The University of Maine mens ice hockey team was trying to do something Saturday night that they haven’t done to this point of the 2016-17 season. And that is a sweep of a Hockey East opponent. The Bears were throughly outplayed, but sophomore goalie Rob McGovern made 44 saves and Blaine Byron had a goal and an assist, to earn Maine a 2-1 win over UMass at Alfond Arena to help pick up the two game weekend sweep.
Neither team could score on the powerplay on the night as all three goals were scored even strength. Maine was 0-2 with the man advantage, while the Minutemen were 0-3.
Maine scored first when Byron scored on his own rebound at 15:14 of the first period. Bryons 12th goal of the season made it 1-0.
Maine extended to a 2-0 lead 4:32 into the second, on the seventh goal of the season by Rob Michel.
6:17 later, UMass cut the lead back down to one, on Jake Hortons second marker on the year.
But UMass couldn’t solve McGovern. The Minutemen had 45 shots on goal and attempted 87 shots in the game, compared to just 22 and 45 for Maine. The 6’4″ McGovern had to make several Grade A saves in the game to help Maine preserve the lead and hold on to pick up a huge four points on the weekend.
Cam Brown also had two assists on the night to help Maine improve to 10-13-3 overall and 4-9-1 in Hockey East. UMass falls to 5-19-2 and 2-11-1.
Sophomore Nic Renyard was the tough luck loser in the UMass net, stopping 20 of 22 shots.
Maine returns to action next Friday and Saturday when they travel to Providence for a two game set with the Friars. Faceoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, and 7 p.m. Saturday.
