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The University of Maine men’s hockey team will have to make up some ground in the final month of the season if they hope to make the playoffs. The Black Bears were swept by the University of Massachusetts on the road in a pair of 4-3 decisions.
The woes on the Olympic-sized ice continued for UMaine, who has lost their last three games on those dimensions. The Mullins Center rink is ten feet wider than UMaine’s Alfond Arena.
The sweep severed a tie for the seventh spot in the Hockey East standings. UMaine will host the sixth-ranked University of Vermont next weekend in the final regular season home set.
UMass trailed three times in Friday’s game but answered with power play goals each time. The game continued into overtime, where Brian Keane scored on the opening sequence to give the Minutemen the win.
UMass went 3-for-6 on the power play in the game, capped by Chase Langeraap’s score with 5:26 remaining. It is the second time in three games the Black Bears allowed three power play goals.
The Minutemen gained the man advantage after UMaine senior defenseman Matt Duffy was called for hooking while preventing Matt Irwin from rushing in on a one-on-one with goaltender Dave Wilson.
Wilson took the loss despite making a career-high 38 saves. He was looking to record his first career road win, but fell to 3-7-1. Paul Dainton countered for UMass, and made 21 saves.
UMaine was outshot 41-24 in regulation, before Keane scored on the first shot in overtime. The Black Bears also had trouble winning faceoffs, owning the short end of a 45-12 margin.
Freshman Brian Flynn gave the Black Bears a 1-0 lead 1:17 into the game, reminiscent of Duffy’s goal 44 seconds into the first meeting between the teams on Feb.1, in which UMaine won 2-1.
Sophomore left wing Robby Dee, and freshman center Will O’Neill also scored go-ahead goals for UMaine.
The Black Bears came out flat Saturday night, trailing 4-0 through two periods before mounting a three-goal comeback in the third.
UMass scored a pair of goals in each of the first two periods, before Flynn scored two goals in the third, and sophomore defenseman Jeff Dimmen added a third.
The Black Bear’s comeback fell short though, and UMaine fell to 12-17-4 (7-14-3 Hockey East). UMass improved to 15-15-3 (10-11-3 Hockey East). UMass is 9-1-0 when they have mounted a three-goal lead.
Freshman goaltender Scott Darling made his first appearance since allowing four goals through two plus periods in a 7-2 loss to Boston University on Feb. 13. Darling made 23 saves, and fell to 9-9-3. Dainton had his first shutout of the season spoiled by Flynn, but improved to 8-7-1, making 31 saves.
UMaine outshot UMass 34-27, but trailed again in faceoffs 34-21. The Black Bears went 1-for-8 on the power play, while UMass went 0-for-2.
UMaine will begin the final home weekend on Friday Feb. 27 at 7:00 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. Saturday game in which seniors Jeff Marshall, Simon Danis-Pepin, Chris Hahn, and Matt Duffy will be recognized.
