Maine Hockey Journal

Maine makes it two in a row in Hockey East

Orono, ME – For the second straight weekend, the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team defeated another top-ranked opponent as the Black Bears toppled Boston University, 3-2, in front of 4,454 at the Alfond Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The win improved the Black Bears record to 3-5-0 (2-2-0 in Hockey East), while BU drops to 2-5 (1-4-0 in Hockey East) on the season.

“The calls seemed to go our way early, and they went their way late,” Maine head coach Tim Whitehead said. “It was a hard fought victory, I thought we did pretty good job down the stretch protecting Scott (Darling).

Scott Darling made 26 saves on the night for his third victory of the season.

“The guys made my life easy,” said Darling who was named the third star. “They kept all the shots to the outside. My (defense) played unbelievable tonight and the forwards were always in the right position.

Maine capitalized on Boston University’s mistakes. With a five on three man advantage, Jeff Dimmen put home a Brian Flynn rebound at the 8:06 mark. Just 1:27 later, still on the powerplay, Gustav Nyquist scored on a wraparound, giving Maine a 2-0 lead.

“I passed it into Tanner (House) and he teed it off (Kieran) Millan’s pad,” said Nyquist. “I saw he was on that side of the net so I was luckily enough to get the puck on my stick and wrap it around.”

“It always helps to get a lead against anybody, especially an opponent like BU,” said Whitehead.

At 14:06, Alex Chiasson got the Terrier’s on the board with a powerplay goal, cutting into Maine lead, 2-1, as Max Nicastro and Corey Trivino set up the goal with series of tic-tac-toe passes to Chaission, who planted himself next to the post with an open net to shoot at.

Boston University looked to have the game tied up at the 6:20 mark into the second period when the puck was fired from the blue line. It was deflected by a body at the top of the crease before going into the net. The officials reviewed the goal and ruled it to be no goal.

“We thought it was goalie interference,” Whitehead added. “It helped, anytime you can get a pinch of momentum in the game, it helps.”

Spencer Abbott extended Maine’s lead, 3-1, at the 9:31 mark of the second period.

“I got the puck into our zone and moved it over to (Nyquist),” said Abbott. “He made a great play on the (defense) and I was skating up the middle of the ice. There was a guy besides me and two seconds later he wasn’t there anymore. I don’t know where he went. I skated in, (Nyquist) made the pass and I had an open net.”

With 6:59 left in the game, BU pulled back to within a goal as Chris Connolly notched his first goal of the season on the powerplay.

“One of our goals every game is not beat ourselves,” Boston University’s head coach Jack Parker said. “We definitely beat ourselves tonight with the stupid penalties we took.”

Despite giving up the goal, Whitehead was pleased with effort in the third.

“In the third period, I thought it was our best period. Even though we gave up one goal, I thought we played well with the lead in third. We had some chances to get that elusive fourth goal.”

Kieran Millan stopped 15 of 19 shots he faced. Maine was 1-for-6 with the man advantage and Boston University was 2-for-9.

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