Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
ALBANY, N.Y – It never seems to be easy for the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team this postseason. The Black Bears have won every game since the Hockey East Quarterfinals by just one goal, and that streak continued with a pair of wins in the NCAA East Regional at Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y.
UMaine won the regional semifinal with a stirring three-goal comeback to defeat the fourth-seeded Harvard Crimson 5-4 and then knocked off the third-seeded Wisconsin Badgers 2-1 in overtime to punch its ticket to the Frozen Four.
“I’m extremely proud of this team,” said University of Maine head coach Tim Whitehead, following Saturday’s win. “We thought the Hockey East Championship game was a big win, and we thought last night was big and we couldn’t top it, but we did.”
The Black Bears had some trouble early in Friday’s game against Harvard. UMaine had great chances early in the game, but could not crack goalie Dov Grumet-Morris. UMaine fell behind late in the period when freshman Dylan Reese scored a power play goal at 17:01 to give Harvard the lead. With just 16 seconds left in the period, Brendan Bernakevitch moved around a mass of bodies and took a shot on Jimmy Howard. Howard made the save, but Bernakevitch batted the rebound out of the air and into the net to make it 2-0.
The Crimson went up 3-0, as Howard tried to poke the puck away from Packard as he moved in on the power play. Howard’s pokecheck redirected off Packard’s shin pad and deflected past Howard just 1:09 into the second.
UMaine’s Todd Jackson got the Black Bears on the board at 2:56 of the second period off a faceoff win by Derek Damon. Harvard regained a three-goal lead when Ryan Maki beat Howard by putting back his own shot to make it 4-1.
“There wasn’t much said in the locker room between the periods,” said UMaine forward Greg Moore. “Everyone knew what needed to be done. We all came together to get it done.”
Whitehead made a goalie switch to start the third period. Frank Doyle replaced Howard. Howard left the game with 29 saves.
The move appeared to work as UMaine started its rally early in the third period. Mike Hamilton took a feed from Jon Jankus and one-timed the puck past Grumet-Morris at 3:55 to make it 4-2 Harvard.
The Black Bears notched a power play goal from a scrum between the circles. After the puck pinballed off a few skates, Prestin Ryan found it and wristed the puck in at 6:14 to make it 4-3.
Michel Leveille tied the game at 12:47 with an unassisted goal, as he pulled up at the left point and waited for Moore and Colin Shields to cut to the net. Leveille put a slap shot on net that redirected twice and in the net to make 4-4.
Then it was Moore who scored the eventual game-winning goal by stealing the puck from a Harvard defenseman at the side of the left circle. He skated between the circles and ripped a low wrist shot that beat Grumet-Morris between the legs at 15:50 to give UMaine the lead 5-4.
“Michel made a nice play to get the puck up to me,” Moore said, “I was able to take it from their defenseman and get the goal.”
Frank Doyle got the win in net by making seven saves. Grumet-Morris stopped 41 shots in net.
UMaine started out on fire early in Saturday’s game against Wisconsin. Shields scored the first goal of the game on the first shot of the game at 1:32 into the first on a hard wrist shot from the left circle to the glove side on junior goalie Bernd Bruckler to give UMaine the lead.
The Black Bears got plenty of more chances, but Bruckler continued to make saves. The Badgers were able to equalize the game at 17:38 of the second period when senior forward Rene Bourque grabbed the puck at the bottom of the right circle. He moved across the goalmouth and waited for Howard to commit to a shot. Bourque then waited for an opening and beat Howard to tie the score at one.
Wisconsin got the better of the chances in the third period, but Howard continued to make saves. The shots in the third period were even at 12-12, but no one could score, forcing the game into overtime.
UMaine was able to end the game early in overtime on a great individual play by the freshman forward Hamilton.
Hamilton collected the puck near the Wisconsin blue line. He moved to the right wing side and the brought the puck into the zone. Hamilton used his left hand to fight off defenseman Ryan Suter and with the right hand on his stick, moved the puck to the net. He took a shot on Bruckler and it trickled over the goal line at 3:27 of the overtime.
After a long review of the goal, it was allowed to stand and UMaine advanced to the Frozen Four.
“I tried to dump the puck in,” Hamilton said. “It deflected off of one of their guys and I went and got it again. I moved around their defenseman and was fortunate to make the play and it ended up well.”
Howard rebounded from his tough performance Friday with 36 saves for the win. Bruckler stopped 26 shots in the loss.
“I just put it out of my mind,” Howard said. “I didn’t want to focus on it. I just needed to come out today and play well.”
“These guys are a great team,” Whitehead said. “I’m so proud that we get a chance to go to the Frozen Four. These guys have worked so hard all year. They deserve this.”
The Frozen Four will be played at the FleetCenter in Boston on April 8 and 10. The Black Bears are set to face Boston College in the semifinal round at 6 p.m. The game will be aired on ESPN2.
