Bangor Daily News
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Ben Bishop, the 6-foot-7-inch goaltender who backstopped the University of Maine’s hockey team to its last Frozen Four appearance in 2006-07, is one of five athletes who will be inducted into UMaine’s Sports Hall of Fame in September.
The other inductees are former Black Bear women’s ice hockey standout Meagan Aarts, football’s Brandon McGowan, baseball’s Brian Seguin and pole vaulter Bill Schroeder.
Three teams will also be inducted: the 1977-78 champion women’s swim team and the 1963-64 men’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams that swept the Yankee Conference meets.
The induction ceremony will be held on Sept. 26 at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer.
During his three years at UMaine, Bishop compiled a 55-35-7 record, a 2.29 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. He also had five shutouts. He was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team in 2006 and to the league’s second team in 2008.
He is currently third in career saves at UMaine with 2,399, fourth in games played (99) and lowest goals-against average and fifth in save percentage and wins. His 2.14 GAA and .923 save percentage during that 2006-07 campaign ties him with Frank Doyle for fifth in those single-season categories.
He is also fifth in saves in a single season with 915 in 07-08.
The former third round draft choice (85th overall) in 2005 of his hometown St. Louis Blues went on to have a stellar National Hockey League career for five teams. He was a three-time finalist for the Vezina Trophy, which goes to the league’s best goaltender.
He finished second twice and third once.
In addition to the St. Louis Blues, he also played for the Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars, but a knee injury ended his career in 2021.
Bishop now works for the Dallas organization.
In 413 career regular season NHL games, he posted a 222-128-36 record with a 2.32 GAA and a .921 save percentage. In 52 playoff games, he went 29-21-0 with a 2.27 GAA and a .924 save percentage.
Bishop called his upcoming induction a “great honor.
“It’s really special. There are a lot of great memories and it jumpstarted my hockey career,” Bishop said Tuesday afternoon. ”The university meant a lot to me, and I’m proud to be an alumni.”
He gave a lot of credit to UMaine assistant and goalie coach Grant Standbrook and noted the long list of UMaine goalies coached by Standbrook who wound up in the NHL. That includes Jimmy Howard, Mike Dunham, Garth Snow and Scott Darling.
Aarts had an outstanding career for UMaine’s women’s hockey team, racking up 61 goals and 64 assists for 115 points in 127 career games. She is fourth in career goals and assists. The 2004 graduate had a terrific 2001-02 season in which she notched 25 goals and 22 assists in 35 games.
The former first team All-Hockey East pick went on to have a 10-year pro career in the National Women’s Hockey League and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, including a 20-goal season for the Vaughan Flames in 2008-09.
She played 242 games in the two leagues and had 71 goals and 59 assists.
McGowan was an exceptional defensive back for the UMaine football team.
He was an AP Division I-AA All-American choice and a two-time all-conference selection, as a second teamer in 2003 and a first teamer in 2004.
He led the Black Bears in tackles both seasons, registering 85 in 2003 and 101 in 2004.
He was twice tied for the team lead in fumble recoveries and was second on the team in interceptions once.
McGowan signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Chicago Bears and spent part of four seasons with the Bears and one with the New England Patriots. He concluded his NFL career with 184 tackles, 10 pass deflections, four forced fumbles and two interceptions.
Seguin, who is also going to be inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame this year, was a three-time all-conference shortstop who still owns the school records for hits (91) and singles (74) in a season, longest hitting streak (27 games) and most games played in a season (66).
He was the team’s leading hitter in 1992 at .317 and was a career .311 hitter at UMaine, with 126 runs batted in, 156 runs scored, 37 doubles, five triples and 11 homers. He is ranked in the top 10 in career hits with 261 career hits.
He helped lead UMaine to two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Schroeder, a 1958 UMaine graduate, capped an outstanding track career at UMaine by sweeping the Maine, Yankee Conference and New England pole vault championships his senior year. He set the UMaine indoor and school, state and Yankee Conference outdoor records in the pole vault.
A team captain, Schroeder also ran hurdles and set a UMaine record for the 65-yard low hurdles his senior year.
Coach Jeff Wren’s 1977-78 women’s swim team won the New England championship and was the most successful one in school history. The title was the first of six New England championships during a 10-year span.
At the New Englands that season, future UMaine Sports Hall of Famer Julie Woodock claimed five individual titles and swam legs for two triumphant relay teams and Jill Puzas won the 200 breast-stroke.
Beth Carone, another UMaine Sports Hall of Famer, was also an important contributor to the team.
The team went undefeated in dual meets.
The 1963-64 season was a memorable one for the men’s cross country and track teams.
The cross country team got things started in the fall by capturing the Yankee Conference title and then the indoor track and field teams won the conference title spanning the fall and the spring semesters. The outdoor track and field team won the conference title in the spring.
The captain of all three teams was Jerry Ellis, who was inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.
UMaine captured five state outdoor Yankee Conference meets from 1961-65.
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