Maine defenseman Ryan Hegarty is finished for the season. Hegarty suffered a fractured T1 vertebra (a fractured bone in the neck) Monday during practice, when he went awkwardly into the boards while trying to check a teammate. Hegarty met with a neurosurgeon today, and Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said that while the injury is season-ending, it is not career-ending. Hegarty will need 4-6 weeks to recover from the injury.
Also, forward Kyle Solomon will miss this weekend's game after spraining an ACL.
With Hegarty out, there's some tinkering going on with the defense. At practice this afternoon at Alfond Arena, Mike Banwell skated with Simon Danis-Pepin, while Matt Duffy skated with Will O'Neill. Josh Van Dyk skated with Jeff Dimmen.
***
Four games remain in the regular season for Hockey East, but there's definitely a stronger vibe in the air, given that all 10 teams are fighting for something, whether it's home-ice advantage or even just a spot among the top eight teams in the league's standings.
Massachusetts clinched a playoff berth with last weekend's sweep of Maine, and that leaves the Black Bears alone in eighth place entering this weekend's two-game series against Vermont.
Maine currently has 17 points, four points ahead of Providence and six points ahead of Merrimack.
"It's extremely competitive for spots," Whitehead said. "There's so much up for grabs. I've got the expectation that next weekend will be just as exciting as this weekend."
Maine's opponent, Vermont, meanwhile, is trying to get home ice for the playoffs. The Catamounts are currently tied for third with New Hampshire, both with 28 points entering the weekend.
"The games are much more intense now," Vermont Coach Kevin Sneddon said. "Teams are jockeying for position. Each game takes on a significant meaning, not just for the teams that are playing but for their impact on the standings."
What does Maine have to do now?
"Win," forward Jeff Marshall said. "That's the bottom line. We have to do what it takes to put ourselves in a position not to be caught."
***
While senior night is Saturday, there's one glaring absence from the occasion - former Maine goalie Ben Bishop. Bishop left the Black Bears after last season to go pro with the St. Louis Blues, but Whitehead said Wednesday that Bishop has continued his coursework at Maine and as of right now is on schedule to graduate in May.
***
So I'm finally getting around to blogging about faceoffs, a mere two days after the faceoff story ran in the Press Herald.One would tend to lose sight of the importance faceoffs play in the sport, especially given that some of the sport's biggest moments have come as a result of a faceoff.
Now I'm a little biased here, but when the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 1992, Game 1 - a 5-4 win over Chicago - was ultimately decided because of the outcome of a faceoff, as Ron Francis won possession of the puck against Chicago's Brent Sutter. Let's go to the videotape …
(I apologize about the early 1990s clothing and hairstyles in the footage.)
Rachel is in her fifth year as a sports reporter at the Portland Press
Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. A former college soccer and softball player,
she covered sports at newspapers in Pennsylvania, Texas and Colorado before
joining the Press Herald/Sunday Telegram staff in June of 2004.
Rachel takes over coverage of the University of Maine hockey team and was
introduced to Maine hockey as a seventh-grader in Annapolis, Maryland, after
reading a 1988 Sports Illustrated story about Shawn Walsh's impact on the
program. Nearly 20 years later, she still has the four-page article in her
possession.
She and her husband, Tommy (who also works for MaineToday Media, Inc.)
are avid sports fans who root for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh
Penguins and Kansas Jayhawks. After a year of marriage, their next step in
life is to find a bigger house!
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