ORONO- The flood gates finally opened up for the #5 Maine Black Bears on Saturday night. Charlie Russell scored a tying goal, Sully Scholle netted the eventual game winner, while Thomas Freel and Josh Nadeau also tallied during a four goal third period outburst culminating in a 5-2 men’s Hockey East victory over the University of New Hampshire before a sold out crowd of 5,043 at Alfond Arena.
After only registering 12 shots on goal through 60 minutes of regulation on Friday night, Maine did a much better job getting the puck on net owning a 13-8 advantage in that category through a scoreless first period. The Black Bears then took their first lead of the weekend off the stick of Brandon Holt in the second. After a faceoff win by Nolan Renwick, Frank Djurasevic shuffled a pass from the right point to the left point to Holt who fired a shot through traffic that beat UNH goalie Jared Whale over the shoulder stick side at 8:39. The Wildcats came right back to tie it just 1:19 later on the powerplay after a penalty on Djurasevic, as Ryan Conmy scored on a one-timer from the left circle that was set up by a backhanded pass from Cy LeClerc at 9:58. The guests took their only lead of the night when Nikolai Jenson put one on net from the right point that was deflected past Albin Boija in the low slot by Kristaps Skrastins at 15:51. Conmy had a chance to extend the lead with 2:36 left in the stanza, as he had a clear breakaway and a head of steam up the ice only to be turned away by Boija to keep it a one goal game.
Maine then took over in the third period. At the tailend of their fourth powerplay of the night, Russell would make it 2-2 with a wristshot from inside the right circle that beat Whale shortside at 8:07. The game winner by Scholle was setup by Nadeau, as Nadeau got to a loose puck in the right circle and found Scholle all alone in the low slot. The shot by Scholle would find the back of the net low and to the glove side at 14:54. Freel extended it to 4-2 just 12 seconds later with his 10th goal of the season. Nadeau took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the goal was scored, and a slashing call to Harrison Scott 1:01 later created a 5 on 3 opportunity for UNH for 59 seconds. Right after the Nadeau penalty expired to make it a 5 on 4 situation, he had a chance right out of the box. Whale made a mistake in trying to play the puck behind his own net to get it to a teammate, as Nadeau intercepted it and beat his defender around the cage from right to left for a wraparound that slid in under the pads of Whale at 17:14 for the shorthanded marker that would ice the Black Bears victory.
Nadeau led the way in the Maine win with a goal and three assists (all in the third period). The four point period was the first by any Hockey East player in over two years. Djurasevic added two assists, while Harrison Scott, Nolan Renwick, and Bodie Nobes added one each. The Black Bears went 0-4 on the powerplay (0 for their last 31). The game winner goal by Scholle was the first time he has scored since October 26th at Northeastern. Boija made 22 saves, as Maine scored more than three goals in a game for the first time since December 8th vs Stonehill College. LeClerc, Jenson, Connor Sweeney, and Luke Reid had one assist each in the loss for UNH. Whale stopped 28 shots, and the Wildcats went 1-5 on the powerplay. UNH sees their record drop to 11-13-4 and 3-12-3 in Hockey East, as they are now 1-9-1 in their last 11 games. Maine improves to 19-5-5 and 11-3-5 in conference play. They are currently tied for first place in the league with Boston College with five games left in the regular season. Maine plays just a single game next weekend with a 7 p.m. road contest at UConn on Friday night, while the Eagles will visit Vermont for two games.
