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Overall, it was a successful weekend for the University of Maine men’s hockey team, drawing Providence College Friday night then blanking the Friars en route to a 5-0 victory Saturday. The weekend festivities brought the Black Bears record to 7-3-4 and 5-2-2 in Hockey East while Providence dropped to 6-6-4 and 3-4-4 in HEC competition.
Junior forward Spencer Abbott continued to score in bunches, amassing three goals and an assist in the weekend series.
Abbott scored two of those goals and assisted in the third goal of a 3-3 draw in Providence on Friday night. He found the net 45 seconds into the contest off of passes from freshman defender Brice O’Connor and senior forward Robby Dee.
The assist was the first college point for O’Connor who played against his brother, senior forward Ian O’Connor, for the first time.
O’Connor’s older brother was able to match the Black Bear as he assisted on the equalizer by senior center Kyle MacKinnon.
With eight and half minutes remaining in the first, the Black Bears grabbed the lead on Abbott’s second goal of the period. Defenders sophomore Mark Nemec and junior Ryan Hegarty assisted on Abbott’s 10th goal of the season.
The Friars ended the high-scoring first period with a goal three minutes later, as sophomore defender Alex Velischek found an opening past sophomore goalie Shawn Sirman.
Just over one minute into the second period, the Black Bears took the lead for the third time, after Abbott found Dee behind the net, who then found sophomore forward Joey Diamond for the third goal of the game.
The Friars tied the game late in the third period, while the Black Bears were on a power play. Sophomore center Chris Rooney got past the Black Bear defense and scored on the breakaway.
The power play continued to be an issue for the Black Bears, who went 0-8 on the night in addition to allowing the short-handed goal.
In the weekend finale, the Black Bears handled the Friars, scoring three goals in the final period to seal the game.
Eight minutes into the first period, the Black Bears struck first. Sophomore defender Mike Cornell found an open Nyquist, who found Diamond on the left side of the net. Diamond put it on the net and beat junior goalie Alex Beaudry.
Three minutes into the second stanza, the Black Bears doubled their lead after Abbott scored his team-leading 11th goal off passes from senior defender Josh Van Dyk and junior forward Brian Flynn.
The scoring opened up for the Black Bears in the third period, with the third goal of the game coming just 38 seconds into the period. Nyquist scored his fifth goal of the season, off of assists from Diamond and line-mate, senior center Tanner House and Diamond.
UMaine made it four goals after Flynn beat Beaudry with a powerful shot. Abbott grabbed an assist on the play.
The scoring ended eight minutes into the period, as sophomore forwards teamed up to give UMaine a five-goal lead. Kyle Beattie scored his third goal of the season off of a pass from Matt Mangene.
Freshman goalie Martin Ouellette was perfect on the night, stopping all 32 shots attempted by the Friars.
The Black Bears return home this weekend, taking on rival University of New Hampshire on Friday, Dec. 10 and the University of Massachusetts on Sunday, Dec. 12.
Bangor Daily News