(  Above Photo Credit:  Matt Dewkett / Photographer )

By: Mark Allred                    Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277

Last night the University of Maine Black Bears came away with a 3-3 tie against Hockey East rival the University of New Hampshire Wildcats from Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine as the team celebrated 40 years of collegiate hockey in the state of Maine.  Boston Bruins prospect goaltender Jeremy Swayman got the start in goal last and has been one of the teams bright spots even though the Black Bears are sitting in the middle of the Hockey East Conference standings. The Bears have a 6-6-3 Conference record, 12-9-4 overall record, in 26 games in the 2017-18 NCAA season.

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The 19-year-old Anchorage, Alaska native is in his first-year of collegiate hockey and is taking positive strides in his development as a 2017 National Hockey League Entry Draft fourth round selection. One key benefit for the 6′-2″ 187-pound netminder is the oversight of former NHL goaltender and Maine alumni, Mike Dunham who was hired last summer to help with all Bruins goaltenders in the system. Dunham’s role with the organization has taken him to Atlanta (Vladar), Maine (Swayman), Oshawa, Ontario (Keyser), and Providence (McIntyre).

This season, Swayman has compiled a season record of 9-5-3 with a 2.53 goals-against-average, and .926 save percentage in 18 games played. In his last 10 games for the Black Bears, he has a record of 6-2-2 and an impressive 335 saves in that timeframe. The amount of shots the young goaltender has taken this season was one of the major factors of him being selected as a third goaltender for the 2018 World Junior Championship that was held in Buffalo, New York. Although Swayman only got a few minutes of action in the last game of the popular annual tournament, he and his United States team walked away with the Bronze medal and his experience in those games will have a positive influence moving forward in his development.

 

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Although Swayman only got a few minutes of action in the last game of the popular annual tournament, he and his United States team walked away with the Bronze medal and his experience in those games will have a positive influence moving forward in his development. One thing that’s impressed me the most is the confidence that Head Coach Dennis Gendron has in the young prodigy and the will to take a goaltender like Robert McGovern who’s currently in his junior year out of the crease to give more time to the B’s prospect as he’s clearly earned it.

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The Maine Black Bears get back to work next weekend with two road games against the University of Massachusetts starting on Friday night (1/26/18) and again on Saturday night (1/27/18) both to be played at the William D. Mullins Memorial Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. With nine games remaining in the Bears regular season, it should be interesting to see how they play down the stretch in hopes of a Hockey East playoff spot with teams like Northeastern, Boston College, Boston University, Providence College, and UMass-Lowell ahead of them in the conference.

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