should help improve Maine’s 2.4 goals-per game average, as should offensive-minded defenseman Chantal Jailler (St. Edouard de Kent, New Brunswick).

“The goalies were the MVPs of their teams last year and Turgeon was a league all-star,” said Perron. “Turgeon is a 21-year-old veteran who has seen a lot of shots. Lundy is very solid and very athletic. She has great potential.”

The 5-foot-10 Jailer had 31 goals and nine assists in 31 games for Ecole Clement-Cormier and Perron said, “she’ll be a key for us. She has good size and mobility and can carry the puck. We need a big defenseman and a little more offense from our defensemen.”

Vani had 20 goals and 30 assists in 65 games with the Mississauga Junior Chiefs and possesses “great speed,” according to Perron.

Gagnon, a three-time MVP for Limoilou College, amassed 184 points in four seasons.

“She’s smart, can score goals and is a very good playmaker,” said Perron. “Two years ago, she played with Brigitte Laflamme and Sonia Corriveau, and by putting her on a line with them, that should help our production. They know each other pretty well and put up good numbers together.”

All five must be admitted to the school and meet NCAA requirements.

Winkin Complex field sought

With the folding of the Bangor Lumberjacks minor league baseball team, Eastern Maine high schools hampered by the rainy spring are trying to capitalize on the unexpected availability of the John Winkin Baseball Complex at Bangor’s Husson College.

The Winkin Complex’s FieldTurf surface can hold much more rain than a normal grass field and Keith Bosley, assistant athletic director and director of facilities at Husson, has been busy trying to oblige the high school teams.

“We’ve been getting three or four calls a day from schools about using the field,” said Bosley. “We want to be good citizens if we can do it. Everybody likes to get a chance to play on turf and it’s one of the biggest stadiums around. It’s fun for everybody.”

Bosley said they charge $150 per game and an additional $200 if they have to turn the lights on.

“The NCAA requires us to charge an appropriate fee because these are recruitable athletes,” said Bosley.