Bears relishing chance to play UMass again Maine has dropped 4 straight to Minutemen

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The University of Maine Black Bears respect the University of Massachusetts’ Minutemen.

Why wouldn’t they?

After all, UMass finished the regular season by sweeping the Black Bears in Amherst, Mass., to earn the fourth seed for the Hockey East Tournament. Maine was the fifth seed, returned to Amherst the next weekend for the Hockey East quarterfinals and got swept again.

So Black Bear coach Tim Whitehead won’t need to dream up a motivational speech on Saturday when the two teams square off in the East Regional final with a berth in the Frozen Four at stake.

Maine beat St. Cloud State 4-1 Friday night after UMass upset Clarkson 1-0 in overtime.

“We owe them, big-time,” said Maine senior left wing Billy Ryan.

“They’ve had our number. They beat us four straight times,” added sophomore goalie Ben Bishop, who missed all four games with a groin pull but returned to make 33 saves in the win over St. Cloud State. “But when we saw that they won, that kind of boosted us up again. We really wanted to play them in the final eight and now we have a chance to do that. They have a great team and a great goaltender [Jon Quick].”

Maine junior right wing Rob Bellamy is also excited to avenge the losses but said the Bears “respect them.

“They’re a great team,” said Bellamy.

UMass is playing in its first NCAA Tournament while the Bears will be seeking a third trip to the Frozen Four in four years and fourth in six years.

Maine senior defenseman and assistant captain Mike Lundin said he is looking forward to the challenge but admitted it’s a “scary” playing a team that has won the last four meetings.