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In a season where home ice has been vital to successl, the University of Maine men’s hockey team couldn’t take advantage of Alfond Arena and the rowdy atmosphere it provides, as the Black Bears lost one and tied one to No. 16 Boston University over the weekend.
The Black Bears fall to 11-7-6 and 8-5-4 in Hockey East, while the Terriers improve their mark at 12-7-7 and 9-5-5 in HEC.
“If you would have told me we’d come into Maine and get three out of four points, I’d be very happy,” BU head coach Jack Parker said. “They needed the win more than we did. The tie helps us out.”
Terriers’ junior goalie Kieran Millan put on a show in the net, stopping 75 of 79 shots fired over the weekend.
“That was a fabulous performance by Millan,” Black Bears head coach Tim Whitehead said after the second nights game. “He made every conceivable save you could make. I imagine the puck looked like a beach ball to him.”
The opening night game on Friday was a fast-paced affair, featuring plenty of contact before and after the whistle.
The Terriers had the first opportunity to showcase their special teams, as freshman forward Mark Anthoine was booked for the Black Bears’ first penalty for tripping. Sophomore goalie Shawn Sirman and the Black Bears defended well on the penalty kill, keeping the score even.
Midway through the period, tempers started to flare deep in the Terriers’ defensive zone. What resulted was a missed power play opportunity for the Black Bears, as sophomore forward Joey Diamond got charged with hitting after the whistle, joining Terrier freshman center Charlie Coyle, who was booked for hooking seconds earlier.
The Terriers got the best of the four-on-four play, as Millan quickly got rid of a gloved shot to sophomore defender Max Nicastro. Nicastro threaded the needle to junior center Corey Trivino, who had only Sirman to beat. He was able to do so, going around Sirman’s right pad for the first goal of the game.
Each team had another chance at a power play, with neither of them able to take advantage of the extra attacker.
The Terriers came close to adding another in the last two minutes of the period, but Sirman came up with the save on three straight occasions, stopping 12 of 13 BU shots in all. The Black Bears managed to get 15 shots on target, but the experienced Millan stopped them all.
The offensive attacks that were brewing by both teams in the first period finally boiled over in the second, as a slew of scoring took place in the middle period.
Black Bears junior forward Brian Flynn came close to sliding one past Millan in the first minute, followed by chances by Terrier captain senior forward Joe Pereira and sophomore forward Alex Chiasson, both of which were controlled by Sirman.
Junior forward Spencer Abbott started the scoring just over five minutes in, as a diving save in the crease by junior defender Will O’Neill led to Sirman finding senior forward Robby Dee, who found an open Abbott in neutral ice. Abbott took his lane and slapped it past Millan’s glove. Sirman matched fellow goalie Millan for his first assist of the season.
Before the Alfond could take a seat, Abbott had them up again, scoring just 21 seconds later and giving the Black Bears the lead. After a pass from senior defender Josh Van Dyk, Abbott found himself in an identical position. This time the Canadian hesitated and still pushed the puck past Millan for his second of the game and 14th of the season.
“ [Abbott’s] two goals — the slapper over the shoulder and the fake slap-wrist shot over the shoulder — both of them were missiles,” Parker said.
Thirty seconds later, Terriers sophomore forward Justin Courtnall was called for slashing, leading to a power play and the Black Bears third goal of the period. BU freshman defender Adam Clendening tried to clear the puck from behind his net, but dropped it right in the slot to senior center Tanner House, who beat Millan with a simple flick. Trying to regain composure, Parker used his timeout.
Just as quickly as the Black Bears got things rolling in the first half of the period, the wheels fell off in the second half. With eight minutes remaining, Chiasson squeaked his ninth goal past Sirman, who left just enough of a gap between his left skate and the post for the puck to slide in.
“Getting that Chiasson goal was the turning point,” Parker said.
“I didn’t even know I scored,” Chiasson said. “I was trying to find open space in the center ice and [freshman forward Matt Nieto] gave me a pass and it was too far ahead, I just wacked it and it ended up going in.”
The Terriers showed they could match the Black Bears’ quick succession of goals, scoring less than 30 seconds later when sophomore forward Wade Megan beat Sirman five-hole to tie the game.
There were four power plays in the period alone, including a 5-3 opportunity for the Terriers that the Black Bears fended off.
The penalties continued early in the third, with senior defender Jeff Dimmen going to the box in the first minute with interference. The Black Bears were able to fend off the power play, but gave up the lead less than four minutes into the final period. Junior defender David Warsofsky scored the go-ahead goal for the Terriers on a wicked slap shot that had the puck stuck in the top right corner of the net.
Junior forward Gustav Nyquist tried to equalize three minutes later, but went high with the shot.
The Black Bears had their first power play of the final period seven minutes in when BU freshman center Sahir Gill was called for interference. The Black Bears squandered the final seconds of the power play with a penalty for having too many men on the ice call, evening the play at four.
Nyquist came within inches again, as Millan had to slide across the crease to stop the assistant captain’s one-timer.
