Both the University of Maine mens and womens hockey teams continued their recent success Saturday by winning a pair of games on the road.
In the womens contest at Burlington, Vermont, the Maine Black Bears killed off eight of nine powerplay opportunities by the Catamounts to skate to a 4-1 Hockey East win at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
Catherine Tufts, Brooke Stacey, Daria Tereshkina, and Lydia Murray all scored goals as Maine extended their unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2). Carly Jackson made 28 saves as the Bears improved to 12-6-3 overall, and 6-3-2 in Hockey East. Maine was 1-5 on the powerplay.
Taylor Willard scored the lone goal on the powerplay for 5-12-3, 3-8-2 Vermont.
Maine heads to Christmas break. The Bears return to action on January 6th and 7th for 3 p.m. contests at Boston University.
In the mens contest at Hamden, Connecticut Patrick Shea scored with just 24 seconds remaining in regulation to lift Maine over Quinnipiac 5-3 in a non-conference tilt.
Cedric Lacroix added an empty net goal with less than a second remaining to lift the Bears to the weekend sweep. The road weekend sweep was the first in almost two years for Maine since January 29th and 30th, 2016 over UMass.
Logan Mick put the home Bobcats up 1-0 in the first, but second period goals from Emil Westerlund, Ryan Smith, and Tim Doherty put Maine up 3-1 after 40 minutes.
Quinnipiac (6-10-2), tied the game on goals from Tanner McMaster at 2:41 and 14:48 of the final period, before the heroics by Shea led the visitors to the win. Both teams were shut down on the powerplay, as Maine went 0-4 and Quinnipiac 0-3. The Bears now climb over the .500 mark on the season at 8-7-1. Maine is now unbeaten in five games (4-0-1).
Jeremy Swayman again came up big with 45 saves on the night for Maine (95 saves on the weekend). Andrew Shortridge made 21 saves in the loss for QU.
Maine now takes Christmas break, returning to action on December 29th and 30th with 4 p.m. games at RPI.
