BIDDEFORD — The University of New England men’s hockey team is set to make it’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament as the Nor’easters host Colby College tonight in the first round at the Harold Alfond Forum.
The Nor’easters made the tournament after receiving an at-large bid from the NCAA national committee. UNE fell to Nichols in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship, in what was a surprising upset.
“I think we’re in a good place now. Coming off a devastating loss last week in the CCC Championship Game, it definitely took a couple days for the guys to get over it,” said UNE coach Kevin Swallow. “We took Monday off at practice, were right back at it Tuesday and have (practiced) throughout the week. It’s been a great week of practice and the guys are fired up about a second opportunity.”
The Nor’easters entered the CCC Championship flying high as they sat in first place in the conference, and ranked No. 4 nationwide. Most teams try to forget about tough losses, but Swallow feels that what happened last week is driving the players.
“I think it’s 100 percent motivation,” said Swallow. “We learned from it, we have a young team, they definitely learned what it takes to win games at this point during the season. It was a great learning experience and hopefully it makes us better down the stretch.”
UNE takes on a tough Colby team, that has had a strong run to finish off it’s season. The Nor’easters topped the Mules twice in the regular season by a combined score of 10-3. However, Swallow believes the Nor’easters will be facing a much tougher Colby squad.
“We’ve played them twice this year so there’s a little bit of familiarity. They’ve been playing much better hockey since the last time we saw them. They’ve been on quite a streak here so they’ll be a little bit of a different team since we last saw them,” said Swallow.
Despite its loss in the CCC title game, the Nor’easters enter the tournament as the favorite heading into tonight’s matchup.
UNE hockey has been on the rise over the past few years and has produced high-caliber players recently, including CCC First-Team selections Brady Fleurent and Ryan Bloom. Swallow is excited about the direction the program is heading in, especially considering the youth of its roster.
“It says a lot about where we’re heading as a program. I think over the past three years since I’ve been here, each year we’ve taken a step forward,” said Swallow. “This is a great group of young men on the team who are hungry.”
Meanwhile, the Biddeford boys hockey team will be traveling north tonight to take on Lewiston in the Class A State Championship. Swallow is thrilled to see the Tigers’ success and looks forward to watching hockey continue to grow in Southern Maine.
“It’s awesome for the town of Biddeford. To have the Tigers playing in the state championship and also having our game against Colby,” said Swallow. “It really is a cool day for hockey in the state of Maine.”
— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at asponseller@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.
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