Maine bounces back, defeats UMass 4-1

After a heartbreaking loss in front of the home crowd at Alfond Arena less than 48 hours ago, the University of Maine men’s hockey team bounced back to defeat the University of Massachusetts 4-1 in their first meeting of the season.

The Black Bears improve to 8-4-4 on the season and 6-3-2 in Hockey East play while the Minutemen fall to 3-7-3 and 2-4-3 in HEC.

“Tonight we thought we played pretty well,” Black Bears head coach Tim Whitehead said. “UMass was out-playing us early, we were able to weather the storm and played our best in the third. We’re pleased.”

The Black Bears tallied the first offensive attempt of the game — a strike from junior forward Gustav Nyquist — that was gloved out of the air by senior captain Paul Dainton.

The Minutemen gained possession and maintained it for sometime in UMaine’s defensive end, until play was stopped for the first power play of the game. Black Bear sophomore defender Mike Cornell upended a Minutemen player and spent the next two minutes in the penalty box for tripping. Freshman goalie Dan Sullivan and the Black Bears were able to fend off the power play, keeping the scored knotted up.

The Black Bears continued to look sloppy, unable to mount any sort of consistent offensive pressure. The Minutemen, for large stretches at a time, once again controlled the puck in the Black Bear zone.

With a little more than five minutes remaining in the first period, the pestering by the Minutemen offense proved too much, as UMass broke the tie on a one-timer by senior forward Chase Langeraap for his first goal of the season. Freshman forward Conor Sheary and junior defender Michael Marcou assisted on the go-ahead goal.

“I think it was kind of a broken play,” Sullivan said. “At the last second [Langeraap] got a pass on the back door and I wasn’t able to get there in time. It was a good shot.”

The Black Bears had an opportunity to tie things up with a man-advantage late in the period, but the power play proved fruitless for the 32nd consecutive time this season. 

The Black Bears came out with more offense in the second period, getting their best opportunity thus far on a shot by Nyquist, but was stopped by a diving Dainton to maintain the lead.

Five minutes into the second period, the Black Bears found the net. Freshman defender Adam Phillips tried to cover up on the free puck in the Minutemen zone, but it was poked away by Black Bear junior forward Brian Flynn. Flynn took a touch and fired the puck past Dainton for his seventh goal of the season.

“[Spencer Abbott] Abbs and Robby [Dee] were battling and trying to get the puck from him,” Flynn said. “I just stayed back hoping it would squirt out and it did. I just ripped it quick and I think it went five-hole.”

“Once they scored the goal we started to think a bit more about the situation and stopped skating and stopped playing,” Minutemen head coach Don Cahoon said.

The Black Bears came close to adding a second goal two minutes later, but the two-on-one between Nyquist and senior center Tanner House was pushed wide by the captain House.

Another chance opened for Nyquist and the Black Bears, but the Swede rocketed the puck over the goal entirely.

Each team had power play opportunities late in the period, but all were squandered without much threat.

The Black Bears outshot the Minutemen 11-7 in the second period.

The third period started off with a penalty early on, as Marcou was booked for interference.

The Black Bears broke the tie with their first power play goal in six games. Flynn grabbed his second of the game off assists from Nyquist and sophomore defender Nick Pryor.

“It was kind of a broken play,” Flynn said. “I know it hit the post on the short side and went it.”

“From a mental standpoint it’s always good to capitalize with a man-advantage,” Whitehead said. “In this case it was the game winner and certainly a big goal.”

After another successful penalty kill by UMaine, the Black Bears added a third, after a shot by freshman defender Brice O’Connor was deflected in by sophomore forward Adam Shemansky.

The Black Bears sealed their eighth win of the season with two minutes remaining, as Flynn rounded off the hat trick, scoring the fourth UMaine goal of the day. Senior center Dee grabbed his second assist of the day and Diamond chimed in with an assist.

Dainton played well, corralling 28 saves, but picked up his fourth loss of the season.

“It’s disappointing, it really is,” Dainton said. “We really wanted to be .500 in Hockey East going into the break and tonight we would have clinched that. But it’s a minor setback and there’s always things to improve.”

