Kevin Roy watches his shot elude Maine goaltender Rob McGovern during their Hockey East play-in game one Friday night at Matthews Arena. The two teams were back at it Saturday night in Game two. Photo courtesy of Matt Dewkett.
BOSTON, MASS- The University of Maine Black Bears hockey team didn’t do something alot of teams would of done Saturday night. And that was give up. Maine rallied from a three goal first period deficit to tie the game in the third period but fell in heartbreaking fashion 4-3 in overtime in Game two of a Hockey East play-in series at Matthews Arena.
With the loss, the Maine Black Bears end a very tough season with an overall record of 8-23-6.
Maine played a very even first period for almost the first 15 minutes of action even outshooting the Huskies 11-10 in the first 20 minutes of action but it was Northeastern who exploded late in the period with a flurry of goals. Eric Williams, Nolan Stevens and Kevin Roy all scored even strength goals in a span of 2:06 to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead after one.
Cam Brown got Maine on the board 11:44 into the second period on the powerplay. Browns goal, his eighth of the season, made it 3-1 headed to the third. Maine carried the play and outshot the Huskies 16-5 in the middle period.
Just 4:40 into period three, Cedric Lacroix scored his fifth goal of the season and Maine had some life left cutting the lead to one at 3-2. 3:49 later, Keith Muehlbauer scored his first collegiate goal and Maine had come all the way back to tie the game at 3-3 with still 11:31 left in regulation. Neither team could get it done in the last 11 minutes of regulation and for the second consecutive night we would head of overtime. Shots in the third period were even at seven.
Northeastern carried most of the play in the overtime session outshooting Maine 8-2. The Bears best chance came on a two on one from Nolan Veysey and Andrew Tegeler. Veysey would send a pass over to Tegeler but the puck was airborne and Tegeler shot it way wide. A Mark Hamilton turnover in his own zone would end the season for Maine. Roy would pounce on the loose puck after a pass from Hamilton slipped off his stick and fire a snap shot from the slot past a surprised Black Bear goalie Rob McGovern for his second goal of the night at 13:45 of overtime to give the Huskies the win. Roy also had an assist for three points on the night and had four points on the weekend.
McGovern would finish the night with 26 saves, including several big stops to keep the Huskies stuck at three goals during regulation and set the stage for the Maine comeback. Ryan Ruck earned the win in net for Northeastern making 33 saves, as Maine ended up outshooting the Huskies 36-30 in the game. The Bears were 1 for 2 on the powerplay while Northeastern was 0 for 2.
Northeastern, now 18-13-5, now advances to the quarterfinals next weekend with a best of three series at Notre Dame. Game one is Friday night with scheduled puck drop at 7:35 p.m. in South Bend.
