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After a weekend split at the University of New Hampshire, the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team is in the same position as last week. The team is in a three-way tie atop the Hockey East standings and will face off against one of the teams it is tied with.
After playing two with UNH last week, the Black Bears now face the other team tied for first place, Boston College, Friday night at Alfond Arena. UMaine also will host Merrimack College Sunday at 2 p.m.
Black Bear coach Tim Whitehead said he was extremely pleased with his team’s effort on Sunday night in its 3-2 overtime win at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H., UMaine’s first win in the building since March 14, 1998. No one from the current team was on the team for that win.
“It was a great feeling,” Whitehead said. “When you work hard like that and you’re on the road with the whole building against you. We just went around the room and shook hands. What can you say after that one?”
Senior forward Lucas Lawson’s overtime game-winner came with just 6.8 seconds left, but not without controversy. The goal was directed in off of his skate, but referee Scott Hansen indicated that it was unintentional and allowed it to stand.
Whitehead believes the effort his team showed was the major key to the win.
“We stuck to the game plan,” he said. “We didn’t play a perfect game, but the focus to play a perfect game was there. We tried to keep things pretty simple and make adjustments during the game, which the guys responded to really well. The focus was better tonight.”
UMaine’s focus will need to be just as sharp this weekend. The Black Bears, now No. 2 in the country (21-3-4, 11-2-3 Hockey East), will take on coach Jerry York’s sixth-ranked Boston College Eagles (17-6-3, 12-4-1 Hockey East) in the opening game of the weekend.
The Black Bears played two games at BC in December, resulting in a win and a tie. That means UMaine is guaranteed at least a split in the season series with the Eagles, which is the first tiebreaker for the Hockey East standings. By winning last Sunday, UMaine won the series with UNH two games to one, meaning UMaine owns a tiebreaker over the Wildcats.
BC is led on offense by their two juniors, one of whom, Ben Eaves, is a strong candidate for the Hobey Baker Award. He has 15 goals and 26 assists for 41 points in 23 games. Fellow junior Tony Voce (14-18-32) and sophomores Ryan Shannon (10-16-26) and Dave Spina (11-13-24) are the other key forwards.
BC also boasts one of the best defensemen at both ends of the ice in Hockey East. Junior J.D. Forrest (4-21-25) is the linchpin holding the defense together. Other key defenders are sophomore Andrew Alberts (5-9-14) and freshman Peter Harrold (1-4-5).
Sophomore Matti Kaltiainen has taken over the starting goaltending position after splitting with senior Tim Kelleher in the first half of the season. Kaltiainen is statistically the third best goalie in Hockey East, behind UMaine’s Jimmy Howard, the most recent Hockey East Rookie of the Week, and UNH’s Mike Ayers. Kaltiainen, from Espoo, Finland, is 11-5-2 with a 2.24 goals against average and a .905 save percentage.
The Eagles are coming off of a 5-2 win Monday night in the first round of the Beanpot Tournament over Northeastern University at the FleetCenter in Boston. This will be the only conference game of the weekend for the Eagles, as they play Boston University for the Beanpot Championship this coming Monday.
UMaine’s second opponent of the weekend, Merrimack (10-11-5, 5-8-3 Hockey East), though in seventh place in the league, will also be a challenging opponent. The major key to success for coach Chris Serino’s Warriors is the play of goaltender Joe Exter. The senior captain of the team is 9-10-5 with a 2.99 GAA and a .915 save percentage.
Merrimack also has the best performing freshman class in the league. Four of the top six scorers on the team are first-year players. Forwards Brent Gough (8-11-19), Matt Johnson (8-10-18) and Nick Pomponio (5-7-12), as well as defenseman Bryan Schmidt (8-8-16) have all proved to be major contributors as rookies. Key upperclassman for the Warriors include junior forwards Marco Rosa (7-11-18) and Tim Reidy (6-8-14).
The Black Bears and Warriors have played twice this season, on Jan. 17 and 18 at Merrimack’s Volpe Center. The first game was a 5-5 tie in which the Black Bears tied the game twice with less than four minutes left. UMaine came away with a 2-1 win the next night.
Bangor Daily News