Chabrier goal early in the first period is enough to lift Maine men’s hockey over UMass

Published by %s
February 3, 2024

Brandon Chabrier scored a goal early in the first period, and freshman Albin Boija made it hold up in net on Saturday night as the #6 Maine Black Bears defeated #11 UMass 1-0 in men’s Hockey East play at the Mullins Center before a crowd of 7,737 in Amherst, Massachusetts.

It didn’t take long to produce the only goal of the night. Brandon Holt got a loose puck along the boards on the left wing in his own zone and chipped it to Donovan Villeneuve-Houle, who then sprung Chabrier for a 2 on 1 breakout the other way. Chabrier decided to keep it and walked into the bottom of the left faceoff circle and released a quick wristshot that beat UMass goaltender Michael Hrabal glove side at 1:16 of the opening period. That ended up being it for the scoring, but didn’t end some great action. The Minutemen actually had two powerplays in the opening 20 minutes, but still got outshot by Maine 11-3.

UMass looked like they had tied the score early in the second period at 2:53, as Cam O’Neill made a nice play behind the net to wrap it around and get a shot on goal and Michael Cameron would tuck it past Boija short side on the rebound. Maine called for a review though, and after the replay was initiated it was ruled no goal because the Minutemen were offsides coming into the zone. They had another chance less than two minutes later when Aydar Suniev broke in alone on the Black Bears goalie, but was turned away. Maine had their best shift of the middle stanza with 4:45 left, as Thomas Freel had a good look down low and Donovan Villeneuve-Houle had a chance on a rebound but couldn’t poke it past Hrabel who was down and out of position.

UMass kept trying to pressure, and would get their third powerplay of the night with 15:00 left to play in the third period. Maine though did a good job at limiting the opportunities, keeping the Minutemen to the outside without much traffic in front of their freshman netminder. The hosts would pull Hrabel for an extra attacker late, and Boija had to make a couple more Grade A saves in the final 1:15 to earn his fourth victory of the season in his sixth start and help his team bounce back from a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Northeastern on Friday night.

Holt and Villeneuve-Houle got credit for an assist each on the Chabrier goal in the win. Boija, who is now 4-1-1, made 15 saves in picking his first career shutout. They went 0-1 on the powerplay. Maine has their record improve to 17-5-2 and 9-4-1 in Hockey East. Hrabel finished with 21 stops in the loss for UMass. The Minutemen went 0-3 on the powerplay, as they fall to 14-7-3 and 7-5-2 in the conference. The Black Bears return home next weekend for a pivotal two game league series against #10 Providence College at Alfond Arena. Maine and PC are third and fourth respectively in the standings, separated by just two points. Faceoff in Orono is scheduled for 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday night.

Recap by Chris Lessner

Maine defenseman Brandon Chabrier fires a shot from just inside the blue line in a game earlier this season in Orono. Chabrier had the lone goal, and freshman Albin Boija posted a shutout Saturday night as the #6 Black Bears defeated #11 UMass down in Amherst 1-0. Photo by Anthony DelMonaco 

 

Video of the Chabrier game winning goal is courtesy of Maine Ice Hockey on Twitter-

 

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