Resiliency puts UM in title chase

Resilient means the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.

The University of Maine men’s hockey program’s players and coaches continually exhibit resiliency.

It has been a trademark of the program since its inception in 1977.

When Maine lost its fourth-leading scorer (Derek Damon) to a one-game suspension before its NCAA Tournament opener against a red-hot Harvard University team that had scored 24 goals in its previous three games, Chris Hahn came off the bench to play admirably and chip in an assist as Maine trounced the favored Crimson 6-1.

The Bears never missed a beat.

Harvard rarely threatened the Bear net because the puck spent most of the game in the Crimson end.

Maine outworked Harvard.

The next night, against an even better Michigan State team, the Bears wasted little time attacking the MSU net and goalie Jeff Lerg, the CCHA Rookie of the Year.

Maine scored more goals in the first period than MSU had allowed in its previous three games combined.

When the Spartans pulled within 4-3 with a soft goal in the final minute of the second period, the momentum swung dramatically in favor of the Spartans.

A wild third period was anticipated.

But, after some choice words were spoken by the veterans during the intermission, the resilient Bears regained their focus and protected the lead with a smart and intense defensive performance. They made the Spartans fight for every inch of ice and wound up claiming a 5-4 win.

Maine is now 103-0-6 in its last 109 games when taking a lead into the third period.

So now Maine is in the Frozen Four after being picked to finish in a tie for third in Hockey East. Maine advanced to the Frozen Four with a freshman goalie and a defense corps that has had only one of its top seven blue-liners receive any kind of postseason award (Bret Tyler, Hockey East All-Rookie team last year), and are a team without one of the nation’s top 20 point-getters.

Maine will be making its fifth Frozen Four appearance in the last eight years and it has done so with two different head coaches: the late Shawn Walsh, who built the program into a perennial national championship contender, and Tim Whitehead, who has sustained it.

The common denominator is recruiting coordinator Grant Standbrook, who goes everywhere to find a certain type of player: resilient, mentally tough, with varying levels of skill who can handle adversity and will accept his role even if it isn’t exactly what he had in mind when he decided to attend Maine.

And, of course, top-notch goaltenders.

Standbrook can’t attract them with a fancy new state-of-the-art rink or a vibrant city but he can show them great fan support and a tradition that ranks among the nation’s best.

Maine is 19-7 in its last 26 NCAA Tournament games, which speaks volumes about the Bears’ ability to perform in do-or-die situations.

Six of those losses were by two goals or less, including two overtime losses to Minnesota in Minnesota and a 2-1 loss to Michigan in Michigan.

Maine will face its stiffest test in eight days against a Wisconsin team that will be energized by thousands of Badger fans dressed in red at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

But I’m sure the attitude in Orono is “Bring it On.”

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.