Bishop doing rehab UM goalie could miss UVM series

Sophomore goaltender Ben Bishop has been listed as questionable for this weekend’s important Hockey East series against Vermont by University of Maine coach Tim Whitehead after suffering a strained right groin in Saturday’s 2-1 loss at New Hampshire.

Bishop sustained the injury 1:47 into the second period when UNH’s Trevor Smith knocked him over, earning Smith a minor penalty for charging. Bishop had stopped all 17 shots he faced up until that point.

“We’ll know more on Wednesday,” said Whitehead. “We’ll see how his rehab goes and how his body reacts. It’s going to take some time. We’ll wait and see.

“Normally, the response time would be a couple of weeks. It’s wishful thinking that he’d be ready this weekend. We’re hoping he’ll be back. But the weekend after [at Boston College] would be more realistic,” added Whitehead.

Bishop is tied for third in the country in wins with 17 (17-7-2), is seventh in minutes played (1540:58), 10th in goals-against average (2.14) and tied for 13th in save percentage (.922).

Freshman Dave Wilson filled in admirably Saturday, stopping 21 of 23 shots. He will get the nod this weekend if Bishop isn’t available.

Freshman Shane Foley, who has yet to play, would back up Wilson.

“Dave will be ready,” said Whitehead, who was pleased with Wilson’s performance against No. 1-ranked New Hampshire.

Whitehead also listed senior left wing Brent Shepheard as questionable for this weekend. Shepheard missed the UNH series with a shoulder injury.

Shepheard, who had been playing on Maine’s top line with Michel Leveille and Teddy Purcell, has five goals and six assists in 24 games.

Whitehead said freshman center-right wing David deKastrozza has been cleared to play by the team’s medical staff after missing the last two weekends due to illness.

DeKastrozza, Chris Hahn, Jeff Marshall, Tony Morrone, Vince Laise and Wes Clark have been battling for time on the fourth line and Hahn actually replaced Shepheard with Leveille and Purcell this past weekend.

Morrone, Marshall and Laise were linemates Friday but Clark, who has been bothered by an ankle injury, centered for Morrone and Laise on Saturday.

Freshman Brett Carriere was Maine’s sixth defenseman Friday and sophomore Bryan Plaszcz took his place Saturday.

“We really make an effort to give guys an opportunity to play and gain some experience,” said Whitehead who noted they need to develop depth in case of injuries.

“These guys could be very important down the stretch,” he added.

Whitehead was upbeat about his team’s play in the 4-2 win and 2-1 loss to UNH. He said they were his team’s best back-to-back performances since it beat Western Michigan 8-4 and Cornell 6-3 Dec. 29-30 in the Florida College Classic in Estero.

“Against Northeastern [in a 2-1 overtime win Jan. 27], we showed great heart and effort. This past weekend, we had great heart and effort and we added poise with the puck. We generated some great scoring chances five-on-five and on the power play,” said Whitehead. “We’re making progress and that’s the most important thing.

“I was very pleased with the power play. We scored a power- play goal each night. I was disappointed that we gave up two power-play goals on Saturday night,” he added.