ORONO- Maine senior defenseman David Breazeale had scored just one goal this season entering play on Saturday night, but with his team on a two game losing streak the captain came up huge by notching his second game winner of the year in the third period in sending the #7 Black Bears past #6 Denver 2-1 in men’s non-conference hockey action before yet another sold out Alfond Arena. Maine split the weekend with identical scores, after the Pioneers had tallied with 20.7 seconds left in the third period on Friday night for a 2-1 victory.
Maine really took it to Denver for the majority of the 60 minutes after the tough loss on Friday, tightening up the neutral zone and taking away about every inch of ice from their highly skilled opponent. They owned a 22-5 shots on goal advantage in the first period, but despite that it was the Pioneers who got on the board first. 14:14 into the stanza, the guests got their only powerplay of the night when Sully Scholle was whistled for holding. After a shot was blocked through traffic on the extra man advantage, the puck would come back to Jack Devine in the left circle. Devine would then turn and find a wide open Sam Harris on the doorstep to the left of Maine goalie Albin Boija for the easy tap-in powerplay goal at 15:33 for a 1-0 lead. The Black Bears went 0-3 in the opening 20 minutes with their powerplay, but just after that third one expired they would find the equalizer in the closing seconds. Charlie Russell had control of it behind the Denver net and threw it out front that went off a couple of bodies onto the stick of Brandon Chabrier in the low slot. Chabrier had his shot partially deflected that Pioneers goalie Matt Davis also got a piece of, but in the wild scramble Harrison Scott was able to bat at the rebound as it crossed just over the goal line with 2.7 seconds left to make it 1-1. Russell and Chabrier picked up assists on the play.
It was another dominant second period for Maine, this time outshooting Denver 17-6 but also failing at a fourth powerplay chance and also had a shot by Brodie Nobes and a tip by Russell both go off the post as it stayed 1-1 after 40 minutes. The game winner by Breazeale came early in the third on a 4 on 4 situation. Scott rushed into the Pioneers zone down the left wing and into the left circle and released a wristshot that Breazeale re-directed off the pad and under the right arm of Davis at 2:53 that erupted the energetic crowd of 5,043. Boija had to make a few saves in the closing minutes, as Denver had 10 shots on goal over the final 20 minutes after registering just 11 through two periods. Despite pulling Davis for an extra attacker with 1:25 left, the guests weren’t able to find the tying goal as the Black Bears held on.
Boija made 20 saves in his 12th win in net for Maine, as the Black Bears held Denver to three goals on the weekend after the Pioneers entered the series averaging four goals per contest. Scott had one goal and one assist and now has 13 goals on the season, while Chabrier added two assists. They would finish 0-4 on the powerplay. Breazeale now has two goals on the year, but both have been game winners that also includes his overtime heroics in the final seconds of a 6-5 home victory over Quinnipiac back on October 19. Maine outshot Denver for the game 46-21. Davis stopped 44 shots in the loss for the Pioneers, while Carter King and Devine picked up assists on the lone goal by Harris. Denver, who plays out of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), falls to 15-5 on the season. The Black Bears improve to 13-4-2 and avoid their first three game losing streak. Maine now takes their 5-2-2 league record back into Hockey East action for the final 15 games of the regular season, beginning next weekend with a road trip to UMass-Lowell (12-4-2, 5-3-1 in the conference). The Riverhawks were ranked #10 in the country in the latest USCHO rankings released on Monday, December 30. Face-off times at the Tsongas Center will be 7:15 p.m. on Friday and 6:05 p.m. on Saturday.
Photos by Chris Lessner and Anthony DelMonaco/Videos and video interviews by Chris LessnerÂ
