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Albany, NY – Only two years removed from its last Frozen Four appearance, the University of Maine men’s ice hockey squad is headed back to the promised land.
The Black Bears punched a ticket to their 10th Frozen Four in school history Sunday after knocking off top seed Michigan State 5-4 in the NCAA tournament East Regional final. Sparked by the play of the Regional’s Most Outstanding Player, senior John Hopson, who registered two goals on the day, UMaine was able to avoid a feverish comeback by the Spartans and capture the program’s third trip to the Frozen Four in the last five years.
“This is unbelievable,” said assistant captain Michel Leveille. “Tonight was just a great team effort from top to bottom. We are just glad to be going back to the Frozen Four.”
Behind Hopson’s play, UMaine used another complete effort from the entire squad to garner their 28th victory of the year. After beating Harvard 6-1 on Saturday and now Michigan State in the East Regional, the Black Bears await Wisconsin in the National semifinals on April 6.
“I think this group is really focused on doing something special this year,” said UMaine head coach Tim Whitehead. “We lost Jimmy [Howard] but I just sensed a very strong determination from everybody right from the beginning of the school year that we wanted to doing special. I am just real happy for these guys. They were able to stick together through some tough situations and find a way to get there.”
All-Tournament netminder Ben Bishop, like most of the team, was overcome with joy upon helping the Black Bears win their first tournament game against MSU. UMaine was previously 0-for-4 in tourney play with the Spartans.
“It was just unbelievable experience,” said Bishop. “I am just so happy for seniors they worked so hard. This is what we have worked for all year.”
Bishop had 33 saves on the day.
UMaine, 5-0 all-time in Pepsi Arena, has advanced to the Frozen Four in each its three visits to Albany for a Regional.
“We’re headed to the Frozen Four and have a chance to get that thing that has really eluded us,” said senior Derek Damon, alluding to the national title.
“It’s exciting; I always remember as a kid, watching the 42-1-2 the video tape of when Maine won the first one in the Milwaukee. For us to be able to go back there is exciting,” said UMaine captain Greg Moore, whose empty-net tally turned out to be the game-winner.
For awhile, the Black Bears looked like they were easily going to head back to the Bradley Center, the site of UMaine’s first championship. The Spartans, however, had other plans. With the Black Bears holding strong at 4-1 five minutes into the second period, Michigan State made their run. In the final 35 minutes, the Spartans both outshot and outscored the Black Bears. UMaine was not to be denied though.
“Michigan State was not going to go down easily,” said Whitehead. “They certainly could have won this game. They fought back and in bounce one we could be sitting here wishing Michigan State good luck. That game could have gone either way.”
But it didn’t.
Thanks largely to a shot by Colton Fretter at 4:48 of the third period that smacked off the crossbar and proceeded to dance around the goal line until it ultimately took up residence under Bishops smothering backside.
“[Fretter] tried to do a wraparound and my left skate got caught when I was trying to go across,” said Bishop. “I couldn’t get my leg on the post, so I tried to get my glove there and the next thing you know I am going flopping on the ice trying to make a save.”
“I’ll have to see the replay but I don’t know how it didn’t go in,” said Bishop.
The Spartans, watching their season evaporate, continued to press Bishop’s net side for the final minutes of the game. With Michigan State netminder Jeff Lerg pulled at 19:23 of the third, the Spartans though made their worse mistake: They let UMaine captain and the sixth leading scorer in the country, Greg Moore, touch the puck. Only moments after collecting a pass from junior Josh Soares at center ice, Moore rifled a shot from the blue line into the empty net. Now up 5-3 and with less than a minute left, the Black Bears could take a sigh of relief. They were headed back to Wisconsin.
After the decision, senior Derek Damon, who was suspended for Saturday’s game because of missed classes, said UMaine never doubted the outcome, even with the Spartans pressuring.
“We really stood up and said ‘we were not going to let them come back on us,” said Damon. “Third period is our best period of the year always. We were going to come out and put the hammer down. And we did.”
