University of Maine Goalie Coach Alfie Michaud couldn’t watch the Hobey Baker Award Ceremony on TV at his home in rural Maine this weekend. Ever since a Nor’easter tore through the state on Thursday, Michaud and his family have been without power.
He hoped to get it restored on Monday, but in the meantime, he needed a text to inform him on Saturday night that his No. 1 goaltender, Jeremy Swayman of Anchorage, Alaska, had been named the winner of the Mike Richter Award as the NCAA’s goaltender of the year.
“The first text I got was from my boss, the head coach at Maine, Red Gendron,” said Michaud proudly. “The second was from (Manitoba Moose GM) Craig Heisinger. It was a great message and very classy. The Manitoba guys have to stick together.”
Swayman’s honour was also an honour for Michaud, the former NHL goaltender from Selkirk, who has been Maine’s assistant coach/goalie coach since 2016. Swayman faced more shots and made more saves than any other goalie in Division 1 NCAA hockey this season and not only did he win the Richter Award, he was also the runner-up in the Hobey Baker race, the trophy that’s presented to the best player in US College hockey.
This year’s Hobey Baker went to Scott Perunovich, a junior defenseman at Minnesota Duluth. Swayman and North Dakota forward Jordan Kawaguchi were the other finalists.
Swayman, 21, faced 1,170 shots and made 1,099 saves to lead the nation in both statistical categories. His .939 save percentage was the second-best in the NCAA and his 2.07 goals-against-average was the 14th best.
Swayman, who was also a first-team All-American, first-team Hockey East All-Star and Hockey East’s Player of the Year, started 33 of 34 games (Steinbach’s Matt Thiessen started the other one) and played more than 2,000 minutes for the Black Bears. His 18-11-5 record included three shutouts and a 48-save performance in a 1-0 win over Providence in his final college game. Days later, Swayman signed an entry-level contract with the NHL’s Boston Bruins.
Meanwhile, during the coronavirus pandemic, Michaud has been at home with his wife and two daughters in “back woods” of Maine “watching video of every one of Sway’s 1,100 shots this season.”
“And Matt Thiessen just called,” Michaud added. “During the pandemic, we’ve been talking to our players three times a week, so Matty and I just had a real good goalie talk.
“It was a tough year for Matty. Sway was just so good, my thinking was, ‘How do you sit out your best hockey player?’ That didn’t help Matty’s development, but he did improve just by being alongside a guy who is just about a pro. And who knows, Swayman might not have been as successful without Matty pushing him.”
Michaud was thrilled that Swayman signed with the Bruins.
“He’s going to a team that has two great goalie coaches,” Michaud said. “Their goalie development coach is Mike Dunham, a former Maine Black Bear, and their NHL goalie is Bob Essensa, the former Jets goalie, who was one of my heroes when I was growing up in Selkirk. Sway’s going to the right place.”
He’s also opening up a spot for 19-year-old Sophomore goalie, Matt Thiessen from Steinbach, who studied at the foot of the NCAA’s best last season.
“Matty’s going to be fine,” said Michaud. “It’s just the way Swayman was this year, that I couldn’t sit him out. We played 34 games and in NCAA hockey, every game matters. In college hockey, every game is a playoff game. We were hoping to get Matty in more games, at least five or six, but we just couldn’t afford to have Swayman on the bench. He was so darn good.”
Michaud was born and raised in Selkirk and didn’t leave until he went to Saskatchewan to play Midget Triple A hockey. Of course, he admitted that his first brush with organized hockey was “late.”
“I was nine-years-old and I played for the Selkirk Jets,” he said with a laugh. “I remember distinctly that my dad wrote on the calendar on the fridge, ‘Jets hockey 7 o’clock,’ and I was so excited. I thought I was going to Winnipeg for a Jets game. Then he grabbed my gear and said we were going to play and I was disappointed at first, but I got my Selkirk Jets jersey and it was one of those great days in a kid’s life. I was really excited. It was the coolest thing.
“Then at 10, I made the travelling team and it really started taking off for me. I played all my minor hockey in Selkirk – peewee, bantam and a year of midget – with the Selkirk Fishermen and then I went to Saskatchewan at 16 to play junior for the Lebret Eagles.
“I didn’t make the junior team, but I stayed and played Double A midget and then made the junior club the next year as a 17-year-old. I played two years in Lebret and got my scholarship to Maine, played three years there and won a national championship (he went 28-6-3 with a 2.32 GAA) and then had a nice 15-year pro career.”
After his pro career, he returned to the American northeast to live a quiet life with his family near the University campus in tiny Orono, Maine. But it wasn’t long before he was the Black Bears’ goalie coach and then in 2017, became a full-time assistant.
“Right now, we have our daughters at home finishing up the school year,” Michaud said. “But I don’t do the teaching. My wife is the academic in this family. I’m just going through video, talking to my players a few times a week and trying to get the power restored.”
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