Mar. 31—We know the University of Maine men's hockey team will look different when it returns to the ice again in October. How different will begin to unfold in the coming weeks.
Maine finished the season 24-8-6, winning the Hockey East title for the first time since 2004. Just days after the Black Bears season came to an end with a 5-1 loss to Penn State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the roster already started to change.
On Sunday, senior forwards Lynden Breen and Nolan Renwick reportedly signed professional contracts. Breen will join the AHL's Hershey Bears next season, while Nolan Renwick signed with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, also of the AHL. Breen missed much of the season after suffering a broken leg on Nov. 30 in a game at RPI, moments after he recorded a hat trick. He returned late in the season, scoring a pair of goals in the Hockey East tournament to finish with seven goals and six assists in 22 games.
Renwick scored nine goals with 15 assists for 24 points this season, including the game-winner in double overtime to lift Maine to a 4-3 win over Northeastern in the Hockey East semifinals.
Monday afternoon, senior forward Taylor Makar, a seventh-round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 2021, signed an entry level deal with the team. Makar, who tallied 18 goals and 12 assists for the Black Bears this past season after transferring from UMass, was set to join the Avalanche's AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, for the remainder of the season. Makar was the only player on Maine's roster this past season who had been drafted.
Harrison Scott, a forward who spent two years with Maine after transferring from Bentley, also reportedly signed an entry-level contract with the Dallas Stars, and will join the Texas Stars, the team's AHL affiliate, for the remainder of the season. Scott led the Black Bears in scoring this season with 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points.
Two other seniors leaving the program, defenseman David Breazeale and forward Ross Mitton, could sign pro contracts in the coming days.
There's also the possibility that other players eligible to return choose to either sign a pro contract or enter the transfer portal, which opened Sunday. As of 3 p.m. Monday, 170 players were in the transfer portal, none from Maine. That's not to say none will enter, but no Black Bears were at the front of the line.
Even before the Black Bears lose any players eligible to return to the team, coach Ben Barr knows he has a lot of offense to replace. The six seniors accounted for nearly half the team's goals this past season, 59 of 124. Those six also contributed 33% of the team's assists (67 of 204), and 38% of the Black Bears' total points (126 of 328).
Barr had success using the transfer portal to restock the Black Bears over the past two seasons. Five of the team's top seven scorers this season came to Orono after starting their college career somewhere else: Scott, Maker, defenseman Frank Djurasevic, forward Charlie Russell, and forward Owen Fowler. Mitton also joined Maine this season as a graduate transfer after four years at Colgate.
Copy the Story Link
