Players from six different European countries have made the University of Maine their college hockey home this season, but the Black Bears left plenty of room on their roster for six New Englanders to play in the conference they grew up watching closely.
For junior Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.) and the rest of his teammates who call New England home, it’s still a dream come true.
“We were actually talking about it the other day. It’s awesome,” Doherty said after the Black Bears earned a Jan. 16 win at BC in which he logged a goal and an assist to contribute to the 7-2 score. “We grew up watching Hockey East as kids and now we’re here playing at BC, so sometimes we have to pinch ourselves. It’s a really cool experience for all of us.”
Doherty did not see any game action as a freshman in 2016-17 due to transferring from Brown University before playing in a game, but he’s become a steady contributor to sixth-year head coach Red Gendron’s lineup over the past two seasons.
He had an 11-12-23 line with a plus-11 rating in 31 games as a sophomore and ranked second on this year’s Black Bears with seven goals entering the final weekend of January.
The 6-foot, 185-pound center has skated alongside senior Brendan Robbins (Nashua, N.H.) for most of this season, providing the Black Bears with a reliable and balanced offensive pairing off which to build.
“Tim knows he’s a good offensive player and can put up tangible offense in the form of goals and assists,” said Gendron. “Brendan only knows one way to play, and that’s at top speed. The compete level is very high. I think they’ve done a lot of real good things together. It was nice to see them have a night (at BC).”
Through this season’s ups and downs, Doherty has been there along with other locals like Robbins, fellow third-year forward Patrick Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) and sophomore Jack Quinlivan (Shrewsbury, Mass.).
Gendron calls Doherty one of the team’s most popular players, which made him an easy choice to work on a line with more than one of the team’s five rookies. During the month of January, Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup and Adam Dawe were among the players who skated with Doherty and Robbins.
Though a native of Denmark, Schmidt-Svejstrup had some history with Doherty before joining the Maine roster, as the two skated together as members of the Boston Junior Bruins during the 2015-16 season.
“He’s had a big impact for us,” Doherty said of Schmidt-Svejstrup, now a two-time teammate who logged nine points through his first 19 games. “He has one of the hardest shots I’ve ever seen, so there’s a good chance the puck is going in when you give it to him.”
Between Doherty’s smarts and grit, the speed of Robbins and Schmidt-Svejstrup’s skill, the Black Bears found a formidable combination that has become regular.
Of course, Doherty loves scoring goals, racking up points and being a responsible player on the ice, but he knows being a pivotal leader to the team’s younger players is an important job as well.
“I think my biggest asset is my hockey IQ because I can see the game well and just try to make the players around me better,” said Doherty, who played prep hockey at St. George’s School before moving into the USPHL. “And off the ice, I think I’m a good leader. I love these guys. … I love when the freshmen come in. Those are four or five new best friends I can make, and it’s awesome to show them the ropes of being a student-athlete.”
The Black Bears had to heavily rely on the goaltending of sophomore Jeremy Swayman during the early stages of the season. But Doherty and the rest of his team’s skaters are hoping they can help to take some of the load off the Bruins prospect’s shoulders and improve upon a 9-12-13 record (5-6-3 Hockey East) coming down the home stretch.
“I just want to be a guy who makes a difference every night,” Doherty said. “Maybe it’s scoring goals, but I also try to be defensively sound and be a guy we can look to to help the team win.”
The feeling after a dominant win at BC? That’s one they could get used to while competing in what has largely been a wide-open Hockey East race this winter, but it’s most likely that the eight one-goal games in which they have played will be the norm.
“It’s probably the best feeling we’ve had all year,” Doherty said of downing the Eagles in Chestnut Hill. “Every night is an absolute war, so we have to treat like that and keep it going.”
