The University of Maine men’s hockey team had six different goal scorers on Friday night, and extended their unbeaten streak to six games by defeating Boston College 6-3 at a sold out Alfond Arena in Orono in Hockey East action.
Aidan Carney and Donovan Villeneuve-Houle got Maine off to a great start, as they both notched first period goals at 5:15 and 18:22 to make it 2-0 Maine. One of the assists on the Donovan-Houle goal was by goaltender Victor Ostman. A powerplay marker by Luke Antonacci at 6:33 of the second extended it to 3-0 Black Bears. Boston College was able to take advantage of some penalties to get back into the game on their own powerplay opportunities. Didrik Henbrandt took two penalties in a row for Maine, one for hooking at 8:37 and another for goaltender interference 11:14. The Eagles fully capitalized as Andre Gasseau scored at 9:21 and Cutter Gauthier did the same at 11:37 to cut the deficit to 3-2. Gauthier then got whistled for a penalty for roughing at 17:41, and Jakub Sirota scored on the extra man for the hosts with the game winner at 18:05. Felix Trudeau made it 5-2 Black Bears at 6:33 of the third period, before BC got one back by Nikita Nesterenko at 10:15 on the powerplay. The Eagles got another powerplay after Nolan Renwick was called for tripping at 16:10, and 31 seconds into the man advantage they pulled their goalie for a 5 on 3 advantage. That back fired as Lynden Breen would score into the empty net shorthanded at 17:03 to put it away and finish off the scoring.
Breen had one goal and two assists in the win. David Breazeale had two assists, while Renwick, Grayson Arnott, Reid Pabich, Dawson Brunseski, Michael Mancinelli, and Ostman had one assist each. Ostman made 31 saves in net on the night, and Maine was 2-3 on the powerplay. Their overall record is now over the .500 mark for the first time this season at 14-13-5, with the Hockey East record also improving to 8-9-4. The Black Bears are now in sole possession of seventh place in HE, now two points better than the Eagles. Gauthier and Nesterenko both had one goal and two assists in the loss for Boston College. Mitch Benson had 23 stops in goal. The Eagles were 3-6 on the powerplay, as their record falls to 12-13-6 and 7-9-5 in conference play. The two teams will finish off the two game weekend series on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Recap by Chris Lessner/Photos courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco
