ORONO, Me- Sami Tavernier scored 3:36 into overtime Saturday night to lift the Merrimack College Warriors to a 3-2 win over the Maine Black Bears before 4,512 fans at Alfond Arena in Hockey East men’s hockey action.
Merrimack dominated the early stages of the first period with two powerplays in the first eight minutes and held a 13-3 shots on goal edge before the Warriors finally struck when Tyler Drevitch scored at 5:10. Maine would even it up when Tim Doherty scored on the powerplay at 15:02 to make it 1-1.
Merrimack regained the lead 2-1 at 2:22 of the second period when Brett Seney beat Maine goalie Jeremy Swayman with a wrist shot shorthanded.
Maine continued to battle and came up with the equalizing goal on the powerplay at 12:44 of the third period, when Mitch Fossier buried his ninth goal of the season. “Little bit of a broken play on the powerplay. Holway (Patrick Holway) ended up getting the puck coming down the right side, sent a saucer pass across the slot, made a real nice pass, and I just tried to deflect it on net”, said Fossier.
In the overtime Maine had some chances that were turned away by Merrimack goalie Drew Volger. Trying to press in the offensive zone, Jared Kolquist took possession for MC and sent away Tavernier who walked in and buried a low wrist shot past Swayman to win it for the Warriors. Merrimack improved to 8-16-4, 5-12-2 in Hockey East with the win. Maine slipped to 15-10-4, 9-7-3 and had their six game unbeaten streak snapped. Maine is currently in fifth place in the conference standings, one point behind Boston University for fourth. Swayman finished with 33 saves in the loss, while Volger made 36 for the victors. Maine was 2-5 with the extra man, while Merrimack was 0-5.
Maine head coach Red Gendron said, “We didn’t play with any urgency for two periods, and as a result we found ourselves in a difficult spot. The good news we played our tail off in the third period and even in the overtime. It needs to be a lesson for all of us, that we need to play well and play hard for the full sixty minutes. The good news is we did wake up, it wasn’t like we mailed it in. In the third period and in the overtime, we made a mistake down low trying to win the game and that’s what led to Mr. Tavernier being behind us. The best part about his game is how well he shoots the puck. He’s got a great shot, leave him there and he can wire it, and that’s exactly what he did”.
Maine has a single game next weekend when they travel to Providence to battle the Friars Friday night at 7:15 p.m.
