The University of Maine men’s hockey team is now unbeaten in their last seven games, as they finished off a home weekend sweep with a 2-1 victory over Boston College in Hockey East action at another sold out Alfond Arena in Orono Saturday night.
A goal by Nolan Renwick at 15:50 of the first period on the powerplay, and a Donovan Villeneuve-Houle tally even strength 11:40 into the second is all Maine ended up needing on the night as they took a 2-0 lead. Cutter Gauthier got the only Boston College goal just 1:58 after the Villeneuve-Houle marker on the powerplay. The Eagles had another powerplay with 6:50 left in the game, but Black Bears goaltender Victor Ostman came up with some key saves to preserve the lead. The guests pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 2:17 remaining, but still couldn’t find the equalizer as Maine wraps up a first round home game for the upcoming Hockey East playoffs.
Ostman made 31 saves in the win. Grayson Arnott had two assists, while Lynden Breen and Jakub Sirota had one each. Mitch Benson made 25 saves in the loss for Boston College, as their record falls to 12-14-6 and 7-10-5 in Hockey East. The Black Bears were 1-5 on the powerplay, while the Eagles went 1-3. Maine (15-13-5, 9-9-4 HE) sweeps the season series as well with BC (3-0) and will finish the regular season at home next weekend against UMass on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m.
At Schneider Arena in Providence, Rhode Island- The #14 Providence College Friars got a game winning second period goal off the stick of Delaney Couture, and defeated the Maine 5-2 in a women’s Hockey East quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon. After falling behind 1-0 in the first period, Grace Heiting had the equalizer for the Black Bears at the 16:59 of the opening stanza and Ida Kuoppala scored 33 seconds into the second to give Maine their only lead. Ashley Clark tied it at 15:18 of the middle period, and then Couture scored that game winner 2:14 later to make it 3-2 PC. Sara Hjalmarsson and Caroline Peterson added goals in the third for the Friars to end the scoring.
Kuoppala had a goal and an assist in the loss for Maine, and Anna Larose made 35 saves in net. Brooke Becker was the leading point getter in the game for Providence with four assists, and Hope Walinski stopped 30 shots in goal. The Friars improve their overall record to 21-10-4 as they move on to the Hockey East semifinal round against Vermont. Maine ends their season at 15-18-2.