The Black Bears had their best chance to tie the game with just over five minutes in the period when sophomore forward Kyle Beattie smacked the right post on his attempt.
The Terriers successfully defended a minute-and-a-half of empty net play by the Black Bears, as both tempers erupted in the final seconds of the Terriers 4-3 win.
A disgruntled Abbott, even with his two goals, voiced his frustration at another victory given away.
“One of these times [we’ve] got to learn from it,” Abbott said. “It’s happened to us, I don’t know, five times and we haven’t learned from it yet. We keep making the same mistakes.”
Apparently the Black Bears can’t learn overnight, as the next game provided another comeback for the Terriers.
The game couldn’t have started better for the Black Bears, who took the lead on the opening play. O’Neill received the puck from Flynn by the left faceoff circle and snuck the puck between Millan’s right pad and stick to take the 1-0 lead 21 seconds in. Nyquist was also accredited with an assist.
“We got possession in the zone and Brian Flynn chipped it back to me,” O’Neill said. “I had a lot of time and was able to collect it off the wall and settle it down and get my head up to strike it.”
“You could tell from the opening faceoff we weren’t as geared up as we needed to be,” Parker said. “They took it to us.”
Less than seven minutes into the first, the Black Bears had another chance to showcase their power play as House was rocked with an elbow from Chiasson.
The Terriers made the best of the short-handed situation, capitalizing on a Black Bear turnover to tie the game at one. Junior forward Chris Connolly received the puck in neutral ice on a two-on-one break. The captain threaded the puck to Pereira, who one-timed it past freshman goalie Martin Ouellette. The play was under review as the goal came loose around the time of the puck sliding past the red line, but the call stood.
“It was more of a breakaway, then [Pereira] came in and made it a two-on-zero,” Ouellette said. “I think I read well that he was going to pass it, I got a piece of it and it rolled on my leg and in before the net got pushed off.”
The Black Bears made it a point of emphasis to get pucks on net, with 20 shots heading toward Millan in the first period, while just two were directed toward Ouellette.
The Black Bears had a minute-and-a-half penalty kill to open the second period, and fended it off without conflict.
Seven minutes into the period, Millan had the play of the game. Black Bear freshman forward Carlos Amestoy’s shot got sent up into the air and came down right in front of freshman forward Mark Anthoine’s stick. Anthoine looked to slide the puck into the open net, but while the puck was on the red line, Millan blindly backhanded it into his glove inches before it crossed over for a goal. The save even fooled the goal judge, who set off the light and foghorn signifying a Black Bear goal.
“It bounced back in front of the net,” Millan said. “I was lackadaisical in getting back to my post because I assumed the puck would be rimmed around, but it popped out in front and he chipped it and I tried to grab it with my glove and it went in [my glove].”
Midway through the period, sophomore defender Mark Nemec hit the showers early for the Black Bears, as he was sent off for a game misconduct for contact to the head.
“We dropped [sophomore forward Matt] Mangene back to defense and he did a great job,” Whitehead said about the dismissal of Nemec. “We mixed up the line and everyone performed well.”
With two minutes remaining in the five-minute major, the Black Bears sent one more to the box, as House was booked for roughing.
Ouellette and the Black Bear penalty kill faced a barrage of Terrier shots, including two from both Clendening and Warsofsky.
Right at the end of the five-on-three advantage, House and Amestoy almost countered for a goal, but Amestoy couldn’t get his stick on House’s crossing pass.
At the conclusion of the period, Pereira found his way to the sin bin for slashing, spending the first two minutes of the third off of the ice.
The Black Bears had 27 seconds of five-on-three play early in the third period when BU freshman Garrett Noonan followed Pereira to the box for tripping.
Early in the two-man advantage, O’Neill had a rip toward Millan, which the goalie absorbed, yet he took a few minutes to recover from the blow.
The Black Bears had continuous chances on the power play when Clendening was booked for slashing. After a near-miss off of the post Diamond, the Terriers sent another man to the box when junior center Corey Trivino laid out the unsuspecting Diamond and was booked for interference.
Millan continued to excel in the net, sprawling across the crease to stop Van Dyk’s rip with his left pad.
Each team continued to spend time in the penalty box, as junior defender Ryan Hegarty and Chiasson each took two-minute timeouts for roughing. With seconds left in the four-on-four play, Trivino almost took a Black Bear turnover and turned it into the go-ahead goal, but it was secured by Ouellette.
The Terriers had another opportunity to take the lead with less than five minutes remaining when Pereira passed to Connolly who couldn’t beat Ouellette glove side. Both teams took the 1-1 tie into overtime, where the Terriers were the only team to manage offensive opportunities, as BU stole another point from the Black Bears.
“At this point we can only control what we can control,” Whitehead said. “We had more than enough looks. I love how we competed; we had contributions from everybody.”
The Black Bears travel to Durham, N.H. for a pivotal two-game series with the University of New Hampshire. The Wildcats stole a victory from the Black Bears at the Alfond in December and sit firmly at seventh in the country.
Bangor Daily News