Maine forward Brian Morgan attempts to win a faceoff against Princeton center Garrett Skrbich during the third period of their game at Alfond Arena Friday night (picture by Chris Lessner)
Orono- Sometimes it’s all about being in the right place at the right time. For Will Merchant that happened more than once Friday night. Merchant slammed home a loose puck and scored in the final minute of regulation, moments after saving a go ahead goal from the visitors, and capping off a thrilling comeback for the Maine Black Bears, as they defeated the Princeton Tigers 5-3 in front of 3,951 fans at Alfond Arena in a non-conference hockey matchup.
Princeton, out of the ECAC, carried the play the first six and half minutes of the opening period. The Tigers had six of the first seven shots of the contest until Maine seemed to get their legs under them. Matt Morris kept Princeton off the board setting the stage for the Bears to break on top first. That goal would come 7:09 in on Maines third shot on net as Mark Hamilton would shoot a slapshot from the point that was perfectly deflected by Nolan Vesey and past Tigers goalie Colton Phinney. It was Veseys second goal of the year and Maine led 1-0.
Princeton would tie the game on the powerplay just over five minutes later. Just 16 seconds into the powerplay David Hallisey took a perfect pass from behind the net off the stick of Ryan Kuffner and one timed it past Morris to make it 1-1 and thats the way the opening period end. Maine ended up outshooting the Tigers 14-12 in the first twenty minutes after the sluggish start. “We had a sloppy start, but thought we played pretty well after that. Thought at times we were sloppy defensively, sloppy with the puck at times and at times we did too much hoping, hoping we get the puck back instead of getting it over the top of it and actually getting it back. We need to play better tomorrow”, said Maine head coach Red Gendron after the game.
Maine regained the lead halfway through the second period. Blaine Byron took the feed from Cam Brown to the left of the Princeton goalie Phinney, and walked into the slot and fired it past a helpless Tigers netminder to give the Bears a 2-1 lead. The Bears played a much better second period but a late Princeton goal allowed the Tigers to tie the game again with just 1:39 left. Eric Robinson made a beautiful move around a Black Bear defender and fed an open Hallisey on a two on one downlow that seemed to stun Morris who barely moved, and the goal which was the second of the night for Hallisey, knotted the game 2-2 headed to the third.
The third period started with neither team having much of an upperhand and after two unsuccessful Maine powerplays, Princeton would get their chance after a slashing penalty to Vesey. This time it would be Kuffner burying the puck to give the Tigers their first lead of the night. After a clinic in stickhandling by center Max Veronneau he would slide a perfect precision pass to Kuffner who was alone to the left of Morris and slid the puck into the almost empty side of the cage to make it 3-2 with just over twelve minutes to play.
Maine would fight back to tie it on a set faceoff play with just under seven minutes left. Cedric Lacroix would win the puck back to Andrew Tegeler who stepped into a slapshot right off the draw beating Phinney blocker side in the right corner of the net to make it 3-3. It was the first career Maine goal for Tegeler. “We kinda saw how they were setting up over the course of the game, and how they were screening their goalie at times. We talked about it after the second period, that if we saw it again we would try to win the faceoff, get it in my wheelhouse, and just fire through the screen. I put the shot right where I wanted”, said Tegeler after the game.
With just over three minutes left, Princeton nearly took the lead again. A Kyle Rankin shot had eluded Morris and was sitting in the crease but Merchant swept the puck away stopping a sure goal. “I was just at the right place at the right time”, explained Merchant. Merchants game winner came just over two minutes later. A Sam Becker shot hit a body in front of the net and popped over to Merchant who batted the puck out of the air and into the net, sending the Alfond crowd into a frenzy with just 51.7 seconds left on the clock. “I didnt even see the shot, I just spun around and saw the puck was in the air and I just took a swing at it and hoped for the best”, said Merchant.
Maine would add an empty net goal with just seventeen seconds left by Steven Swavely. “You know it hurts from our side cause we have shown progression and had opportunities to score and win games, like that one on the goal line towards the end tonight. But we are showing progress and progress is a big step forward for us”, said Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty.
Maine ended up with 43 shots on goal to 33 for Princeton as Morris earned the win with the 30 save effort, while Phinney had 38 in the losing effort. The Bears were 1 for 4 on the powerplay while the Tigers converted 2 for 3. Maine is now 3-8-3, and winners of three straight games, while Princeton dips to 2-7. The two teams will play again Saturday night at 7 p.m.
