ORONO, Me- The University of Connecticut mens ice hockey team bounced back after a tough Friday night loss and registered five different goal scorers to top Maine 5-1 Saturday evening at Alfond Arena in front of 3,130 fans.
After an overtime game winner by Nolan Vesey just 28 seconds into overtime Friday night, Maine looked for a season opening sweep. The Bears had a chance about eight minutes in when Cedric Lacroix broke in alone after a UConn turnover between the red line and the Maine blue line. Connecticut goalie Adam Huska stoned Lacroix to keep it scoreless. Just under three minutes later, Derek Pratt scored to make it 1-0 Huskies. 2:47 later, Alexander Payusov tallied a powerplay goal and UConn had a 2-0 lead after one period. “I was really proud of the way we responded today, our team. I thought we played an excellent first period”, said Connecticut coach Mike Cavanaugh.
Connecticut (1-1, 1-1 HEA) made it 3-0 when Maxim Letunov put up another powerplay marker 6:10 into the second. Huska rose to the occasion as Maine had great chances to break onto the scoreboard. On a three on one break freshman Brady Keeper wrist shot was turned away by the Huskies netminder. Later, Patrick Shea walked out of the corner and to the front of the net that Huska met with a sprawling save in the crease. Mitch Fossier one timer in the closing seconds of the middle period was also turned away and kept it 3-0 after 40 minutes. “I thought halfway through the second period, it was all Maine. They really hemmed us in, and you expect that. They aren’t gonna quit, no Red Gendron team is gonna quit, they are gonna keep coming at you. They started winning loose puck battles, and Adam (Huska) made some big saves to hold us in it”, added Cavanaugh.
Brendan Robbins finally got Maine (1-1, 1-1) on the board with a goal just 1:12 into the third. But just 26 seconds later and shorthanded, the Huskies Corey Ronan threw a puck on net from a bad angle that eluded Black Bear freshman goalie Jeremy Swayman that made it 4-1. Maine pulled Swayman for an extra attacker with a little less than eight minutes to go in the game. The Bears had some great chances in the Connecticut zone for a better half of almost six minutes, but Kari El-Mir put one in the empty net with 2:10 left to finish off the scoring and the Black Bears. Maine coach Red Gendron said after the game, “We got behind in the first period, endeavored to battle back. Basically we played pretty well in the second and third period, but we weren’t able to finish off too many plays outside of Brendans (Robbins) goal”. On the Huskies fourth goal, Gendron added, “Stuff like that happens. This was Jeremys (Swayman) first college game. Obviously he got surprised, and I know he wants to have that one back. He doesn’t need the head coach or the goalie coach to tell him, he just needs to be more alert that something like that may happen”.
Swayman made 26 saves on the night in his first career start, while Huska had 38. Maine outshot UConn 39-31. The Huskies went 2-3 on the powerplay, while Maine was 0-4.
Maine will take a week off before returning to action on Friday, October 20th when they welcome the Miami of Ohio RedHawks into the Alfond for a non-conference series. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
