Maine men’s hockey rallies to tie Colgate

Published by %s
January 6, 2024

The #7 Maine Black Bears fell in an early 3-0 hole Saturday night, and then after rallying to tie it would fall behind once again early in the third period. But Sully Scholle with a highlight reel goal with inside of three minutes left in regulation would force overtime, and the Black Bears would skate to a 4-4 tie with the Colgate University Raiders in men’s hockey non-conference action before a soldout crowd of 5,043 at the Alfond Arena in Orono.

After a 3-1 loss Friday night, Colgate came out faster and stronger with much more intensity. Brett Chorske made it 1-0 Raiders just 59 seconds into the first period. Maine had a chance to draw even at 4:55 on the powerplay, but couldn’t convert as the extra man for the Black Bears continues to struggle. Ryan McGuire made it 2-0 in favor of the guests at 9:41. Less than two minutes later, a powerplay tally by Daniel Panetta made it 3-0 that ended the night in net for Victor Ostman. Ostman would only stop three of six shots, and would be replaced by freshman Albin Boija. Donovan Villeneuve-Houle gave the home crowd a little life with the first goal of the night just 23 seconds after the Panetta marker.

Maine seemed to carry the play the rest of regulation outshooting Colgate 24-14, but despite some good chances they looked like they would still go into the second intermission down by at least a pair of goals. Thomas Freel changed that in a hurry however to send the game to the third period tied up. A shot by Bradly Nadeau was stopped by Raiders goalie Carter Gylander, but it came right back to Nadeau who sent it across to Freel in the right faceoff circle who wristed it home at 19:23. A high sticking penalty on Parker Lindauer right off the faceoff three seconds after the goal put the Black Bears immediately shorthanded. But that didn’t bother Freel. He took a turnover by Colgate at the Maine blue line and broke in alone, beating Gylander with a move from forehand to backhand at 19:42 and it was 3-3.

Colgate took the lead back at 3:42 of the third period on the second goal of the game by Chorske, who for a second straight night seemed to be around the puck alot. Scholle took matters into his own hands to tie it again for Maine and send the game to overtime. He took control of a puck at the Raiders blue line, made a move to split two defenders and fired a wristshot stickside past Gylander from the low slot into the top left corner of the net at 17:37. The guests looked like they may of won it in the extra session, as Chorske going for the hat trick would be stopped while moving in on Bouija but would slam home the rebound. The goal was disallowed however even after review for goaltender interference, and the teams would settle for the tie.

Freel had his two goals and also added an assist for Maine, who stays unbeaten at home 7-0-2. Felix Trudeau, Harrison Scott, David Breazeale, and Bradly Nadeau each had one assist a piece. The Black Bears went 0-5 on the powerplay, and are now 0 for their last 19 with the extra man. Bouija stopped 23 of 24 shots in relief. Gylander was big in net with 41 saves for Colgate. Chorske had two goals and one assist, as the Raiders record goes to 6-9-3. Maine is now 13-3-2 (unbeaten last eight 7-0-1) and will be back in Hockey East play for the remainder of the regular season, beginning next week when travel to UConn to take on the Huskies on Friday and Saturday.

Recap by Chris Lessner/File photo by Anthony DelMonaco/Videos courtesy of Maine Ice Hockey on Twitter 

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