If all the Black Bear hockey players who are eligible to return do so, Maine will be Boston University Coach Jack Parker’s choice to win Hockey East.

Rick Comley, coach of the NCAA champion Northern Michigan Wildcats, said, “They’ll be the preseason pick for No. 1 in the country.”

Maine, 32-9-2 this year, will lose just one player to graduation, senior defenseman Brian Straub. Straub turned in an exceptional season, tallying 6 goals and 25 assists in 42 games. He was plus-33 in the plus-minus category which tied for the team lead with sophomore center Jim Montgomery.

But junior left wing Scott Pellerin and sophomore right wing Jean-Yves Roy are candidates for the Canadian Olympic team and junior defenseman Keith Carney will be a U.S. Olympic team candidate.

Pro hockey could also lay claim to a member or two of the trio or another player or two.

“We’ve got a heck of a lot of talent coming back,” said Montgomery. “I’m really confident that we can have a great year.”

“We’ll be stronger, tougher, faster, and more experienced,” said sophomore left winger Kent Salfi.

“This (being eliminated in the semifinals by Northern Michigan) will get us mad,” said sophomore left wing Martin Mercier.

“We’ll be back,” predicted sophomore center Dave LaCouture.

“Maine will have the best goaltending around next year,” said Boston University senior netminder John Bradley.

Sophomore Garth Snow (18-4 record, 2.98 goals-against average, .879 save percentage) and freshman Mike Dunham (14-5-2, 2.96, .890) exceeded expectations and will have a year of experience under their belts when they return in the fall.

Snow and Dunham finished with the two best goals-against averages among Hockey East’s goaltenders in all games (league and non-league).

“We had the best goaltending we’ve ever had this season. You can count on one hand the number of bad goals they allowed this year. But they’ve both got to keep improving,” said Maine Coach Shawn Walsh.

The defense could be exceptional if Carney returns. Carney, a first team Titan Eastern and Hockey East first teamer, set school records for points (56) and assists (49) by a defenseman. He also scored 5 playoff goals to give him 7 on the year.

Carney has said if he makes the Olympic team,

Carney still intends to return to play for Maine in February after the Winter Games because “we haven’t won a national title yet” and he wants to help Maine attain that goal.

Maine has four other quality veterans back in freshmen Matt Martin (3 goals, 12 assists) and Chris Imes (6 & 8), sophomore Dan Murphy (1 & 5), and junior Tony Link (0 & 5). All four played in at least 35 games.

Walsh expects two other freshmen, Jason Weinrich (1 & 1 in 14 games) and Lee Saunders (0 & 1 in six games), to be definite factors next year.

“If Keith makes the Olympic team, we will have a big hole to fill because we will have lost our top pair (Carney and Straub),” said Walsh.

“Hopefully, the other guys will improve, especially Weinrich and Saunders.”

Incoming freshman Jim Burcar will also be in the picture.

All of the forwards could return, but, again, the status of Roy and Pellerin is up in the air.

“We will be deep up front,” said Walsh.

Roy, a first team All-American and All-Hockey East choice, finished with 37 & 45 and second team All-American and All-Hockey East center Jim Montgomery wound up with 24 & 57. The left wing on that all-sophomore line, Brian Downey, finished with 29 & 34.

The all-junior tri-captain line of Martin Robitaille (23 & 25) between Pellerin (23 & 25) and Mike Barkley (6 & 8 in 23 games) would be intact if Pellerin returns, and the effective grinding line of sophomore Dave LaCouture (7 & 9) between sophomore Martin Mercier (9 & 8) and junior Steve Tepper (6 & 11) also will be together.

The LaCouture line scored some important goals late in the season for the Bears.

Sophomore center Randy Olson (8 & 20); forward Patrice Tardif (13 & 12), who was chosen to the All-Hockey East Freshman team; sophomore LW Kent Salfi (6 & 7); sophomore C-RW Justin Tomberlin (8 & 5); and junior RW Steve Widmeyer (4 & 2) will also return up front, along with junior Eric Fenton (0 & 1 in 10 games) and sophomore Chuck Texeira (0 & 1 in one game).

They will be joined by redshirt transfers Cal Ingraham and Devon Mintz.

“Ingraham and Mintz could be sleepers,” said Walsh, who also has speedster Wayne Conlan coming in as his top recruited forward.

“It will be interesting to see who can be the Garth Snow, Dave LaCouture, Brian Downey, or Martin Mercier of next season,” said Walsh, referring to the dramatic improvement shown by those four players from two years ago to this year.

“There are a lot of guys who could fit into that category next year,” said Walsh, whose team wound up 32-9-2 this year.

“The key to next year’s team will be what these players do between now and next September,” said assistant coach Grant Standbrook. “If they’re just satisfied with the status quo, they’ll stay at the same plateau.”

“I will be meeting with each player individually and discussing what each of them needs to do to improve and what areas they need to improve in,” said Walsh.

“That’s a key part of our program: our players need to keep improving,” said Walsh.

Carney, Roy, and Pellerin were three of the keys to Maine’s special teams success as the Bears went 83-for-275 on the power play (30.2 percent) and killed off 81.9 percent of opposing power plays (176-for-215). But there are plenty of people back to ensure good special teams next season.