Bishop has groin injury Status of UMaine goalie unknown

DURHAM, N.H. – The status of University of Maine sophomore goalie Ben Bishop for this weekend’s critical Hockey East home series against Vermont is unknown after he suffered a right groin strain early in the second period of Saturday’s 2-1 loss to top-ranked New Hampshire.

Bishop was knocked down by UNH’s Trevor Smith, who received a charging minor, and shortly thereafter was forced to leave the game.

“We’ll have to wait until [Monday] to see how he is,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead.

Maine trainer Mark Badurak said he couldn’t discuss specifics of Bishop’s injury but said in cases of groin strains, they use “rest, ice, compression, elevation and some rehabilitative exercises” to nurse the injury along.

The length of recovery is based on “how the patient feels and what the doctor recommends.”

Bishop ranks seventh nationally in minutes played (1540:38), 10th in goals-against average (2.14), and tied for 13th in save percentage (.922).

Freshman Dave Wilson stopped 21 of 23 shots after Bishop saved all 17 shots he faced. Wilson is confident he can do the job if called upon.

“I had lost my confidence throughout the year, but I gained a lot of it back tonight,” said Wilson, who had played only 58 minutes, 48 seconds. “I proved to myself I can play at this level and can play against the top team in the country.”

“I’ll have a hard week of practice this week and I’ll definitely be ready for the weekend,” said Wilson.

He said he was nervous when he came off the bench to play in the second period, “but I felt more relaxed at the start of the third period. I challenged up a lot more and was a lot more confident.”

Wilson also said he prefers to know ahead of time when he is going to play “so I can psych myself up.”

Whitehead and players from both teams felt Wilson proved he was up to the task.

“I was very proud of him. You can’t be thrown into a tougher situation than that,” said Whitehead. “He showed a lot of poise. He was in control. He smothered rebounds very well. He gave us every opportunity to come back and win this game.”

“He played terrific tonight,” said Maine senior center and captain Michel Leveille. “I have tons of confidence in him. I’m sure he’ll back us up if Ben is hurt.”

UNH junior right wing Matt Fornataro said, “We got a couple of power-play goals on him [in the second period], but other than that, he played real well. He made some good saves in the third period.”