College Hockey

Florida College Classic

MAINE vs. MINNESOTA-DULUTH

Time, site: Tuesday, 7:35 p.m., Germain Arena, Estero, Fla.

Records: Maine 11-5, UMD 7-10-3

Series, last meeting: UMD leads 4-3, Maine 4-1 on Jan. 7, 1989

Key players: Maine – LW Billy Ryan (4 goals, 12 assists), C Keenan Hopson (3 & 12), RW Greg Moore (10 & 4), LW Josh Soares (6 & 8), C Michel Leveille (7 & 5), D Bret Tyler (2 & 8), G Matt Lundin (6-1, 1.26 GAA, .947 save percentage); UMD – LW Mason Raymond (8 & 14), C Matt McKnight (7 & 13), C Tim Stapleton (9 & 8), LW Michael Gergen (9 & 5), D Jason Garrison (1 & 7), D Steve Czech (1 & 3), G Isaac Reichmuth (4-6-3, 3.01, .890)

Outlook: The Bulldogs are without top-scoring defenseman Matt Niskanen, who is playing in the World Junior Championships. UMD is a young team with seven freshman forwards among their top 12. The Bulldogs are 4-3-1 in their last seven but they have lost three of their last four. Their last win came at Colorado College, a team that beat Maine 3-2 in overtime. They also have a victory and a tie against Minnesota. Maine needs to be physical and get to the net. Maine’s power play (20.9 percent efficiency) may be able to exploit UMD, which has operated at just 76.4 percent efficiency on the penalty kill. Maine has the nation’s best penalty-killing percentage (94.2 percent) and third-lowest GAA (1.69). Eighth-ranked Cornell (8-3-1) faces Northeastern (1-9-4) at 4:05 p.m.