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Mar. 25—ORONO — Lynden Breen knows his University of Maine men's hockey team has offensive depth. The Black Bears proved it to Breen, one of their captains, Thursday night during its double-overtime win over Northeastern in the Hockey East semifinals.
"You look back at overtime on Thursday night against Northeastern. (The Huskies were) pushing (their) top line probably every other shift. We're rolling three lines because we've got so many guys that can play in big moments and can contribute when we need them to contribute," Breen said. "We trust each other. We don't have three guys you trust out there and you worry about the others.
"We have a lot of guys who get the job done and a lot of guys who want to be big-time players."
After scuffling to score goals throughout much of the second half of the regular season, the Black Bears found their scorer's touch again in the Hockey East tournament, averaging just over five goals per game to win their first conference title in 21 years with Friday's 5-2 victory over UConn.
Maine (24-7-6) earned the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, and will take on Penn State (20-13-4) in a first-round game at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Black Bears rediscovered their scoring touch at the exact right time.
"Everyone's feeling good. Everyone's playing their 'A' game. You saw that this past weekend," said Harrison Scott, who leads Maine with 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points.
Over the three Hockey East tournament games, 11 players scored at least one goal for Maine. Sixteen Black Bears picked up a point, including goalie Albin Boija, who assisted on Josh Nadeau's coast-to-coast power-play goal against UConn in Friday's championship game.
Eight Maine players have at least 20 points this season, tied for most among the four teams competing in the Allentown regional (Quinnipiac, which will face UConn on Friday, also has eight).
"It's been really good the last few weeks. It dried up at times in the second half (of the regular season), but I feel recently it's been a strength of our team. If we're going to win in the NCAA tournament, it's going to have to remain that way," Maine coach Ben Barr said.
In 16 games before the holiday break, Maine averaged four goals per game. In 18 regular-season game after the break, the Black Bears average dipped to 2.4 goals per game. Part of that can be attributed to a tougher schedule. All but three of those games were against Hockey East competition, and those three non-conference games were against Bentley and Denver, a pair of teams that also earned spots in the NCAA tournament. All told, 11 of Maine's final 18 regular-season game were against teams in the 16-team NCAA tournament field.
Injuries also played a role. Senior forward Ross Mitton missed six games. Junior Brandon Holt, Maine's top defenseman who also has a knack for getting involved in the offense with 16 assists, missed four. The biggest loss was Breen, who suffered a severe ankle injury at RPI on Nov. 30, in a game he recorded a hat trick. Breen returned to the lineup Feb. 21 at UConn. In the three Hockey East playoff games, he had two goals and an assist.
"It give a huge boost to our team. For people who don't know Lynden, he's the heart and soul of our hockey club, and he brings a great effort and great attitude every single day. And he's a really good hockey player on top of that," said center Nolan Renwick, who scored the game-winner against Northeastern on Thursday.
Getting helped off the ice at RPI, Breen thought maybe his college hockey career was over. He required tightrope surgery, in which a thread is woven through and around the ankle to provide stability.
"Now looking back at it, I kind of left all my faith in (athletic trainer) Paul Culina and our doctors. They did whatever they can for me, and kept me motivated and kept me just positive-minded. When you get surgery like that, and there's so much unknown about the future, and they kept me really grounded and taking things day by day," Breen said. "The closer I was getting, the more I started to believe it was possible. Even when I started skating, I wasn't really confident I was going to be back."
Success will come not just from continued offensive contributions up and down the lineup, but from continuing to limit mistakes. Against UConn in the Hockey East championship game, for example, the Black Bears committed no penalties.
"This time of year, it's a game of mistakes, so limiting those is going to be our best bet," Scott said.
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"You look back at overtime on Thursday night against Northeastern. (The Huskies were) pushing (their) top line probably every other shift. We're rolling three lines because we've got so many guys that can play in big moments and can contribute when we need them to contribute," Breen said. "We trust each other. We don't have three guys you trust out there and you worry about the others.
"We have a lot of guys who get the job done and a lot of guys who want to be big-time players."
After scuffling to score goals throughout much of the second half of the regular season, the Black Bears found their scorer's touch again in the Hockey East tournament, averaging just over five goals per game to win their first conference title in 21 years with Friday's 5-2 victory over UConn.
Maine (24-7-6) earned the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, and will take on Penn State (20-13-4) in a first-round game at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Black Bears rediscovered their scoring touch at the exact right time.
"Everyone's feeling good. Everyone's playing their 'A' game. You saw that this past weekend," said Harrison Scott, who leads Maine with 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points.
Over the three Hockey East tournament games, 11 players scored at least one goal for Maine. Sixteen Black Bears picked up a point, including goalie Albin Boija, who assisted on Josh Nadeau's coast-to-coast power-play goal against UConn in Friday's championship game.
Eight Maine players have at least 20 points this season, tied for most among the four teams competing in the Allentown regional (Quinnipiac, which will face UConn on Friday, also has eight).
"It's been really good the last few weeks. It dried up at times in the second half (of the regular season), but I feel recently it's been a strength of our team. If we're going to win in the NCAA tournament, it's going to have to remain that way," Maine coach Ben Barr said.
In 16 games before the holiday break, Maine averaged four goals per game. In 18 regular-season game after the break, the Black Bears average dipped to 2.4 goals per game. Part of that can be attributed to a tougher schedule. All but three of those games were against Hockey East competition, and those three non-conference games were against Bentley and Denver, a pair of teams that also earned spots in the NCAA tournament. All told, 11 of Maine's final 18 regular-season game were against teams in the 16-team NCAA tournament field.
Injuries also played a role. Senior forward Ross Mitton missed six games. Junior Brandon Holt, Maine's top defenseman who also has a knack for getting involved in the offense with 16 assists, missed four. The biggest loss was Breen, who suffered a severe ankle injury at RPI on Nov. 30, in a game he recorded a hat trick. Breen returned to the lineup Feb. 21 at UConn. In the three Hockey East playoff games, he had two goals and an assist.
"It give a huge boost to our team. For people who don't know Lynden, he's the heart and soul of our hockey club, and he brings a great effort and great attitude every single day. And he's a really good hockey player on top of that," said center Nolan Renwick, who scored the game-winner against Northeastern on Thursday.
Getting helped off the ice at RPI, Breen thought maybe his college hockey career was over. He required tightrope surgery, in which a thread is woven through and around the ankle to provide stability.
"Now looking back at it, I kind of left all my faith in (athletic trainer) Paul Culina and our doctors. They did whatever they can for me, and kept me motivated and kept me just positive-minded. When you get surgery like that, and there's so much unknown about the future, and they kept me really grounded and taking things day by day," Breen said. "The closer I was getting, the more I started to believe it was possible. Even when I started skating, I wasn't really confident I was going to be back."
Success will come not just from continued offensive contributions up and down the lineup, but from continuing to limit mistakes. Against UConn in the Hockey East championship game, for example, the Black Bears committed no penalties.
"This time of year, it's a game of mistakes, so limiting those is going to be our best bet," Scott said.
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