Sullivan grabbed the fifth win of his career, saving 21 shots in the process.

Both teams have an extended break, with the Minutemen traveling to Madison, WI for a two-game series against the University of Wisconsin on Dec. 30 and 31, while the Black Bears travel to Estero, FL for a showdown with Miami University and St. Cloud State. 

Number 3 UNH comes from behind to shock Number 8 Maine

The sixth-ranked University of Maine men’s hockey team couldn’t keep a two-goal lead heading into the third period against third-ranked University of New Hampshire, as the Black Bears crumbled down the stretch to lose to the Wildcats 4-3 in overtime.

Wildcat freshman center Jeff Silengo scored two goals on the night, including the game winner in the extra period.

“I’m very disappointed in the result, disappointed in our team,” UMaine head coach Tim Whitehead said. “We had a chance to make it 4-1, we had them 3-1, we had chances to finish it off, and we didn’t get it done.”

“We’ve done this a couple times this season,” Wildcat head coach Dick Umile said. “They knew they could it and I told them to stay with it. I’m really pleased with the way the guys stayed with it. It was a great college hockey game — two good teams, great atmosphere.”

Alfond Arena was taking all it could handle, with a sold-out crowd of 5,445 on hand to watch the boarder war.

The first period began with UNH controlling the opening faceoff and the offensive play for the first three minutes. Twenty seconds into the contest, senior forward Mike Sislo got the first shot off, deflected by Black Bear freshman goalie Martin Ouellette.

The Black Bears recorded the first penalty four minutes into the game, when sophomore forward Joey Diamond got booked for charging. Diamond leads the Black Bears in penalty minutes this season.

The man-advantage proved costly for UMaine, as Wildcat leading scorer, senior forward Phil Thompson scored the first goal of the game. Senior center Phil DeSimone and junior defender Blake Kessel assisted the goal.

It didn’t take long for the Black Bears to respond and inject some life into the packed Alfond Arena, as senior center Robby Dee scored his sixth goal of the season to tie things up. Dee gained possession of the puck in the neutral zone, weaved his way through the Wildcat defense and flicked the shot past junior goalie Matt DiGirolamo’s left shoulder.

The back-and-forth play continued for each squad, as Ouellette and DiGirolamo took turns keeping the score tied up. First Ouellette stopped freshman forward Nick Sorkin on a breakaway, then DiGirolamo barely slowed down a five-hole attempt by junior defender Ryan Hegarty. DiGirolamo followed that up by swiping junior forward Bobby Flynn’s shot out of the air.

The Black Bears got hit with another penalty with three minutes remaining in the period, but were able to fend off the potent UNH attack.

The second period saw the opposite of the first, with the Black Bears taking control early on. It took just over one minute for UMaine to break the tie, as a shot by senior defender Josh Van Dyk was deflected by Gustav Nyquist directly to junior forward Brian Flynn’s stick, who slapped it in for the go-ahead goal.

“I just came off the bench and the puck came right out,” Flynn said. “I had some time and held onto it and ripped it.”

Four minutes passed until the Black Bears found the net again — this time the assistant captain Nyquist squeaked through on a breakaway before beating DiGirolamo over his right shoulder for the third UMaine goal of the game.

Ouellette continued to shine on the big stage, diving across the crease to stop an open goal a quarter into the period.

The Black Bears’ penalty kill was put to the test seven minutes in, when freshman forward Mark Anthoine was sent off for a questionable hitting from behind penalty and a game misconduct, excusing him from the game and pitting the Black Bears a man down for five minutes.

UMaine was able to hold off the formidable Wildcat power play, keeping a two-goal cushion into the third period.

The Black Bears played more conservatively with their two-goal cushion in the third period, with Ouellette making it easier by deflecting Wildcat attempt after attempt.

Midway through the third period, the Wildcats came within one with Silengo’s first goal of the season.

UNH continued to apply the pressure throughout the period. The Black Bears were able to regain control of play when DeSimone entered the penalty box with a holding call. Another penalty with four minutes remaining on Sislo gave the Black Bears more time to kill, as the third period came towards a close.

The Wildcats went empty net with over a minute to go, and with 18 seconds remaining in regulation, tied things up as sophomore forward Dalton Speelman scored the third UNH goal of the game.

