( Photo Credit: UMaine Athletics )

By: Mark Allred | Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277

Last season as a freshman playing for the University of Maine hockey team, Boston Bruins prospect goaltender Jeremy Swayman not only caught the eye of Bruins fans as a rookie but also gathered national attention as one of the best goaltenders in the NCAA. In 31 games played in the 2017-18 campaign, the 6-foot-2, 187-pound Anchorage, Alaska native posted a record of 15-12-3, a 2.72 Goals-Against-Average, and .921 Save Percentage.

.@DonatoRyan and @JeremySwayman picked up some end-of-season hardware this week. Plus, see Jesse Gabrielle’s filthy shootout goal in this #NHLBruins Prospect Update: https://t.co/QbBC47UY6p — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 15, 2018

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Other accomplishments last season include named as the third goaltender for the United States team in the 2018 World Junior Championships capturing a Bronze Medal, Hockey East Player of The Week (five times) and Hockey East Rookie of The Month honors for January. He was also named to the 2018 Hockey East Pro Ambitions All-Rookie team.

New NCAA Season Comes With Increased Expectations For Swayman

Last night the Black Bears played the first game of the 2018-19 season and started the year out with a 3-1 victory over the St. Lawrence University club in front of a home crowd of 3,648 at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine. Swayman had a relatively easy night in the crease during last nights non-conference contest stopping 16 of 17 Saints shots. Below are highlights from last nights season-opening 3-1 win over the St. Lawrence Saints.

The high praise for Swayman is already set at a high bar for the goaltender entering his sophomore year and another year of much-needed development. In an interview, I had with Jeremy at this year’s Bruins Development Camp at the Warrior Ice Arena, he gave a lot of credit to Black Bears goaltending coach and former Maine alum Alfie Michaud along with another former Bears goaltender Mike Dunham who was hired as the Bruins developmental coach last summer. With the tutelage of both members above, I personally believe Swayman will have a better season this year and set a new high in career stats.

“I thought our defense played well the whole game. They only allowed a few tough shots.” – Jeremy Swayman #BlackBearNation | #HockeyEast pic.twitter.com/G4JblLXxx7 — Black Bear Hockey (@MaineIceHockey) October 13, 2018

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Even before this collegiate season started and the season he had as a freshman last year, the soon-to-be 20-year-old in November is already garnering national attention to have a big year again playing in the powerful NCAA Hockey East Conference. In an article posted on Oct. 5 from the goblackbears.com website, Swayman along with 20 other netminders across the United States were named to the players to watch list for the 2019 Mike Richter Award. The award is in its sixth year of existence and is an annual award honoring the most outstanding goalie in NCAA Division I Hockey as nominated by all 60 Division I college hockey coaches and selected by a committee of coaches, scouts and members of the media.

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Swayman and Black Bear teammates get back to work tonight at the same place of last night’s 3-1 victory once again to match up against the St. Lawrence Saints team. It remains to be seen if Jeremy will get the start in back-to-back games but it’s not out of the realm of Bears Head Coach Red Gendron to roll the dice with his starting goaltender once again in front of the home fans. He could very well be back in the crease tonight as the Black Bears team will get a lot of rest in between games as the next contest for the club is set for next weekend with back-to-back games against the University of Minnesota-Duluth starting Friday, Oct. 19.

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