LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS- The #7 Maine Black Bears scored two goals in the first period Saturday night, and then held off #8 UMass-Lowell 2-1 in men’s Hockey East action at the Tsongas Center to sweep the conference road series.
Maine, who got off to a slow start in Friday nights 3-1 win, didn’t do the same on Saturday scoring within the first two minutes of the opening period. Ross Mitton from his own zone got the puck up near center ice to Nolan Renwick, who then led Taylor Makar across the UMass-Lowell blue line down the right wing. Renwick kept skating and broke to the net, and Makar found him with a tape to tape pass in the low slot where Renwick one-timed it over the shoulder stick side past Riverhawks goaltender Beni Halasz at 1:54. Just over five minutes later at the 7:10 mark, Maine forward Charlie Russell and UMass-Lowell defenseman Pierson Brandon were both given penalties for roughing. Head coach Ben Barr though wanted to use his video challenge for contact to the head on Scout Truman on the same play. After review, it was deemed a five minute major and a game misconduct on Truman ending his night. The Black Bears then cashed in on that powerplay, as Thomas Freel tucked a rebound from the low slot five-hole past Halasz as the eventual game winner at 9:07 made it 2-0. That was the the ninth goal of the season for Freel, with eight on the powerplay tying him for tops in the nation in that category. The Riverhawks didn’t have a shot on goal for almost the first 15 minutes, as the guests owned a 19-2 edge after 20 minutes.
UMass-Lowell turned up the pressure in the second period some, and were able to notch the only goal of the stanza. Chris Delaney skated in behind the Maine net and into the bottom of the left circle, where he backhanded a pass to an open Jacob MacDonald in the high slot who one-timed it past Albin Boija at 13:57 to cut the deficit in half. The Riverhawks had a few more Grade A opportunities the rest of the way, but Boija was able to come up with some timely saves especially in the third period (15 stops) in helping to secure the road Hockey East sweep for the Black Bears. It is the first road sweep for Maine over a top 10 team since January 2020 when they took two games at #4 Boston College.
Mitton, Makar, Brandon Holt, and Harrison Scott all picked up an assist each in the Maine win. After no powerplay chances on Friday, the Black Bears would go 1-4 with Freel potting the game winner with the extra man. Boija made 25 saves as his team is now 9-2-1 in their last 12 games. Halasz stopped 34 shots in the defeat for UMass-Lowell, with Delaney and Owen Cole each registering an assist. The Riverhawks went 0-3 on the powerplay (0-5 on the weekend), in dropping to 12-6-2 and 5-5-1 in Hockey East. Maine who improves to 15-4-2 and 7-2-2 in conference play returns to Alfond Arena to host UConn next weekend with puck drop set for 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday night.
Video highlights from ESPN+ courtesy of Maine Ice Hockey on X/Photos and one video by Chris Lessner/Postgame press conference courtesy of Dmitri Chambers from ‘Til the Rafters Ring
