The University of Maine and University of New Hampshire men’s hockey teams renewed their border rivalry on Friday and Saturday night at the Whittemore Center in Durham, New Hampshire. By the end of the two game series, both contests were officially ties although the Wildcats picked up an extra point in Hockey East on each night with a shootout win.
On Friday night- Maine had a pair of one goal leads, but UNH tied it late in the third period as the Black Bears and Wildcats skated to a 2-2 tie. Nolan Renwick scored at 18:11 of the first period for the guests, while Didrik Henbrandt gave them back the lead with a third period marker at 13:02. UNH got a second period goal from Kristaps Skrastins and then the tying tally by Chase Stevenson with 2:09 left in regulation. Stiven Sardarian gained the extra point for the ‘Cats with the lone shootout goal. Ben Poisson assisted on both goals for Maine, while Luke Antonacci and Grayson Arnott had one assist each. Victor Ostman made 21 saves. David Fessenden made 26 stops in net for UNH, including stopping all three shots in the shootout.
On Saturday night- Neither team scored in regulation or overtime as the game officially ended in a 0-0 tie. For the second night in a row though, UNH got the lone tally in the shootout to once again take the extra Hockey East point. Stevenson is the one who had the shootout goal, as Wildcats goalie Tyler Muszelik stopped 29 shots in regulation and just as Fessenden did Friday night he also stopped all three Maine shootout attempts. Ostman had 27 saves on the night. UNH is now 11-18-3, 6-13-3 in Hockey East play.
Maine has now tied three games in a row and is unbeaten in their last five as their record stands at 13-13-5 and 7-9-4 in conference play (8th place in HE, 26 points). The Black Bears have four games left in the regular season (a pair of two game series) all at home starting next Friday and Saturday against Boston College and then the following weekend against the University of Massachusetts. Maine is just one point behind those BC Eagles for seventh in the league standings.
Recaps by Chris Lessner
