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In a wild weekend for University of Maine athletics, the Black Bears men’s hockey team swept Providence College, picking up four crucial points in Hockey East.
The two games against the Friars were polar opposites, with the former ending in a nine-goal shootout in favor of the Black Bears 5-4, while the latter was a grind-it-out, 3-1 victory.
Having swept the Friars, UMaine improved to 3-2-1 and 3-1 in the Hockey East Conference, while Providence is winless in their last four and sits at 2-3-1 overall and 2-2 in HEC.
“It was a real good series,” said UMaine head coach Tim Whitehead. “Both teams fought hard and we were fortunate to come out with four points and hold our serve at home.”
The Black Bears pulled out the first victory in overtime with an acrobatic goal by senior center Brian Flynn deciding the outcome.
“It was a really weird play,” said Providence senior goalie Alex Beaudry. “Must have been a pass or shot and it hit Flynn in front; I had a player in front doing a good job of boxing him out and getting him on the ground and [he] somehow — he’s a great player — got the puck on net.”
After junior forward Adam Shemansky had his shot blocked early on, the Friars followed it up with their first scoring chance and made the best of it. Providence senior center David Brown fired a shot toward freshman goalie Martin Ouellette, who wasn’t able to corral it with the glove. Junior forward Chris Rooney gathered it for the Friars and beat Ouellette for the game’s opening goal.
“It was back and forth,” Ouellette said. “They played well and came back every time. I’d like to get that one back. I think it was the one goal I should have caught in my glove.”
With less than 5 minutes remaining, UMaine senior forward Spencer Abbott was booked for elbowing, after flattening a Friars skater. Midway through the power play, Providence brought the game to 4-4 after sophomore center Derek Army was tagged for interference.
After the ensuing faceoff, the Black Bears tied it up. Shemansky won the faceoff out to the point, where junior defender Mike Cornell gathered the puck and rivaled it past Providence senior goalie Alex Beaudry.
The score stayed even through the first half of the second period, until the Black Bears pulled ahead 8 minutes deep. After chipping away in the Friars zone, Flynn wrapped around the net and found junior forward Joey Diamond in the crease, and Diamond tapped it past Beaudry. After a review, the goal stood.
Five minutes later, the Friars returned the favor after causing a turnover in the Black Bears zone. Rooney found senior forward Rob Maloney, who made a nice inside-out move past Ouellette to backhand the second Providence goal.
After back-to-back double penalties, the Black Bears regained the lead on Diamond’s second goal of the game. Diamond secured possession and fired the puck from the right faceoff circle for the third UMaine goal of the game.
The Black Bears fended off a late power play for Providence to take the 3-2 lead into the final frame.
The Friars did break through, but it was during a Black Bears power play when they did so. Ten seconds after Friars freshman forward Damian Cross was booked for interference, Providence broke through to tie the score at three. Freshman center Ross Mauermann wrapped around the UMaine net and found freshman forward Stefan Demopoulos in front of the net.
The Black Bears broke the tie again 3 minutes later, with junior center Kyle Beattie picking up his second goal of the season. Senior defender Ryan Hegarty fired a shot toward a crowded net, where Beattie was able to get a stick on it for UMaine’s fourth goal.
Thirty seconds later, the Friars tied the score again, this time with Mauermann finding Cross for the Friars’ second goal of the period.
Just 10 seconds later, it seemed as though UMaine had found the winner after senior forward Spencer Abbott rocketed a shot past Beaudry. However, after a lengthy review, the goal was waved off due to goalie interference by Diamond.
“I was pushed in and I was trying to stop myself to stay out of the crease,” Diamond said. “I was trying my best not to make contact with the goalie but I’ll have to look at it and see what actually happened. I don’t think I touched him too bad where he couldn’t make a save.”
With just over 2 minutes remaining in overtime, Flynn gave the Black Bears the lead for good. From his knees, the Black Bears’ captain swung the puck around him and past Beaudry for the game-winner.
After a nine goal outburst Friday night, the offenses settled down Saturday night, scoring a combined four goals.
While the goals were harder to come by in the second game, the Black Bears still managed to labor out a tough 3-1 victory, with sophomore goalie Dan Sullivan excelling in the net for UMaine, stopping 26 of the Friars’ 27 shots.
Junior defender Matt Mangene’s goal 20 seconds into the second period proved to be the difference-maker, as it was the first Black Bears’ victory that didn’t involve a goal from the first line of forwards.
“When you can get three guys scoring who haven’t loaded up on points, it takes a lot of pressure off our top guys,” Whitehead said. “It gave us a big lift.”
Junior forward Adam Shemansky and junior center Klas Leidermark also added goals for the Black Bears.
Shemansky’s second goal of the season broke the deadlock to start the game, 11 minutes into the first period. Beattie won the initial faceoff, which Shemansky gathered and beat Beaudry over his glove side.
A second interference penalty by senior defender Hegarty gave the Friars a chance to level the score, which they did. Freshman goalie Dan Sullivan lost track of the puck as it popped out in front of the net. Friars freshman forward Damian Cross recovered it and beat Sullivan to make it 1-1.
As the period was coming to a close, Diamond was crushed into the glass behind Providence’s goal by sophomore defender Steven Shamanski. Slow to get up, Diamond was booked for embellishment before he skated off to the locker room while Shemanski was tagged for hitting from behind.
Diamond came back out of the locker room with the rest of the Black Bears to start the second period, which, for UMaine, started quickly.
Less than 30 seconds into the period, Mangene scored his first goal of the season off passes by senior defender Will O’Neill and senior center Brian Flynn.
“Flynn took it wide as usual, Abbs [senior forward Spencer Abbott] drove the net and found me and I was able to put it home,” Mangene said. “The way it all started was the four of us working together.”
“What a weekend for Matt Mangene,” Whitehead said. “What a horse out there. The way he can skate — and every other shift he can do it.”
The Friars controlled the action in the third period, yet could not break through and find the tying goal. With 8 minutes gone by in the third period, O’Neill was booked for elbowing after clobbering freshman forward Stefan Demopoulos.
The Friars pulled their goalie with just over 2 minutes remaining and bombarded Sullivan and the Black Bears with shots. Numerous scrums occurred in front of the net, including one that appeared to end with a Friars goal, but it was waived off as the net came loose.
“That was crazy,” Sullivan said. “I had a couple of my D keep it out, thanks to those guys. It was really hectic — they put on the pressure in the last 2 minutes. All hell broke loose. It was great to see the effort at the end. Credit to Providence; I thought they had some major improvements from last year’s team.”
The Black Bears added their third in the final seconds, an empty-netter from Leidermark.
The Black Bears return to the ice Friday, Nov. 4 at Boston College. The puck drops at 7 p.m.
Bangor Daily News