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The University of New Hampshire Wildcats came to town this weekend to add another page to the historic rivalry with the University of Maine. The full-capacity crowd saw the Black Bears drop two heartbreaking games against UNH.
On Friday night, they dropped a nail-biter as UNH came out on top in a close contest by a score of 3-2. On Saturday night, the Wildcats opened up on all cylinders and dominated the Black Bears, taking the game 4-1. UMaine dropped to 8-15-3 overall and 4-12-3 in Hockey East action. Both games saw outstanding performances from both teams’ goaltenders, although UNH’s goaltender Kevin Regan got the upper hand.
“Regan played two strong games and that’s why he’s one of the best in the country,” said UMaine goaltender Ben Bishop.
On Friday night, both teams sought to pick up some crucial points in Hockey East standings. Both goaltenders made big saves early to keep the game even. Regan came up huge for UNH as he made a quick glove save from a shot inside the circles. With just four minutes left in the opening period, UMaine struck first. Simon Danis-Pepin fired a missile from the point and beat Regan to put the Black Bears ahead 1-0. Then as teams battled out in the last couple of minutes in the first period, the UMaine defense made some mistakes with little time left on the clock. With a mere 20 seconds left on the clock, UNH forward Mike Radja fired a shot from the circles and beat Bishop to tie up the game at one apiece.
In hockey, a goal can be scored in the blink of an eye, and UNH found a way to accomplish this. Just 16 seconds passed before Radja found the back of the net again and gave UNH a 2-1 lead heading into the locker room.
The UNH offense tested Bishop early in the second period with some big saves. Then, just before the 10-minute marker, UMaine forward Andrew Sweetland carried the puck around Regan and fired the puck into the empty net to tie the game at two goals apiece. Again, with about seven minutes left in the second, “Big” Ben Bishop blocked away a shot on a breakaway. Both teams tried to muster in a goal, but both Regan and Bishop played well for their teams.
With just under a minute left, Bishop made unbelievable glove saves on several shots. Travis Ramsey helped out his goalie as he got down on his knees and blocked a UNH shot away to preserve the tie. When asked about Ramsey’s shot block Bishop replied, “We work on it in practice, and it’s nice to see it happen in games.”
With the game tied up at two, both UNH and UMaine came into the third period trying to garner a couple of points in Hockey East standings. With just under seven minutes left in the last period, Radja struck once again for UNH and tallied the eventual game-winner for the Wildcats to make the game 3-2.
With a couple of minutes left in the game, UMaine saw some chances in front of the net but couldn’t elevate the puck above Regan’s pads.
“Every game is do or die, the end of the season is the playoffs for us,” UMaine forward Andrew Sweetland said.
On Saturday night, round two saw a few more fans show up for the biggest rivalry in college hockey. Just like the first game, both goalies were tested early and made some quick, early saves. UMaine went on the power play first, but failed to capitalize. The Black Bears got some last-minute chances late in the period, but Regan shut the door to preserve the tie.
Unlike round one, where UMaine struck first, this time UNH would get on the scoreboard first. Early in the second period, UNH forward Bob Butler took a quick shot from the slots and it deflected off Ramsey’s stick to beat Bishop and give the Wildcats the lead 1-0.
Later on in the period, in a 4-on-4 situation, UNH forward Matt Fornataro collected the puck in front of the net and slid it past Bishop to give the Wildcats the two-goal lead. Again, UMaine saw some chances at the end of the period, but couldn’t manufacture any goals. Through two periods, the fighting Black Bears had yet to find the back of the net, as UNH went into the locker room with a commanding two-goal lead.
UMaine got some chances early in the period, but Regan again came up huge with some quick saves. Then, just past the seven-minute mark, the Wildcats struck again, as Danny Dries fired a puck past Bishop to give UNH a commanding three-goal lead. Then, finally, the Black Bears were able to find the twine. With a scramble of players in front of the net, UMaine forward Jeff Marshall laid out into a superman dive to poke the puck past Regan and get UMaine on the scoreboard.
One minute later, Mike Radja found Bishop out of the net trying to clear the puck and slid the puck into the empty net to secure the 4-1 win for UNH.
“Regan is one heck of a goalie and for the most part they defended their goalie better than we defended ours, and they capitalized on their chances,” said Head Coach Tim Whitehead.
With a handful of games left, the Black Bears need to come together as a team to win some crucial Hockey East games in the coming weeks. Next weekend, the fighting Black Bears will take a road trip down to Boston University for a Hockey East showdown. When asked what his team must do to win against BU, Coach Whitehead said, “We have to find a way to manufacture goals, BU has a talented team, it’s going to be an exciting weekend.”
Bangor Daily News