Maine men’s and women’s hockey coaches give season preview at Hockey East Media Day

BOSTON, Mass. (WABI) - Maine’s hockey coaches gave a sneak peek of their teams at Tuesday’s Hockey East Media Day in Boston.

Men’s bench boss Ben Barr is ready to get back on campus.

“For us, it’s just we can’t wait to get back home and get back on the ice with the guys. So far, it’s been a couple weeks of high-energy practices, and we’re excited about the group we have,” said Barr.

There will be a new leadership core without Jakub Sirota.

“We’re going to have more of probably a committee with our leadership. We have a lot of guys that have played big roles on our team the last couple years. We’re going to really rely on them to help the younger guys really adapt, learn how we do things, and hopefully continue to ascend those league standings,” said Barr.

On the women’s side, Molly Engstrom is looking forward to seeing the new cast.

“We’re really excited about the players that we have coming in. We’re excited about the group we have coming back. In some ways, we’re able to kind of settle in to what we worked for last year,” said Engstrom.

Every season is a new step for the Black Bears.

“There is going to be a lot of newness to the group, which can bring energy. We’re really looking forward to having Nina Rodgers on board as the forward coach as well, so it should be a good year for us,” said Engstrom.

The men’s team opens the regular season on Oct. 12 against Coach Barr’s alma mater, RPI. The women’s team starts with New Brunswick on Sept. 23.

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