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The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team earned a weekend split with the University of Massachusetts Minutemen on Friday and Saturday night in Hockey East action at Alfond Arena. UMaine’s Frank Doyle backstopped his second consecutive shutout on Friday night to lead the Black Bears to a 3-0 win, but UMass sophomore Gabe Winer turned in an equally good performance on Saturday night, giving UMass a 1-0 win.
That means the season of three games is also split, as the first meeting between the teams was 1-1 tie at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass., on Nov. 20.
With Friday’s shutout, Doyle, a senior, set a new single season record for shutouts by a UMaine goalie with four. He also tied the career mark of six, which he now shares with Alfie Michaud, who played from 1996-’99.
“I haven’t really thought about [the record] yet,” Doyle said after Friday’s game. “As with the other shutouts this year, the guys played great in front of me. They cleared away the rebounds and let me handle the shots. I have to give a lot of credit to my defense.”
“He’s exceptional,” UMaine coach Tim Whitehead said of Doyle’s play. “He’s seeing the pucks well and he’s in position to make the saves. He had to make a few tough ones tonight.”
Most of the tough shots Doyle faced were in the first 10 minutes, when UMass took the play to UMaine. After that, the Black Bears started taking the body and taking control.
UMaine finally took firm control late in the first when Jon Jankus won a faceoff back to Mike Hamilton, who ripped a wrist shot from the top of the left circle high over Winer’s right shoulder at 17:01 to give the Black Bears the lead.
The turning point came just after UMaine killed off a penalty to Tom Zabkowicz midway through the second period. After Zabkowicz skated out of the box, he made a big hit on defenseman Thomas Pock near the UMass blueline, causing a turnover. Colin Shields broke in and tried to go low to the stick side on Winer, but he stacked the pads to make the save. Zabkowicz rushed in behind the play and found the loose puck in the crease and wristed it over the sprawled Winer to give UMaine the 2-0 lead.
“That was a big play,” Whitehead said. “The good part is Zabkowicz didn’t stand there and admire the hit he made, or the nice pass he made to Shields. He followed the play and got rewarded for it.”
The Black Bears went up 3-0 as Michel Leveille one-timed a Greg Moore feed in, with 1:16 left in the second with a two-man advantage, to put the game out of reach. Todd Jackson also assisted on the play.
On Saturday, sophomore goalie Jimmy Howard got his first start since Dec. 5 for the Bears. Howard went down with a knee sprain during the warm-up before UMaine’s 3-2 win over Dartmouth on Dec. 13 and hadn’t seen action since.
“At first I felt a little jumpy,” Howard said, “I didn’t feel like myself. But as the game got going, toward the end of the first of the period, I felt more at home, and I was able to suck everything up like I’m capable of doing.”
UMaine got going early in the game offensively, but as UMass’s tough shots had gotten Doyle in rhythm the night before, Winer got into rhythm by facing tough early shots and carried it through the game.
UMass jumped on the board on the power play, when defenseman Marvin Degon was left open to rip a slap shot from the left point. The shot went through traffic and ticked off of Howard’s left shoulder and in the net for the only goal of the night. Stephen Werner and Thomas Pock assisted.
“It was a nice shot,” Howard said, “I didn’t see it until the last second.”
“I thought Howard’s effort was outstanding,” Whitehead said after the game. “The question mark was whether he was going to pick up where he left off, and he did.”
The game was marked by lots of chippy play. The teams racked up a combined 68 minutes worth of penalties, most of which came with 11 seconds left in the second period when Troy Barnes got his stick up high on UMass defenseman Nick Kuiper, causing him to fall head and shoulder first into the boards. That touched off a major brawl that resulted in 40 minutes of penalties, including two 10-minute misconducts.
The third period was uneventful, as UMass used a neutral zone trap to shut down UMaine. The Minutemen allowed only one shot in net in the third period, which was not a quality opportunity.
UMaine’s best chance to score came in the second period when Mike Hamilton’s shot on the breakaway clanged off the left post.
The loss broke up a four-game winning streak for UMaine.
The Black Bears are now 16-5-1 overall and 8-3-1 in Hockey East play. The Minutemen are 11-7-5 overall and 7-5-2 in Hockey East.
The Black Bears will be on the road next Friday and Saturday night at Walter Brown Arena in Boston to take on the Boston University Terriers.
Bangor Daily News