Men’s hockey comeback falls short
The University of Maine men’s hockey team’s late game push wasn’t enough as they fell, 3-2, to the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday night at Portland’s Cross Insurance Arena. Third-year forward Anders Bjork and second-year forward Andrew Oglevie, each who scored their 17th goal of the season in Notre Dame’s third straight victory, led the Irish.
The Irish came out hot, scoring two goals within the first ten minutes of the game. The first came from second-year forward Jack Jenkins, who slotted the puck in from just outside the crease to take a 1-0 lead just 65 seconds into the game.
Bjork made it 2-0 Notre Dame at 6:22 in the first period, as he gathered a loose puck in the neutral zone and beat second-year Maine goalie Rob McGovern’s glove side with a laser into the top right side of the net.
The remainder of the period went scoreless, as both teams finished with 12 shots apiece.
Notre Dame again came out of the intermission firing on all cylinders as they netted their third goal of the game at 1:37 into the second frame. Oglevie used Jenkins’ screen on McGovern to sneak one past the goalie for a commanding 3-0 lead, pushing Oglevie’s point streak to nine straight games. Second-year defenseman Dennis Gilbert tallied his second assist of the game on the play.
For a Maine team in a deep hole, a comeback wouldn’t mount immediately. But midway through the third period, Brendan Robbins beat a Notre Dame defender and slid the puck past third-year Notre Dame goaltender Cal Petersen to put the Black Bears on the board. Fourth-year forward Blaine Byron and second-year forward Sam Becker assisted Robbins’ goal.
The Black Bears continued to mount pressure but it was too little too late as third-year forward Nolan Vesey’s goal came on a power play and with the goalie pulled with just four seconds left in the game. Maine was unable to orchestrate a miracle on the ensuing faceoff and Notre Dame escaped with the win.
Though they outshot the Irish 31-28 in the game, the Black Bears simply couldn’t find a way to beat Petersen, who finished with 29 saves in his 79th consecutive start — the seventh longest streak in NCAA Division I history.
McGovern took the loss in net for the Black Bears. He finished with 18 saves and was replaced by fourth-year redshirt goalie Matt Morris at the beginning of the third period. Morris finished with seven saves.
Maine was 1-4 scoring on the power play, while Notre Dame was 0-4.
With the loss, Maine falls to 10-16-3 with five games left to play. Notre Dame moves to 16-9-4 and currently sit in 16th place in the NCAA Division I rankings.
Men’s hockey gets swept by Notre Dame
The UMaine men’s hockey team played their second game of a two-game set against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Alfond Arena and dropped the contest 4-2.
The Black Bears came out aggressively, as fourth-year forward and captain Blaine Byron capitalized on a rebound chance just 26 seconds into the game. Byron’s goal was assisted by fourth-year forwards Cam Brown and Eric Schurhamer. The remainder of the first period featured a lot of back and forth action, with neither team being able to generate any type of offensive rhythm.
The second period had a very similar start for the Black Bears, as Robbins netted his second goal of the weekend just two minutes into the stanza. Robbins goal was assisted from Byron and Brown. Brown’s assist was his second of the night and the assist would be the 100th point of his impressive UMaine career.
Once the Black Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead, they got into penalty trouble that ultimately ended up costing them. Maine received two penalties on one play before they could even touch the puck, which gave Notre Dame a rare 5-on-3 power play for a full two minutes. Third-year defenseman Jordan Gross wasted no time, as he netted a goal in the first minute of the power play to cut the Irish deficit down to just one. At the 18:41 mark of the second period, Irish second-year forward Dylan Malmquist knotted the game up at 2-2 on a power play goal that was assisted by Gross. Maine and Notre Dame skated into the second intermission tied up at 2-2.
“We came out strong and then got ourselves into a little penalty trouble. We lost our discipline for a little bit and then we were unable to get it done in the third period, that was the essence of the game,” Head Coach Red Gendron said.
The luck of the Irish came into effect early in the third period as Malmquist netted his second goal of the game 2:46 into the third period. Malmquist second goal of the night was assisted from second-year defenseman Dennis Gilbert and third-year forward Dawson Cook. Notre Dame scored the dagger goal that put the game out of reach with 3:39 remaining thanks to a snipe from second-year forward Andrew Oglevie. Third-year forward Jake Evans and first-year forward Cal Burke assisted Oglevie’s goal. Maine put plenty of pressure on in the third period but was unable to crack the code against the Irish third-year goaltender Cal Petersen.
“We didn’t give up when we went down 2-0. We actually turned it up and played really well despite the early deficit and I’m proud of my guys for the comeback they put together tonight,” Head Coach Jeff Jackson said. “They gave us a couple of power plays and we took advantage.”
Maine travels to North Andover, Mass. next weekend to take on the Merrimack Warriors in a two-game series on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m.
