The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team faced a big early season challenge Friday night, traveling to open up a two game series with the defending national champion and #3 University of Minnesota-Duluth. The first challenge didn’t come with good results, as the Bulldogs dominated play in an 8-2 win at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minnesota.
Despite being outshot 15-5 in the opening period, Maine (2-1) was able to keep pace with the hosts on goals from Brady Keeper and Tim Doherty, but still trailed 3-2 after the opening 20.
Minnesota-Duluth (3-1) broke the game open in the middle period, outshooting Maine 17-1 and scoring four goals. Tanner Laderoute, Parker McKay, Mikey Anderson, and Justin Richards scored the goals in a span of 9:46 to put the game out of reach. Riley Tufte added a third period goal for the Bulldogs.
Jeremy Swayman played the first two periods and stopped 25 of 32 shots in the Maine net. Stephen Mundinger played the final period and stopped 13 of 14 shots, as Maine was outshot for the game 46-18. Maine was 0-4 on the powerplay, while UMD was 1-4.
Maine and UMD finish off the two game non-conference series Saturday night with faceoff scheduled for 8:07 Eastern Time.
