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It was a weekend of polar opposite results at Alfond Arena weekmen’s ice hockey team. The second-ranked Black Bears played one of their best first periods all season against sixth-ranked Boston College, but the Eagles took it to the Black Bears Friday night in the second and third periods to win 5-2. UMaine rebounded on Sunday by knocking off the Merrimack College Warriors 4-2.
Friday night’s loss broke up a 28-game unbeaten streak at home, which dated back to a 3-2 overtime loss on Nov. 9, 2001 to Boston University.
“[UMaine] should take a lot of pride in [the unbeaten streak],” BC coach Jerry York said following the game. “It magnifies the importance of our win and how difficult it is to win here. It makes us feel proud of our effort tonight to beat a very good team in a tough barn to play in.”
In the end, the game came down to turnovers, according to UMaine coach Tim Whitehead.
“The guys have to understand that just because you’re playing well [doesn't mean] you’re going to continue to dominate the game,” Whitehead said. “That was evident with our turnovers. You have to continue to focus. You can’t dipsy-doodle with the puck, you have to keep the game simple.”
UMaine did that in the first period and came out of the period with a 1-0 lead, thanks to Derek Damon’s seventh goal of the year on the power play at 15:07. The Black Bears outshot the Eagles 10-3 for the period.
The second period was a completely different story.
BC’s Ned Havern scored when he stole the puck from Francis Nault and beat Jimmy Howard with a quick shot just 1:40 into the period.
At the 9:39 mark, Nault coughed the puck to Ryan Shannon while on the penalty kill. He got to Tony Voce, who made a nice move, but failed to finish. Ben Eaves was all alone on the other side and scored the power play goal.
At 14:33, Shannon stole a pass from Prestin Ryan and gave it Dave Spina for a one-timer that beat Howard to make it 3-1.
Goal number four for BC came at 4:30 of the third, when Troy Barnes gave it away to Ty Hennes, who passed the puck to Ryan Murphy for the goal.
Damon scored one more for UMaine with 57 seconds left, but it wasn’t enough.
“We were down 5-1,” Damon said. “There was no chance of us coming back.”
Whitehead’s message to the team was simple for Sunday’s game: be smart with the puck in your own zone. UMaine did turn the puck over a few times in the defensive zone, but ended up making good defensive plays to end the chance every time.
The Warriors did get on the board first as Tim Reidy beat Frank Doyle to the glove side with a hard wrist shot from between the circles at 13:25 of the first.
The Black Bears tied the game on the power play just 56 seconds later. Lucas Lawson buried a Nault rebound for his 16th goal of the year.
UMaine got the lead for good with just 44 seconds left in the first. Colin Shields took a high shot on Joe Exter that Exter knocked aside with the blocker. He put the puck right on the stick of Chris Heisten, who scored.
Heisten paid a price, though. He got hammered by a Merrimack defenseman right after the shot. He left the ice under his own power after lying on his back for about two minutes, but did not return to the game.
The injury was to his shoulder and head, but Whitehead hopes that Heisten can play next weekend against Providence.
The Black Bears scored another power play goal, once again by Lawson, at 2:28 of the second period.
Freshman defenseman Steve Mullin scored the first goal of his college career just 1:02 later as he finished a great feed on a two-on-one breakaway from Cameron Lyall.
Tony Johnson got one back for Merrimack at 11:08 of the second period, but Doyle and the Black Bear defense made it stand up after that. UMaine held Merrimack to just 15 shots on goal for the game. Doyle made 13 saves in his first action since Jan. 25.
“It was good to get a chance to play out there again,” Doyle said. “I felt pretty good out there. I’d like to have the first one back, but that happens. You just need to get some more minutes under your belt and get sharp.”