The extra stanza lasted just a minute and a half, as Silengo struck again, this time to win it, 4-3.

“I followed up the play, I saw John [Henrion] was going to the net,” Silengo said, “I just anticipated a shot by him and rebound came right to me.”

The two goals were the first two of his collegiate career, and just his second and third points.

“I didn’t know a goal would come today,” Silengo said. “It’s a great environment to play in and I’m just fortunate enough that I got some nice passes from my teammates and I was able to finish.”

“I told the team just wait for our opportunity, play good defense and wait for that turnover,” Umile said.

“It’s a tough loss. Losing when you’re up 3-1 going into the third at home is inexcusable,” Flynn said. “You have to move on. We have a game Sunday. We’ll see how we feel when we wake up but this is a tough one to let go.” 

Thompson Leads his Team Past Vermont in 5-1 Victory

In front of a feisty, sold out crowd at the Whittemore Center in Durham, the University of New Hampshire Wildcats played host to fellow hockey east team, the University of Vermont.  UVM appeared to struggle with a confused defense through the first 2 minutes as a result of a miscommunication between players, and both teams looked stale to start the game, but UVM picked up the pressure and started to find their game towards the end of the period with 8 scoring chances to UNH’s 5. While UNH won several face-offs, they failed to make contact with players at the point.  A slow ice surface also lead to multiple icing calls against UNH. The silver lining for the wildcats occurred when Dalton Speelman had an incredible hit against a UVM forward in the attacking zone, leveling both players and leaving them a little shaken.

The scoring opened up in the second period when UNH went on the powerplay as a result of  Vermont’s H.T. Lenz’s elbowing penalty.  Brett Kostolansky scored for the wildcats while Paul Thompson tallied the assist on the top-shelf play.  Vermont was quick to even the score when they returned to full strength on a goal by Tobias Nilsson-Roos assisted by Josh Burrows and Brett Leonard. UNH goaltender Matt DiGirolamo  lost sight of the puck during the play as UNH’s forwards seemed to hesitate to jump into the defensive play.

After several minutes of frustrated play, UNH was finally able to start connecting on offensive passes, and their top line was once again successful in beating UVM goaltender Rob Madore.  UNH’s second goal was scored by Thompson. Phil DeSimone received the primary assist, while captain Mike Sislo recorded the secondary assist.  With just seconds left in the second period, UNH was able to increase their lead on a goal by defenseman Blake Kessel, assisted by Sislo and Kostolansky.  Shots on goal at the end of the second period were almost even, with UVM leading UNH 17-16 as the score favored the wildcats 3-1.

The third period saw some riveting action. Vermont looked to be getting desperate as they started throwing massive open ice hits, and one hit against the boards that resulted in Drew Mackenzie receiving a five minute penalty and being ejected from the game, leaving UVM down a man for 5 minutes.  Thompson scored a goal during the powerplay, assisted by DeSimone and then scored again, unassisted to give UNH the 5-1 lead, and ultimately the final score.  New Hampshire’s top line were responsible for all 15 points received in the game and Thompson’s hat trick was rewarded with hats sprinkling the ice after being thrown by some very happy fans.  UNH pulled DiGirolamo in the final 2 minutes of the period and allowed for junior goaltender Tyler Scott to make his collegiate debut.

BC Complete Sweep with 5-2 Win

CHESTNUT HILL, MA - The fans of the Boston College Eagles summed up their feelings towards their cross city rivals with a loud “just like last night” chant with under a minute to go.  

In front of a sold out crowd, the home town team did not disappoint their fans as they completed the home and home sweep over arch rivals Boston University with convincing 5-2 win.  BU’s coach Jack Parker put it best when describing The Eagles, “speed and confidence”.  There was no lack of either tonight.

Both teams came out with a lot of jump to start the game, trading hits and scoring chances.  The Terriers got on the board early with a goal by freshman Matt Nieto.  

It didn’t take long for BC to strike back as Cam Atkinson netted his 14th of the season after a giveaway by the BU defenders.  His linemates Brian Gibbons and Joe Whitney, who assisted on the goal, caused havoc for BU with their passing around the net to set up an easy tap in for Atkinson.

