Alex Guptill and the University of Michigan Wolverines got the weekend off last week, but stay tuned because they’ll come back this weekend with a back to back against Michigan State. The Spartans are maybe Michigan’s biggest rivals since they are both in-state and a historically great hockey team. This will be a big one for the Wolverines, who have lost four games in a row, and it should be a big game for Alex Guptill as he’ll look to get his scoring ways back on track and help Michigan jockey for better playoff positioning.
The Maine Black Bears played two games this week.
Devin Shore:
Devin Shore opened the week with a goal against St. Francis Xavier on Tuesday as Maine handled St. Francis handily by a score of 4-1. His goal, which he scored at the 10:47 mark of the first period held up as the game winner. He finished the game with four shots, a plus-2 rating, and a 50 percent faceoff mark (9/18).
The University of Maine Black Bears battled the UMass Lowell Riverhawks to a 1-1 tie on Friday up in Lowell, Massachusetts. It was a positive game for the Black Bears (11-8-3. 5-3-2 in Hockey East) as it allowed them to climb up the standings a bit and more into the bigger NCAA playoff picture. By tying the 8th ranked Riverhawks, they were able to get enough votes to be ranked in the top 20 in all of college hockey. While 20 may not seem all that good, there are a ton of solid hockey programs around the country, and being ranked in the top 20 of them shows a lot of good work and great progress last year from one of the easy wins of the previous season. (Oh what I would give for Boston University to be ranked in the top 20 again.)
He had a solid game for the Black Bears. Although he had his 11-game point streak snapped, he received a plus-1 rating for being on the ice for his team’s only goal, and went 13-for-25 on the faceoff dot while also taking three shots on net. That’s not a bad stat line at all, especially after the torrid pace he was on.
The next night, Shore got back on the scoresheet with an assist against the Boston College Eagles. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to help his team avoid a .500 record for the busy week, as the conference leading Eagles too Maine to school, 7-1. The good news is that Shore somehow managed to hold on to an even plus-minus rating and finished the game with three shots, and 9 of 20 faceoffs won. How he managed to remain an even player in such a high scoring game is a bit of a mystery, but it shows that when on the ice, he’s a positive influence on his team and almost never hurts them.