Rautenberg, Nies Named Huskies Men's Ice Hockey Captains
(Courtesy of Southern Maine Athletics)
GORHAM, Maine -- Veteran head coach Jeff Beaney recently announced that senior forward Dan Rautenberg (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and junior forward David Nies (Brookline, Mass.) will serve as captains and senior goalie Mason St. Hilaire (Saco, Maine/Cheverus) will be an assistant captain for the University of Southern Maine men's ice hockey team during the upcoming 2011-2012 season that begins this weekend with two road games.
The Huskies open their 2011-12 season later today (7:00 p.m.) traveling to Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and Saturday (4:00 p.m.) at Castleton (Vt.) State College for a pair of Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Men's East games. The Huskies play their home opener on November 11 (7:00 p.m.) when they host ECAC Men's East foe Saint Michael's College.
This is the first season that Rautenberg, Nies and St. Hilaire have served as captains. Rautenberg has been a fixture in the Huskies' lineup for the past three seasons while Nies has been a regular contributor the last two years. St. Hilaire begins his fourth season with the Huskies.
Rautenberg was the Huskies' top returning scorer from last season when he scored seven goals and had 11 assists in 23 games. Nies was fifth on the scoresheet with seven goals, including two game-winning goals, and six assists in 26 games. St. Hilaire compiled a 5.07 goals against average with an 870 save percentage in three appearances.
In his three seasons with the Huskies, Rautenberg has scored 24 goals and dished out 39 assists for 63 points in 68 games. He had his best season in 2009-10 when he had 10 goals and 16 assists in 26 games. Nies has tallied 11 goals and handed out 11 assists for 22 points in 52 games. During his career, St. Hilaire has appeared in 21 games posting a 3.71 goals against average, an .892 save percentage and a 7-7-1 record. He had his best season in 2009-10 when he posted a 3.45 goals against average, an .897 save percentage and a 7-5-1 record in 17 games.
In other preseason news, the Huskies were picked to finish seventh among the 10 teams in the ECAC Men's East following a vote by the head coaches. Defending champion Norwich University was the coaches' preseason pick to finish first, followed by Castleton, Babson College and Skidmore.
The ECAC Men's East embarks upon a new chapter in its storied history when play begins this Friday. The league will conduct a double round-robin schedule among the ten teams that comprise the league for the first time. The interlocking schedule between the ECAC East and the NESCAC, which had been in place since 1999 when the two leagues were created, was not renewed after 12 seasons.