The Eagles jumped out to an early 2 goal lead to start the second period with goals from sophomore defenceman Brain Dumoulin and forward Steven Whitney.  Dumoulin’s big blast from the point had eyes for the back of the net as the puck narrowly missed the traffic in front and Whitey’s first of two on the evening was a shooters goal over the shoulder of BU goalie Kieran Millan.  

While BU managed to get close with a goal from a scrum in front of the net, Chris Kreider sunk any hope of a comeback with a short-handed goal breakaway goal.  

“There was a little bit of mis-communication and they were a little bit flat footed.  I kind of got lucky and got a head of steam.”

The highlight of the night came with Whitney’s second goal.  After jumping on to the ice after another strong penalty kill, Whitney took a pass from Jimmy Hayes and was off to the races.  The sophomore fooled Millan with a deke and scored on his backhand to the roar of the BC faithful.

“”The goalie was far out and I went for the deke on the backhand” said Whitney after the game.

Coach Jerry York was happy this team tonight.  “For the first two periods, we were outstanding.  We really had some jump.”

Attitude is a big factor to BC’s recent success according to Kreider.  “Everyone is so positive on the bench and in the locker room.  At times we might have been cheating the game a little bit as our coaches say.  Playing a little too soft instead of playing like men.  We sat down and talked about it.  We have a lot of leaders other than our captains stepping up to the forefront.”

Coach York believes that his team is getting better but they need to stay focused, not just thinking about April.  “You can’t just wait for Beanpots, HockeyEast tournaments and NCAA.  I think your attitude, like Chris said, is a big part.  Enjoy each practice and April will come soon enough.”

Boston College will go on their winter break and won’t be back on the ice until Decemeber 30th taking part in the Ledyard National Bank Classic in Hanover, NH.  

Zac’s 3 Stars

1st Star - Boston College - F Steven Whitey
A 2 goal night for the young forward.  6 shots on net and finished a +2.  His second goal would have easily make highlight of the night.

2nd Star - Boston College - F Chris Kreider
Kreider helped seal the deal for the Eagles with a short-handed goal and ended the night with 8 shots on net, the most out of any player on either team.  

3rd Star - Boston College - G John Muse
Once again, Muse came up big when he had to.  A few key saves down the stretch kept BU out of the game.

BU falls to cross-town rival BC, 9-5, in a wild, penalty-ridden affair

By Brian Roach

BOSTON -- In front of a sell-out crowd of 6,150 at Agganis Arena Friday night, the No. 2/3-ranked Boston University men’s ice hockey team (7-2-5, 5-2-4 HE) laid its first “stinker” of the season, head coach Jack Parker said. Unfortunately for the Terriers, that “stinker” happened to come against cross-town rival Boston College (10-5-0, 8-4-0 HE) in the 251st installment of the “Battle of Comm. Ave.”

“I thought one team played very, very well tonight, and it wasn’t us unfortunately,” Parker said during his post-game comments. “I was really impressed with [the Eagles], I was really disappointed, and actually surprised, in our club…We haven’t had a ‘stinker’ all year, it’s just too bad we had a stinker in front of a big crowd in front or our big rival.”


Things didn't go quite the way Terrier Nation had hoped on Friday night at Agganis Arena, as BU fell to long-time rival BC in this season's first head-to-head match-up (Photo by Brian Roach).

It didn’t take long for the No. 8-ranked Eagles to get on the board. On the first power play opportunity of the night, BC’s junior right-winger Jimmy Hayes tipped, and re-directed, a shot from sophomore defenseman Brian Dumoulin past Terriers netminder Kieran Millan (10 saves). BU’s junior goaltender was beaten again only 23 seconds later by a wrister from junior left-winger Paul Carey.

Millan settled down a bit in net, making a beautiful save on a short-handed opportunity from BC, but the Eagles would strike once more in the waning minutes of the opening stanza – this time with 2:15 remaining. Junior forward Cam Atkinson – who leads BC with 13 goals scored – slapped a feed from Joe Whitney top-shelf, glove-side, to beat Millan and put BU in a 3-0 hole.

