Maine defenseman Brady Campbell defends a point shot in the third period of their game Saturday evening at Alfond Arena
Orono- The game of hockey is sometimes decided by missed opportunities and the other team capitalizing. That came to fruition on Saturday evening as the Maine Black Bears finished off a weekend sweep of the Vermont Catamounts with a 4-1 victory in front of 3,818 fans at Alfond Arena.
Vermont (3-8-2/2-4-2 in Hockey East) starting the scoring 4:51 into the game as Brady Shaw took a pass from Brendan Bradley in the high slot and Shaw was able to backhand a shot past Maine goalie Matt Morris for his second goal of the year to make it 1-0. Vermont seemed to have all the momentum early on and looked to extend their lead when Cedric Lacroix took a tripping penalty 8:34 into the period. But that is when the game all of a sudden changed to the Black Bears favor.
After a Vermont faceoff win the Maine zone, Brian Morgan was able to tip a point pass away from Vermont defenseman Bradley and lead the Bears into a two on one breakout. Morgan would hold the puck until the very last moment, making Vermont goaltender Mike Santaguida committ, and then slid a perfect pass to Cam Brown who slid the puck into the almost empty cage to tie the game at 1. But Maine was not done on this shorthanded situation. On the ensuing faceoff at center ice after the goal, Will Merchant was able to slide the puck under a Vermont forward and send Steven Swavely in on a breakaway. Swavely faked a wristshot and went to his backhand easily beating Santaguida just 12 seconds after the Brown goal for his first goal of the season and sending the Alfond Arena into a frenzy as Maine took a 2-1 lead. “You know they have a chance to go up 2-0, and then when the penalty is over we are up 2-1, that was a big point in the game and gave the kids alot of confidence”, said Maine head coach Red Gendron after the game.
Maine continued their good play on special teams in the opening period as Nolan Vesey took a pass from the point from Morgan on the powerplay and slapped the puck on net, which went five-hole on Santaguida to extend the lead to 3-1 at the 16:22 mark. It was Veseys first goal and first point on the season.
In the second period Maine would get into more penalty trouble having to kill off four more Vermont powerplays. Maines agressive forecheck and the play of Morris kept the Bears up 3-1 despite being outshot in both the first and second periods by a total of 26-18. “Overall, I thought the team played pretty well in front of me and that helped my confidence. I was able to feed off the energy of the defensemen and forwards energy in front of me and I was seeing the puck pretty well”, said Morris of his 35 save performance.
Just like Friday night where Maine was outshot 23-2 in the third period, Vermont came out charging in the final period. Two more chances on the powerplay though wasn’t able to produce a goal as Maine continued to smother the Catamounts and only allow some shots from the outside and give Morris a chance to make some routine saves. Vermont would pull Santaguida with three minutes still remaining in the contest to try to pull within a goal and ultimately tie the game. “You know you saw them pull their goalie with three minutes left on the clock, you can possess the puck and possess the puck in our zone but then you are gonna have the next guy and then the next guy there to stop you. I like how we finished tonight and didn’t allow plays to develop and players to roam free like Friday night and get shots on net”, said Gendron.
Brady Campbell would add a late empty net goal for Maine that resulted in the three goal victory. Vermont went 0-7 on the powerplay but only eight shots and outshot Maine for the game 36-20 including 10-2 in the third period. “I give all the credit to Red, his staff and the student athletes. I thought Maine played a great weekend, they were desperate, they were hungry, they made our powerplay look completely inept. I will take the blame for that, our powerplay was a complete disaster and our penalty kill wasn’t much better and that’s all on coaching cause we make decisions on who is out there at those times”, said Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon after the game.
Maine, now 2-8-3 and 2-4-0 in Hockey East will now entertain Princeton in a non-conference home series next Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. Princeton hasn’t won since a 3-1 victory over Maine back on October 31st in the consolation game of the Capital City Classic in New Jersey. The Tigers are 1-6-0 on the season.
