On Friday, March 1, The University of Maine Men’s hockey team took on the University of Vermont after a split weekend with Northeastern. The Black Bears lost night one 2-1.
The starting lineup is different from previous weeks. Fifth-year forward Ben Possion, third-year forward Cole Hanson, first-year forward Sully Scholle, third-year defenseman David Brezeale, and second-year defenseman Brandon Chabrier started for the Black Bears. Friday night’s game marked 100 career games for two-year captain Brazeale.
In the first period, The Black Bears took off, being the more dominant team. The Catamounts quickly caught up to the Black Bears’ effort. Harrison Scott went into the box with 16 minutes left in the first for roughing. The Black Bears, with a huge penalty kill, and the Catamounts, had many opportunities but no shots.
With 13 minutes left in the period, the Catamounts’ got a goal. The goal was scored by third-year Isak Walther, assisted by second-year Thomas Sinclair and second-year Ralfs Bergmanis. The Black Bears had many opportunities to score but could not get past fourth-year Gabe Carrie. Boija led the Black Bears through the period, saving four breakaways and huge saves, keeping the score 1-0 in the first.
In the second period, the Catamounts started stronger than the Black Bears. Fourteen minutes into the period, the Catamounts took a penalty, giving the Black Bears a power play. Possion and Lynden Breen had multiple great shooting attempts during the power play. The power play was unsuccessful.
With 10 minutes left in the period, Boija had more huge saves, keeping the Black Bears in the game. Boija made another save with about two minutes left in the period. With 44 seconds left in the period, Catamounts take a penalty. Black Bears on the power play.
In the third period, the Black Bears started with the man advantage. The Black Bears took control of the game. Possion committed a penalty, but the call was reviewed to decide whether it was a major or minor. The challenge was denied and remained a minor. The game was four on four until the Catamount penalty was killed, leaving the Black Bears to kill off the minute remaining. No team scored on either penalty.
Scholle, first-year Josh Nadeau, and first-year Bradly Nadeau had many shots on the Catamounts goalie but came up short each time.
Catamounts take another penalty on Ralfs Bergmanis for tripping. The Nadeau brothers had many shots at the goal but had no leverage. While on the power play, Scott scored an unassisted goal and tied the game. The power-play goal marks Scott’s 12th goal of the season.
With about eight minutes left in the game, Chris Theodore scored, assisted by Will Zappernick and Ryan Miotto. First-year Liam Lesakowski took a penalty for tripping, and the Catamounts power play came up short, The Black Bears were able to block all shots on Boija.
Maine had many opportunities to tie the game again, but they couldn’t get past Catamount’s goaltender. Black bears pulled Boija to put another skater on the ice. An icing call was made that reverted the play for a center-ice face-off. After the face-off, Boija was back on the bench, hopefully adding another skater to tie the game.
Despite the effort in the third period, the Black Bears fell short 2-1. They will return to the Alfond next weekend, March 8, against the University of Massachusetts Amherst to close off the regular season.
