Maines Chase Pearson tries to gain control of the puck after a won faceoff during first period action against Vermont on December 1, 2017. Photo by Chris Lessner.
ORONO, Me- The University of Maine mens ice hockey team got two highlight reel goals in the third period Friday night to take a 2-0 lead, but the visiting Vermont Catamounts rallied with a pair of powerplay goals to salvage a 2-2 Hockey East tie in front of 3,365 fans at Alfond Arena.
Maine (5-7-1, 3-4-1 Hockey East), carried much of the play and the shots through the first two periods (28-14), but Vermont starting goalie Stefanos Lekkas stood tall to keep the game scoreless after 40 minutes.
The Bears finally broke on top 5:26 into the third period, when Cedric Lacroix threw a puck towards the front of the net, that was batted out of mid air and into the net behind Lekkas by Peter Housakos to make it 1-0. “As I was backchecking, I saw Ceddy (Lacroix) deflect a pass, I saw an opportunity to break to the net, their D was sleeping. Ceddy made a nice play, and I got lucky and it went in”, said Housakos. 3:45 later, it was Canon Pieper making a great play to extend the lead to 2-0. Pieper lost the Vermont defenseman in the Catamounts zone with a great spin move, then walked into the top of the circles where he beat Lekkas with a low hard slapshot stick side.
A pair of powerplay goals by Ross Colton 4:51 apart though would tie the game. The second one coming with just 1:43 left in the game with the powerplay and extra attacker, creating a six on four situation. Both powerplay markers were scored five seconds into the extra man advantage on faceoffs won by Vermont in the Maine zone.
Maine ended up with a 43-24 shot advantage on the night. Six of Vermonts 24 shots were on the powerplay, in which they went 2-5. Maine was 0-3 with the extra man. Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves in the Maine net, while Lekkas made 41 for Vermont. The Catamounts are now 4-9-2, 1-5-2. Maine head coach Red Gendron said, “We played really well, right up until the end. The truth is, the kid that scored both goals for them that’s what he does, he’s a shooter. We lost a couple of faceoffs, and the kid is a hell of a player, that’s what he can do. I mean we are frustrated with the result. Anyone that was in the building watching the game, knows the Maine Black Bears played pretty well. Everyone is aware of that, and we are all frustrated with the outcome and mistakes that were made late in the game. Like I said, it’s young players that made them, and this team is all about growing”.
The two teams play again Saturday at 5 p.m. to finish off the two game series.
