Five different skaters scored goals, including two from Adam Dawe on Friday night to lead the Maine Black Bears to a 6-2 men’s Hockey East win over Merrimack College before 3,513 fans at Alfond Arena in Orono.
Dawe got things started for Maine at 1:55 of the first period on assists from Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup and Ben Poisson. Tim Doherty made it 2-0 at 9:03, scoring his 13th of the season on helpers from Mitchell Fossier and Eduards Tralmaks. Merrimack (6-17-3, 4-8-3) got within a goal though when Ben Brar scored on the powerplay 3:26 later. Dawe restored the two goal Black Bear lead in the second period with his second of the night at 6:32 on another assist from Schmidt-Svejstrup. It was seventh of the season for Dawe and the eventual game winner. The Warriors wouldn’t go away however, as they cut the lead in half on the powerplay again when Sami Tavernier lit the lamp at 19:18 to make it 3-2.
Sam Rennaker made it 4-2 Maine on helpers from Simon Butala and Kevin Hock at 5:43 of the third, as the hosts began to pull away. Hock scored his first collegiate goal on assists from Rennaker and Butala at 13:20 to make it 5-2, and Tralmaks finished off the scoring on the night when he scored into an empty net at 17:44 with assists from Doherty and Fossier.
Jeremy Swayman made 19 saves in the win for Maine, who improve to 13-9-4, 7-7-2 in Hockey East. Eight Black Bears had two point nights in the third straight Hockey East win. Troy Kobryn made 29 saves in the loss, while Brar had a goal and an assist as Merrimack drops to just 2-8-1 in their last 11 games. The Black Bears went 0-3 on the powerplay, while the Warriors were 2-7. The two teams finish off the two game weekend series Saturday night at 7 p.m.
