BIDDEFORD — The University of New England men’s hockey team firmly believes in the “third times the charm” cliché.
The Nor’easters had finished as the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament runner-up in each of the past two seasons. This year, No. 3 UNE defeated top-seeded Salve Regina University 6-2 on Saturday night at Boss Arena to finally claim the CCC Championship title.
“We’ve been to the CCC championship two other times. We came up eight seconds short the first time and the second time we got blown out and embarrassed a little bit. This time, all the pieces came together so it was a lot of fun to play in and we got the result we wanted,” said senior assistant captain Tucker Ross.
Senior forward Brady Fleurent believes the Nor’easters entered the CCC title game with the right mindset.
“We went to (Salve Regina University) for our league championship (and) we didn’t have any pressure on us. They were home and they were the number one seed. We just went in there with no expectations, trying not to overthink it and play loose,” said Fleurent, who is a Biddeford native. “We went in there pretty loose and took it from them from the start. We weren’t fazed and we just took it to them all game. It felt good to finally get the championship on the third try.”
The Nor’easters earned their first automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship with the win, and will make their second straight appearance in the national tournament. No. 11/12 UNE will travel to No. 6/8 Trinity for their first-round matchup on Saturday night.
“Trinity’s a very good team, they’re the favorites, the higher seed. We’re embracing that underdog role. I think our teams plays our best when we’re underdogs and we’re going in getting ready to fight for the win,” said head coach Kevin Swallow. “I think we’re really peaking right now, we’re playing our best hockey right now.”
Fleurent agreed with his coach.
“We’re just going (to Trinity) no expectations, just trying to play our game. I think we can be successful if we play our game,” said Fleurent, who was recently named the CCC Player of the Year. “We can definitely upset some people. I feel like a lot of teams aren’t giving us much credit. If we stay (under) the radar and we just keep playing the way we are, I believe we can go pretty far in the tournament.”
Swallow will lean on the team’s key contributors to earn a victory this weekend.
“Brady Fleurent and Ryan Bloom have been our leading scorers the last few years here. I’m hoping those guys will step up and play a big game. Ben Churchfield has been great for us in goal, I’m hoping he’ll have a great game too,” said Swallow.
Ross believes that if the Nor’easters play their game, they can get the win on Saturday and keep their season alive.
“It’s a lot of fun to play in these games especially when everything’s on the line. If we stick to our style of hockey, I think we’re definitely going to come out on top,” said Ross.
— Sports Writer Sienna Barstow can be reached at sbarstow@journaltribune.com or at 780-9018. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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