Mitch Fossier scored a tying goal just over halfway through the third period, and Jeremy Swayman stood tall with 36 saves as the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team skated to a 1-1 overtime tie with #14 UMass-Lowell in Hockey East action on Friday night at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts.
UML (6-2-3, 3-0-2 Hockey East) had the best chances in the opening period despite Maine outshooting them 10-7. The two teams remained scoreless but the Riverhawks would have a 5 on 3 powerplay to begin the second. It didn’t take the hosts long to convert on the powerplay as just 41 seconds into that second period Carl Berglund took a perfect feed tape to tape from Matt Brown from the left faceoff circle to the right circle. Berglund one timed it and Swayman had no chance. Lowell continued to pressure and try and up the one goal lead with at least five grade A chances on Swayman including three odd man rushes that they couldn’t convert. The Riverhawks dominated the second 20 minutes in shots 16-5.
Maine (5-2-2, 2-1-2) had some great chances early in the third. Eduards Tralmaks broke in alone 3:45 in and was stopped by goalie Tyler Walls. Seconds later Tim Doherty skated free down the slot but was also turned away. The Bears finally tied it though with 8:49 left to play. Fossier chipped the puck from behind the UMass-Lowell net to where a teammate was standing in front. The puck instead hit off the back of Wall and into the net. The game went to overtime where Doherty had another chance very early and the Riverhawks Charlie Levesque also had a breakaway 20 seconds into the extra session, but both goaltenders held true and both teams earned a Hockey East point.
Swayman helped the Black Bears extend their unbeaten streak to four straight games (2-0-2). Wall had 30 saves for UMass-Lowell. Maine was 0-1 on the powerplay, while UML went 1-2. The two teams finish off the two game series on Saturday night at 6 p.m.
