ORONO — It’s almost a chicken or the egg question. Is the University of Maine men’s hockey team improved because of the play of Victor Ostman in net, or has the improved play in front of the junior goalie helped him step up his game?

Coach Ben Barr sees it as a symbiotic combination.

“His game has improved along with the program improving,” Barr said of Ostman, a 22-year-old junior who over the second half of the season has been outstanding for the Black Bears, starting 16 straight games and becoming a major reason the team is relevant in Hockey East.

The Black Bears (15-13-5, 9-9-4 Hockey East) close the regular season with a pair of games against UMass (11-16-5, 5-14-3) Friday and Saturday at Alfond Arena.

Maine can jump to fifth place and a bye to the quarterfinals with a pair of wins and two losses by UMass-Lowell to Northeastern. As it stands now, the Black Bears are guaranteed to host a first-round game at Alfond next week.

Last season, Barr’s first, was Maine’s worst season in 40 years. The improvement this season has been in all phases of the game, but most noticeably in net, where Ostman has become one of the top goalies in the country. His 2.05 goals-against average is tied for the lead in Hockey East and sixth in the nation, and his .926 save percentage is second in the league and seventh-best nationally.

“(Ostman’s) been super solid. We’ve had games where we weren’t 100% the whole game, we had a few minutes where we gave up big chances, and Victor helped us. He stood very tall in net,” said captain Jaokub Sirota, a senior defenseman.

Ostman grew up in Danderyd, Sweden, a suburb approximately 20 minutes north of Stockholm, where he first played goalie at age 8 and idolized Henrik Lundqvist, the Swedish goalie for the New York Rangers. Ostman’s play has improved as his playing time has increased at UMaine. As a freshman in 2020-21, Ostman played in 12 games in the COVID-shortened season, with a goals-against average of 3.77 and save percentage of .902. In 21 games last season, Ostman lowered his GAA to 3.31 with a .900 save percentage.

Ostman and Barr credit the work Ostman has done with Maine goalie coach Alfie Michaud as instrumental to his development. Michaud, a former UMaine goalie, was the Most Outstanding Player at the 1999 Frozen Four, where he was in net as Maine won its second national championship. With 63 career games, Ostman’s experience is a factor in his development, Michaud said, as is an increased level of competitiveness and tenacity.

“We thought he lacked that at times, consistently. Having that mindset of not wanting to get scored on, ever. I think that’s gone to another level,” Michaud said. “His rebound control’s definitely improved this year. When you start doing that, you’re limiting second chances that maybe you were giving up. Now he’s doing a much better job of eating pucks. He’s not getting himself in scramble mode as much.”

Neither Ostman nor Barr was sure how much he would play at the start of the season. Jacob Mucitelli, a transfer from Clarkson, got the nod in the season-opening win at Air Force.

“I didn’t know anything. Honestly, we had three goalies. Last year we used all three goalies, and that’s usually not a good sign,” Barr said. “Victor, that was eye-opening for him. He went about it the right way. He worked his way back to being our number one guy.”

A few weeks into the season, it was apparent the Black Bears were an improved team, and Ostman was the best option. The sharp increase in playing time is something Ostman welcomes. So far, the physical and mental grind of playing back-to-back nights every weekend hasn’t been an issue, he said.

Ostman is making the saves he’s supposed to make, Barr said, but there have been a few highlight-reel stops. Most notable is the save in the closing seconds of regulation against UMass-Lowell on Feb. 12. The Riverhawks’ Jon McDonald corralled a rebound and looked to have a wide-open net, but Ostman pushed from one post to the other, flashing his glove to make the stop and preserve the tie.

“He’s getting to pucks he never used to get to. It’s all starting in practice. He’s surprised me at times where he gets to a puck. Two years ago, he definitely wasn’t getting to them. Last year, he was getting to one in five. Now he’s getting to four of five of those pucks,” Michaud said.

The Black Bears enter this weekend’s games 6-1-3 in their last 10 games.

“The last couple of weeks we’ve shown we can play with anybody in this league. I’m really excited for these last two games because I think we’ve got something really good going,” Ostman said.

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