The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team played a home playoff game in front of live fans for the first time since 2018 on Wednesday night at Alfond Arena in Orono. Unfortunately for the Black Bears, it was the Vermont Catamounts ending their season with a 4-2 victory in a Hockey East First Round game.
Maine carried play throughout the first period, outshooting Vermont 16-4. The first Grade A scoring chance came on a 2 on 1 Black Bears breakout, as Donovan Villeneuve-Houle received a pass in the high slot and went forehand to backhand looking like he would beat Catamounts goaltender Gabe Carriere. But an out of position Carriere stuck out his stick at the last moment to come up with the save. Maine broke on top later on the powerplay when a Vermont clearing pass from their defensive zone in the corner went right on the stick of Lynden Breen in the low slot, who buried it at 14:01 for his 20th goal of the season.
Timofei Spitserov evened it 1-1 on the powerplay for Vermont at 6:40 of the second period. Maine kept pressuring and would take back their one goal lead just 48 seconds into the third. A Jakub Sirota shot from the right point was saved by the glove of Carriere, but the rebound came to Grayson Arnott in the high slot who fired a shot that was tipped in by Breen for his second goal of the night. The Catamounts had the answer again at 7:20 as Andrei Buyalsky found himself open in front of goalie Victor Ostman and fired it home off a pass from Mossimo Lombardi to make it 2-2. The game winner came off a bad break for Maine. Dawson Bruneski trying to clear a puck out of the crease behind Ostman would knock it into his own net at 13:55. Isak Walther got credit for the goal for a 3-2 Vermont lead. The Black Bears had one more great opportunity as Ralfs Bergmanis was called for roughing with 1:45 left to play. They would pull Ostman for a 6 on 4 advantage to try to find an equalizer, but after some pressure a loose puck in the high slot was shot down ice by William Lemay into the empty net for a shorthanded tally with 38 seconds left to end the season for Maine.
Sirota, Arnott, Thomas Freel, and David Breazeale had one assist each in the loss for Maine that went along with the two goals by Breen. Ostman made 26 saves. The sixth seeded Black Bears end their season with a record of 15-16-5 with three straight home losses. Breen finished with 21 goals on the year, the most by any player in the program since Joey Diamond scored 25 in 2011-12 (Spencer Abbott also had 21 in 2011-12). Robbie Stucker and Will Zapernick had two assists each in the win for #11 Vermont. Carriere had 28 stops. The Black Bears went 1-3 on the powerplay, while the Catamounts were 2-4. Vermont (11-19-5) advances to play top seed Boston University at Agannis Arena in Boston on Saturday in the Hockey East quarterfinals.
Recap by Chris Lessner/Photos by Anthony DelMonaco
Box Score
VER (11-19-5) 0 1 3- 4
UME (15-16-5) 1 0 1- 2
Shots on goal: Vermont 30, Maine 30
Powerplay: Vermont 2-4, Maine 1-3
Attendance: 3,748
Scoring:
1st:
UME- Breen (Freel, Breazeale) PPG 14:01, 1-0 Maine
2nd:
VER- Spitserov (Zapernick, Stucker) PPG 6:40, 1-1
3rd:
UME- Breen (Arnott, Sirota) :48, 2-1 Maine
VER- Buyalsky (Lombardi) 7:20, 2-2
VER- Walther (Bouquot, Stucker) 13:55- game winning goal, 3-2 Vermont
VER- Lemay (Zapernick) 19:22- empty net goal shorthanded, 4-2 Vermont
Featured photo- Maine center Lynden Breen looks to make a play during the first period of a first round Hockey East playoff game Wednesday night in Orono against Vermont. Breen had two goals, but the Catamounts won the game 4-2.