Parker replaced Millan with junior Grant Rollheiser (18 saves) to start the second period, but the switch did little (if anything) to change the momentum of the game. Just 2:29 into the contest’s second frame, Atkinson capitalized on another Terrier penalty when he slapped a shot from the left side that found its way past Rollheiser. Trailing 4-0 nearly midway through the second period, freshman left-winger Matt Nieto tried to give the Terriers some life – beating senior BC netminder John Muse (18 saves) on a two-on-one to cut the Eagles' lead to 4-1.

But, as was the case all night, the Eagles responded and deflated the hopes of Terrier Nation shortly thereafter. Less than five minutes after Nieto's third marker of the season, BC junior forward Barry Almeida lifted a short-handed shot over Rollheiser that found the back of the net with 12:58 gone by in the period. And, less than three minutes after that score, BC added its third power play tally of the night on Phillip Samuelsson’s laser from the right point (the goal was Samuelsson’s first of the season). The power play goal extended the BC lead to 6-1, and, after two full periods, BU found itself outshot 27-11.

In the contest’s final frame – one that was marked by an inordinate amount of stoppages of play and penalties (13 in total) – the Terriers finally showed some signs of life, outscoring the Eagles 4-3; but, by that point, it was too late (“the game was over,” Parker said). With just 1:03 gone by in the period, the Terriers finally broke through on the power play when senior co-captain Joe Pereira slapped a rebound past Muse (although they scored 3 power play goals, the Terriers continued to struggle with the man advantage, going just 3-of-15 on the night). The Terriers also got points from junior assistant captain David Warsofsky, sophomore defenseman Max Nicastro and junior winger Andrew Glass.

Unfortunately, BU also yielded three more goals – including Brian Gibbons’ penalty shot tally – thereby extinguishing any hopes for a possible Terrier comeback. Put simply, Parker said in his post-game remarks, the Terriers got out-played in every facet of the game by a team many picked to finish No. 1 in the nation.

“Pick a position,” Parker said when asked about the nine goals allowed. “We didn’t have a great night in the goal, that’s for sure, but we didn’t – that was helped along by how poorly we played in front of the net,” he added, noting that he couldn’t name a single BU player who had a “good night.”

The Terriers will lace up their skates again tonight (Saturday, December 4th) to take on the Eagles at Conte Forum. Puck drop will be at 7:30, and the contest will be aired on the CBS College Sports Network.

“I told [the guys] to forget tonight, it was a stinker,” Parker said after the game. “It isn’t what happened to us tonight, it’s how we react to what happened to us tonight – that’s the only thing that’s important to us right now.”

NOTES –

BU and BC combined for 29 penalties in the contest…The home loss was the Terriers’ first of the season…After Friday night’s loss, the all-time season series now stands at 125-109-17 in favor of BU…The Eagles are now 6-2-1 at Agganis Arena…The Terriers are now ninth in HE with the man-advantage (10-for-78 – a 12.8% success rate)...The loss was Grant Rollheiser's first of the season (3-1-0).

Harvard Defeated 3-1 by Merrimack for their 6th Loss in a Row

BOSTON, MA - Harvard was looking to put their 5 game losing streak behind them with a strong effort tonight against Merrimack College but poor execution and missed opportunities lead to a 3-1 loss at Bright Hockey Center.  

Entering tonight’s contest, the Crimson are 2-6-0 on the season and Merrimack has a 5-3-4 record.  

The first period provided little action from both sides.  While Merrimack out-shot the Crimson 14 to 6, most of their chances were from well outside the scoring area.  Harvard was able to get a couple of decent chances on goalie Joe Cannata but couldn’t capitalize.  Harvard was very physical in the early going on the puck carrier and taking the body to every Merrimack player.

Merrimack opened the scoring at 15:34 of the second period on a powerplay with a goal by Brandon Brodhag after the puck was batted down in the crease.  The goal was assisted by Mike Collins and Karl Stollery.  

The goal seemed to energize Merrimack as from that point on they were on the attack for the rest of the period.  The Crimson could not get the puck out of their end and if it wasn’t for Senior goalie Kyle Richter, the score would have been much worse.