Ben Guite played a pivotal role in the University of Maine’s last NCAA championship in 1998-99.

Now he’s looking to add a Stanley Cup to his collection.

The Colorado Avalanche center will begin his quest for the Stanley Cup Wednesday night when he and his mates travel to take on the Minnesota Wild in their best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Guite is one of just two former Black Bears to reach the NHL playoffs and, ironically, he’ll be going up against the other in Minnesota Wild defenseman Keith Carney.

There would have been three former Bears but Avalanche defenseman Brett Clark has been lost for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Clark had 5 goals and 16 assists in 57 games.

Ten former Black Bears played in the NHL this season.

Guite centers Colorado’s fourth line between Ian Laperriere and Cody McLeod and he is also an important contributor on the penalty kill. In his first full NHL season, he tallied 11 goals and 11 assists in 79 games and led the Avalanche forwards in hits (115) and blocked shots (64).

“At least I led them in something,” quipped the 29-year-old Guite, who played in 455 minor league games before appearing in his first NHL game with Boston in the 2005-06 season. He appeared in 39 games for the Avalanche last season and had 3 & 8. He began the year in the AHL.

The Avalanche missed the playoffs by a point last season.

Carney had 1 & 10 in 61 games for the Wild.

Guite is eager to make his NHL playoff debut.

“I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun,” said Guite. “Any game in the NHL is a lot of fun. But this is a whole new level. I’m nervous and excited.”

He has been pleased with his season to date.

“I came into the season trying to establish myself as a regular and, hopefully, I did,” said Guite, whose line is considered the “energy line.”

“Our job is to be physical and abrasive. We aren’t fun to play against,” said Guite. “We try to dictate the tempo and, a lot of the time, we’re matched up against the other team’s top two lines. So we have to be defense-oriented and not give up anything.”

He doesn’t mind playing the other teams’ top lines.

“It can be an advantage because those lines might cheat on the offensive side and that gives us more opportunity to be successful,” explained Guite. “I’m more than happy to fill this role on the team.”

Guite, who averages 13:04 of ice time per game, also enjoys killing penalties.

“Penalty-killing is a huge part of the game, especially in the playoffs. Special teams are so important because every team is stingy five-on-five,” said Guite.

The Avalanche went 5-0-1 in their last six games thanks to Peter Forsberg, the former NHL All-Star who joined them late in the season.

They also got healthier as offensive catalysts Paul Stastny, Joe Sakic and Ryan Smith returned from injury.

Guite added that the acquisition of veteran defensemen Ruslan Salei and Adam Foote was important.

“I like our chances a lot. We have three lines that can score; a gritty fourth line and our defense became a lot more physical after we got Salei and Foote. And [goalie] Jose Theodore has been awesome. We have all the ingredients if we can get hot. We had a nice little stretch at the end of the season and, hopefully, we can keep it going that way,” said Guite who is “ecstatic” about getting to play on a team with future Hall-of-Famers Sakic and Forsberg..

He said the matchup with the Wild is “good for both teams. They’re very conservative and bank on teams getting sloppy. They’re very opportunistic.”

He called Carney a “super nice guy” and said the fact he is still going strong at age 38 “speaks volumes about him.”

Carney has amassed 45 & 183 in 1018 career NHL regular season games and 2 & 18 in 85 playoff games.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

990-8231

EX-UMAINE PLAYERS IN NHL

2007-08 Statistics

Players (games, goals, assists)

Keith Carney, Minnesota – 61: 1 & 10

Brett Clark, Colorado – 57: 5 & 16

Ben Guite, Colorado – 79: 11 & 11

Doug Janik, Tampa Bay – 61: 1 & 3

Paul Kariya, St. Louis – 82: 16 & 49

Mike Lundin, Tampa Bay – 81: 0 & 6

Greg Moore, N.Y. Rangers – 6: 0 & 0

Dustin Penner, Edmonton – 82: 23 & 24

Teddy Purcell, Los Angeles – 10: 1 & 2

Goalie

Jimmy Howard, Detroit – 0-2, 2.13 goals-against average, .926 save percentage