ORONO- Four was the magic number for the #17 University of Connecticut Huskies on Friday night. Sophomore forward Joey Muldowney (Lake View, New York) scored four times, including an empty netter late in a 4-2 Hockey East men’s upset over the #5 Maine Black Bears at Alfond Arena. The win is the fourth straight for UConn.
Maine had a chance to jump ahead in the first period with a powerplay just 4:00 in. UConn would kill off that Black Bears opportunity, and the tenacious Huskies got an extra man advantage of their own at 6:38 and would cash in. John Spetz from the top of the left circle found Muldowney at the bottom of the circle, and the sophomore turned and beat Albin Boija with a quick wristshot five-hole at 8:00.
The hosts would get back even at 17:17. A backhander from the right circle through traffic by Sully Scholle was re-directed into the cage out front by Charlie Russell, his fifth goal on the season. Maine was fortunate to be 1-1 as they were only able to muster six shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes.
The very first shot on goal of the second period by Connecticut ended up in the net to regain the lead, as Muldowney received a pass after a Maine turnover and busted in down the left wing and beat Boija short side from the bottom of the left circle at 1:10 and that is the way it stood at 2-1 in favor of the guests after 40 minutes. Senior forward Nolan Renwick brought the Black Bears faithful back to their feet with a great individual effort at 3:58 of the third period to tie it once again. Renwick took it from behind his own net, busted through center ice and into the Huskies zone and fired a rocket from the high slot past Tyler Muszelik glove side off the post and into the net unassisted.
Just 4:20 after the second tying goal of the night by Maine, Muldowney was left wide open in the low slot and scored the game winner for UConn to make it a hat trick off a nice feed from below the goal line by Hudson Schandor at 8:18.
The Black Bears went back on a powerplay 1:31 after the third goal by Muldowney, but that was nullified when Taylor Makar was whistled for interference in the attacking zone 18 seconds later. They would pull Boija for an extra attacker with 1:43 left, and Renwick would win a faceoff in the Huskies zone with 23 seconds to go. Muldowney though beat the Black Bears to the puck and sent it the length of the ice and it had just enough to slide into the empty net at 19:43 to cap off the road victory.
Boija made 21 saves in the loss for Maine, while Scholle and Owen Fowler had one assist each. The Black Bears went 0-4 on the powerplay in losing just their second home game of the season, while also having their three game win streak snapped. Muszelik had 26 stops in the win. Schandor, Jake Richard, and Kai Janviriya all had two assists each as UConn moves to 12-8-1 and 7-6-1 in Hockey East with their fourth straight win. Muldowney now has seven goals in his last five games and 12 on the season, as the Huskies also improved their road record to 7-2-0. Maine falls to 15-5-2 and 7-3-2 in league play, as the two teams will finish off their two game series on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Highlight videos by UConnMHOC and MaineIceHockey on X/Photos and video interviews by Chris Lessner
