Donovan Villeneuve-Houle scored 1:03 into overtime on Friday night, as the University of Maine Black Bears upset the defending national champion and #9 University of Massachusetts Minutemen 3-2 in men’s Hockey East action at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Maine scored first on the powerplay when Lynden Breen tallied at 8:56 of the first period. Garrett Wait evened things for UMass 2:12 later, also on the powerplay, and it was 1-1 after 20 minutes. Bobby Trivigno gave the Minutemen their only lead just 22 seconds into the second period. It was his 15th goal of the season. Ben Poisson tied it back up at 7:01 of that middle period for the final scoring of regulation. The game winner from Villeneuve-Houle came on an assist from Jakub Sirota in the 3 on 3 overtime format. It was the ninth goal of the year for the sophomore forward, and gave the Black Bears their first road win of the season (1-9-1).
Victor Ostman made 25 saves in the win, as Maine improves to 5-16-4 and 3-12-2 in Hockey East. Breen had a goal and an assist, and Sirota had two helpers to lead the Black Bears. Trivigno also had a goal and an assist in the loss for UMass, while Matt Murray had 22 stops in net. The Minutemen had their three game win streak snapped and are now 15-9-2, 10-5-2 in the conference. The teams finish off the two game weekend series on Saturday at 7 p.m.
