Sports

Long Beach Native Dominating College Hockey

University of Maine's Joey Diamond leads the Hockey East conference in goals.

 

Long Beach native Joey Diamond has been carving up the competition in the Hockey East conference all season and is making quite a name for himself in the process.

The first-line forward for University of Maine Black Bears is currently third in scoring in the conference with 41 points in 31 games — trailing only linemates Spencer Abbott (56 points) and Brian Flynn (45 points) for the overall lead.

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Diamond's 41 points is currently tied for 14th in all of college hockey.

According to the Bangor Daily News:

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They are believed to be the first three linemates to lead the conference in scoring since Paul Kariya, Jim Montgomery and Cal Ingraham did so during Maine's 1992-93 NCAA championship season.

"It's a real honor to be put in that category with those three players," Diamond told the Bangor Daily News. "They obviously had unbelievable careers at Maine and went on to have professional careers."

Diamond, who is the only junior on his line, also currently leads the conference in goals with 22, including a gorgeous backhanded goal through his legs (see video).

Near the end of February, the right winger was named 'Athletic Republic Hockey East Player of the Week' for the second time this season.

The Hockey East is one of the most competitive conferences in college hockey, featuring the likes of teams such as Maine, No. 1 Boston College, No. 6 Boston University and No. 7 UMass-Lowell. Maine currently sits ranked 10th in the nation thanks to Diamond and his linemates.

The news of Diamond's success heading into the NCAA playoffs comes on the heels of the Long Beach Marines' second consecutive state hockey title, which the team won over the weekend in front of a home crowd.

Diamond and the Black Bears will take on Merrimack in a best-of-three series starting Friday, March 9 at 7 p.m.


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