ORONO- The #8 Maine Black Bears scored four goals in the second period on Saturday night, and got a hat trick from Harrison Scott in completing a men’s Hockey East sweep over UMass-Lowell 7-2 at Alfond Arena before a sellout crowd of 5,043.
For a fifth straight game, Maine got behind. Nick Rheaume fired one in from the low slot just 1:48 into the first period to make it 1-0 UMass-Lowell. With the Black Bears shorthanded later in the first, Ben Poisson would even the score. Poisson got a partial breakaway down the right wing and got off a shot from the right faceoff circle that was stopped by Riverhawks goaltender Luke Pavicich, but the rebound kicked right back on the stick of Poisson who backhanded the puck into the net at 16:24.
The teams traded goals at 5:46 and 8:17 of the second period. Maine took their first lead of the night when Donovan Villeneuve-Houle buried a rebound in the crease of a shot by Brandon Holt to make it 2-1 Black Bears. It was the third tally of the weekend for Villeneuve-Houle. Owen Cole tied it for UMass-Lowell 2:31 later, before the hosts would take over with three goals in a span of 2:07. Scott got his first of the night and the game winner on a setup by Bradly Nadeau in the low slot at 13:12, and then just 23 seconds later Bradly Nadeau on a rush down the wing sent one out in front for Scott who tipped it over the shoulder of Pavicich in the low slot. A wristshot from the blue line by Holt that found the back of the net at 15:19 ended the three goal flurry as Maine had a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes. Scott finished off his hat trick with a wristshot from just inside the right faceoff circle off the far post on the powerplay at 11:03 of the third period, and Sully Scholle finished the scoring at 13:39 as the Black Bears finished off the two game sweep.
Maine had six skaters with multiple points in the win. Scott had his three goals, Villeneuve-Houle had a goal and two assists, Bradly Nadeau had three assists, Thomas Freel and Josh Nadeau each had two assists, and Holt had a goal and one assist. Freshman Albin Boija made 18 saves in net, improving his record to 3-1-1. The Black Bears went 1-2 on the powerplay. UMass-Lowell got 20 stops from Pavicich, before he was pulled in the third period for Edvard Nordland who made five saves in relief. The Riverhawks went 0-4 on the powerplay, in seeing their record fall to 7-14-2 and 3-8-2 in Hockey East. Maine improves to 16-4-2 and 8-3-1 in conference play, and also 9-0-2 at home this season. They have a week off before returning to action on Friday, February 2 and Saturday, February 3 on the road for single games at Northeastern and UMass Amherst.
Recap/photos/videos by Chris Lessner
