WORCESTER, Mass. — The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team returns to the NCAA Regionals for the 18th time in school history this weekend. Maine will face No. 5 Minnesota- Duluth in the Northeast Regional in Worcester, Mass on Saturday.
Maine is making its first trip to the NCAA Regionals since the 2007 season. In that year, Maine won the East Regional and advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four which was held in St. Louis, Mo.
Maine’s Northeast Regional game against defending national champion Minnesota Duluth will be broadcast on ESPN3 and tape-delayed on ESPNU. The CW in Bangor and WPME in Portland will pick up the broadcast and carry the game on Saturday.
This is Maine’s 18th trip to the NCAA Regionals. Regional play began in the 1991-92 season.
Since then, Maine has a 14-4 record in the regionals. Maine has played eight NCAA Tournament games in Worcester and has a 7- 1 record in those games.
Maine has an overall 30-19 record in the NCAA Tournament, good enough for a .612 winning percentage.
Scouting the Bears
Maine is led by Spencer Abbott who has 20 goals and 41 assists for 61 points. He has three power play goals and a pair of game-winners. Joey Diamond has a team-high 25 goals and 22 assists for 47 points. He is tied for the teamlead in power play goals with 11. Brian Flynn is adding 18 goals and 29 assists for 47 points.
Goaltender Dan Sullivan has seen action in 35 games in goal. He is 22-10-3 with a 2.54 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. He has two shutouts.
Maine won its 20th game of the season on March 3 against UNH.
It is the 20th time in Division I history that the Black Bears have won 20 or more games in a season. It is the first time reaching the 20-win plateau since the 2006-07 season.
The opposition
Minnesota Duluth is the reigning NCAA men’s ice hockey champion. The Bulldogs are 24-9-6 and finished WCHA play with a record of 16-7-5.
They are led by Jack Connolly, who comes into the game with 58 points on 19 goals and a team high 39 assists. Behind him is Travis Oleksuk with 21 goals and 30 assists for 51 points. J. T. Brown splits his 46 points with a team high 23 goals and 23 assists.
Kenny Reiter has seen the bulk of the action in net for the Bulldogs on the season, starting all 36 games he has played this year. He has tallied a record of 22-8-6, a save percentage of .912 and a goals against average of 2.40.
Maine and Minnesota Duluth have met eight times in history with the Bulldogs holding a 5-3-0 lead in the alltime series. No current Black Bears have played against the Bulldogs.
Northeast Regional:
DCU Center, Worcester, Mass., March 24-25
Saturday, March 24
Boston College (29-10-1) vs. Air Force 21-10-
7), 4 p.m.
Minnesota-Duluth (24-9-6) vs. MAINE (23-
13-3), 7:30 p.m.
Final
Sunday, March 25
Boston College-Air Force winner vs. Minnesota Duluth-Maine winner, 8 p.m.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less