MAINE vs. BEMIDJI STATE
Time, site: Friday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 8 p.m.; Alfond Arena, Orono
Records: Maine 1-0, Bemidji State 0-0
Series, last meeting: first meeting
Key players (last year’s stats): Maine – LW Josh Soares (15 goals, 26 assists), C Michel Leveille (16 & 24), LW Billy Ryan (10 & 18), D Bret Tyler (7 & 16), C Keenan Hopson (4 & 19), D Mike Lundin (3 & 13), G Ben Bishop (21-8-2, 2.28 goals-against average, .907 save percentage); Bemidji State – RW Luke Erickson (16 & 19), C Ryan Miller (17 & 12), RW Rob Sirianni (16 & 13), LW Tyler Scofield (6 & 19), D Riley Weselowski (2 & 18), G Layne Sedevie (12-7-1, 2.46, .918), G Matt Climie (8-7-2, 2.70, .913)
Outlook: Coach Tom Serratore’s Beavers return four of their top five scorers and both goalies from last year’s 20-14-3 NCAA Tournament team. They went 7-7-1 against teams in the WCHA, CCHA and ECAC last year. “Maine is bigger and stronger than we are and they’re extremely difficult to play against. We’ve got to find a way to penetrate their defense,” said Serratore. Bemidji State has some swift-skating forwards who will hope to exploit Maine’s big defense. Erickson is the CHA preseason Co-Player of the Year while Weselowski and Sedevie joined him on the All-CHA team. Maine will have to take advantage of its superior size by taking the body. That should create turnovers and cause some confusion among the Beavers’ young defense corps.
Comments
comments for this post are closed