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It didn’t take long for the newly formed line of center Mike Hamilton between left wing Billy Ryan and right wing Teddy Purcell to click.
Senior Hamilton, junior Ryan and freshman Purcell have combined for five goals and eight assists in four games.
“We have a lot of chemistry,” said Ryan. “Teddy and I have good offensive instincts and can really find each other out there. Mike works real hard, gets to the net and wins loose pucks for us.”
They will be working together again on Thursday at 4 p.m. when Maine plays Michigan State in the Frozen Four in St. Louis.
Purcell has had a goal and five assists, Ryan has 3 & 2 and Hamilton has a goal and an assist.
One of Ryan’s goals and one of his assists came on the power play while Purcell had a goal and three assists on the power play. Hamilton’s goal came on the power play.
Ryan had the game-winning even-strength goal in the 4-1 win over St. Cloud State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with Hamilton and Purcell assisting and Hamilton scored the game-winning power-play goal in the 3-1 victory over UMass the next night. Ryan assisted on Hamilton’s goal.
Purcell said he and his linemates have a positive chemistry on and off the ice.
“Mike is good in the corners and down low and he is really responsible defensively,” said Purcell. “Bill and I are more creative. We’ve clicked well.”
Hamilton pointed out that he and Ryan had been linemates earlier this season and things went well.
“Throwing Teddy on our line has been a good mix for us,” said Hamilton. “Teddy and Bill have great skill so I just try to get loose pucks, drive the net and do little things like that.”
Hamilton said it didn’t take long for them to adjust to each other.
“We’re all real good friends off the ice. We adapted real quickly. It has been going well,” he said.
All three have been putting up decent numbers of late.
Ryan will enter Thursday’s game with six goals and four assists in his previous nine games, Purcell has collected two goals and nine assists in his last eight, and Hamilton has three goals and six assists in his last 12 games.
Maine coach Tim Whitehead said he and his coaching staff like to switch up their line combinations from time to time.
“Lines can get stale,” said Whitehead, who was pleased with the play of the Hamilton line.
He added that moving Keith Johnson up to the line with Michel Leveille and Josh Soares has also worked out nicely as right wing Johnson has filled a role similar to Hamilton’s. Johnson has effectively used his speed to chase down loose pucks and provide a net-front presence.
Six Bears made NCAA debuts
Six Black Bears made their NCAA Tournament debuts during the East Regional in Rochester, N.Y.: centers David de Kastrozza and Wes Clark; right wings Purcell and Vince Laise and defensemen Bryan Plaszcz and Simon Danis-Pepin.
“It felt great to be out there with the boys and get a taste of what it’s like,” said sophomore Danis-Pepin, who didn’t get to play in the NCAA tournament a year ago.
The experience was “unbelievable” according to freshman de Kastrozza, who had been a healthy scratch in the four games leading up to the NCAA Tournament.
In addition, de Kastrozza was playing center for the first time “in a couple of years.” He had been a winger in his previous 18 games.
“I wasn’t that nervous and once I hit the ice, everything I learned took over. I felt comfortable at center,” said de Kastrozza, who had practiced at center for two weeks.
Sophomore Laise said he had a case of nerves before the game “but once you get into the game, that subsides.”
Junior center Clark said he has played in important games throughout his career so he was excited, not nervous.
“It was like any other game other than there being a lot more on the line,” said Clark.
Plaszcz had a case of the butterflies but said the fact the Bears were underdogs meant “there wasn’t a lot of pressure on us. It was kind of relaxing.”
UM hopes to have Hopson back
Whitehead said he is hopeful junior Keenan Hopson will be in the lineup for the Michigan State game.
Hopson, a center who had been moved back to defense for their Hockey East quarterfinal series losses to UMass, underwent an emergency appendectomy 10 days ago and missed the East Regional.
“He won’t practice this week but we’re hoping to have him back [at practice] next week,” said Whitehead, who will keep Hopson on defense.
MSU to get last line change
Michigan State, which finished higher than Maine in the PairWise Rankings and in the seedings for the NCAA Tournament, will be the home team in their Frozen Four semifinal, meaning the Spartans will get the last line change.
Whitehead said he would prefer to have the last line change “but we didn’t have it against St. Cloud. We’ll adapt.”
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