Lundin’s return to boost Bears

The University of Maine men’s hockey team will get a lift from the return of junior defenseman Mike Lundin to the lineup for its Hockey East semifinal against Boston College tonight.

The second-seeded Black Bears, 26-10-2, and third-seeded Eagles, 22-11-3, will meet after the 5 p.m. opener between regular-season champion Boston University, 23-9-4, and fourth seed New Hampshire, 20-11-7.

Lundin suffered a freak injury to his pinky finger in a 2-1 win over Merrimack on Feb. 25 when he was slashed as he made a pass. The pinky finger on his right hand was sliced to the point where it had to be re-attached by a doctor at the game. He also suffered a fractured bone.

He will have a soft plastic cast covering the finger.

“I’m excited [to be back]. I’ve been in a pretty bad mood the last two weeks. It’s pretty depressing to be knocked out by injury at this point in the season. This is great news,” said Lundin, who has been practicing with the team this week but was allowed to have contact only for the last two practices.

He said the finger feels “pretty good.”

“Once I get going and I get it blocked out of my mind, it’s all right. I can’t really use it, so the strength on my stick is a little bit off. But, other than that, it’s fine,” said Lundin, Maine’s second-leading scorer among defensemen with two goals and 12 assists in 32 games.

Lundin plays on the power-play and penalty-killing units in addition to taking a regular shift. He also provides experience as his 116 career games is second most among defensemen to Steve Mullin’s 119.

Lundin has six goals and 41 assists in his career.

“Mike is a difference-maker for us,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “He logs more ice time than any other defenseman. He plays about half the game. He plays in all the key situations. This is a really big boost for our team.”

Whitehead said he will monitor Lundin’s progress during the game.

“We’ll see what he can do. We’re going to give him the green light, but we’ve got to be smart. We can’t flood him with too much ice time,” said Whitehead. “We’ll see how that goes. As of right now, he’ll be playing in all situations. He may not log his normal 30 minutes a game, but he’ll be getting a lot of ice time.”

Lundin will replace either Matt Duffy or Simon Danis-Pepin, both freshmen.

Whitehead said the two freshmen have played very well of late “and both deserve to play. It’s tough taking one of them out. Whichever one plays, he’ll play well. I’m confident of that. I’m very pleased with our freshmen D.”

Senior Travis Wight, Lundin’s defense partner, said Lundin’s return “should help us a lot. He’s great in the defensive zone and the offensive zone.”

Senior right wing and captain Greg Moore said Lundin “is real composed and tough to beat one-on-one. It definitely means a lot to have him on the ice. He gives us a little more confidence in our defensive zone.”

Boston College senior defenseman and captain Peter Harrold said the Eagles consider Maine one of their top rivals, and he feels it will be important for his Eagles to match Maine’s “gritty” style of play if they’re going to earn their first win in four games against Maine this season.