Damon recorded arguably the most pivotal goal for UMaine at 3:35 of the second period when tapped in a beautiful power play pass from Josh Soares. The pass coming from the far boards establish UMaine’s mighty 4-1 advantage on Michigan State.
“I thought I played a hard game today,” said Damon. “I wanted to do anything I could for this team because we have been through a lot this year. I think we have all grown as a team and a family in that locker room.”
The Damon goal help build a three goal lead that had already been established thanks to first period goals from Hopson. Both goals, which came from slap shots at the point, also featured passes from his brother Keenan.
“I was just fortunate to be in the right spot at the right time,” said Hopson. “The first one, Mike Hamilton just shot it off the wall and I just went to the net. The second one was a point shot and I was just able to get my stick on it and redirect it past the goalie.”
Defenseman Mike Lundin fired off the second slapshot earning an assist on the power play goal.
The performance for Hopson is made even more special because of his adventuresome two years at UMaine. Hopson came to Orono as a senior in hopes of getting to play with his brother in the Frozen Four. Fully-aware of that dream, Hopson took control of his own destiny.
“Sitting out that whole year makes me appreciate what were given. It really motivated me to play at my peak level,” said Hopson.
“It’s been great seeing how John Hopson has emerged for us,” said Whitehead. “I am just so happy for their family because they took a big chance making this move.”
Another player absent from the Black Bear’s lineup last season was freshman Matt Duffy, who made his presence felt. At 3:13 of the first period, Duffy sent a low-lying shot on Lerg. As traffic built up in front of 5-6 goalie, the puck quietly squeaked under a defensemen’s leg.
“Damon passed it back to me and I walked to the middle with it and shot it five hole,” said Duffy.
UMaine was pleased with their effort and tenacious start, which enabled them to pepper Lerg’s net for 17 shots in the first. And they knew they had to translate that effort over into the second and third period.
“There wasn’t a lot of adjustments we had to make,” said Moore. “We just felt like we had to go back to playing like we had in the first period. We needed to get back to taking time and space away. We had to really put pressure on them and play as much hockey in there end as possible.”
Still, the Spartans cut down the three goal advantage with two quick goals from Tim Crowder and Jim McKenzie, eight minutes and 19 minutes into the second. Crowder’s came first with a David Booth passing to Tim Kennedy who was waiting at the bottom of the face-off circle on Bishop’s blocker side. Kennedy proceeded to take a step towards the net and slide the puck over to Crowder. With Bishop beaten, Crowder deflected the shot into the mesh. Nearly 11 minutes later, Jim McKenzie collected a pass from Chris Mueller inside the UMaine blue line and skated into the face-off circle where he zipped a shot over the glove shoulder of Bishop. Michigan State entered the third period down 4-3.
“It was a big comeback, they really stepped it up and came back on us,” said Damon.
The Black Bears said they were ready come the third period.
“In between the second and third period our seniors did a great job getting us together and on the same page,” said Bishop. “We really went out there and won it for them. We didn’t want to see them leave.”
After UMaine went up 5-3 and delivered the fatal blow to the Spartans, Michigan State stormed back with three seconds to go and made it a one goal game on a tap in by David Miller.
Upon the conclusion of the decision Whitehead had high praise for the Michigan State.
“I think it was a heck of a game,” said Whitehead. “To advance past Michigan State that is special.”
UMaine went 2-for-2 on power play, while the Spartans were 2-for-4.
Lerg picked up the loss for the Spartans with 29 saves. In the end he was overcome with UMaine’s depth.
“You never know who is going to be hero and that is what we like,” said Leveille. “We want everyone to contribute down the stretch.”
The Black Bears will now have two weeks off before to they head out to Wisconsin in search of the program’s third national championship.
“We have a huge task at hand, there is going to be a lot of focus and preparation in the next two weeks,” said Moore. “There is no celebrating yet. We haven’t accomplished what we want to yet.”
