In their first road test of the season, the #7 Maine men’s ice hockey team got off to a quick 3-0 lead after one period over #10 Quinnipiac on Friday night, and led 4-1 in the second, before the Bobcats rallied back to force a 4-4 tie at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Connecticut. For the enjoyment of the fans, QU won the meaningless non-conference shootout 1-0.
The first collegiate goal for Black Bears freshman Will Gerrior was a thing of beauty and got the scoring started. Gerrior intercepted a Bobcats pass at their own blue line, and then skated down the low slot and went forehand to backhand to tuck it under goaltender Matej Marinov 2:09 into the first period for a 1-0 lead. Despite QU owning the possession of the puck for large amounts of time, the guests would score two more late in the frame in a span of 58 seconds. Thomas Pichette with a backhanded pass found a wide open Owen Fowler in the low slot who lit the lamp at 17:51, before Miguel Marques made it 3-0 at 18:49.
Quinnipiac got on the board on the powerplay just 14 seconds into the second on a goal from Ethan Wyttenbach, before a great effort from freshman Lukas Peterson restored a three goal advantage for Maine at 8:25. Peterson won a loose puck battle in his own zone, before sending a stretch pass up to Thomas Freel who got a step on two defenders and broke in and scored on a wristshot from the low slot glove side. Markus Vidicek brought the Bobcats back within two heading into the third period with a goal at 12:02.
Quinnipiac would kept pushing, but Maine goaltender Albin Boija came up with several big saves to maintain the two goal lead for much of the third period. The hosts finally broke through and would tie it with a pair of goals 46 seconds apart late in the stanza. Elliott Groenewold cut it to 4-3 at 17:24, and then the Bobcats pulled Marinov for an extra attacker with 2:22 left. Former Boston University Terrier Jeremy Wilmer made it 4-4 and salvaged the tie for his team by scoring at 18:10. QU had the better chances and all the shots on goal in overtime (3-0), including a breakaway with less than 10 seconds left by Antonin Verreault but Boija came up big with the save to preserve the road draw.
Nine different skaters got on the scoresheet for Maine. Pichette, Peterson, Jeremy Langlois, Jaden Lipinski, and Justin Poirier each recorded an assist. Boija ended up with 35 saves. The Black Bears (2-0-1) put up 11 shots on goal in the first period, but were outshot 28-11 over the final 45 minutes (73-46 total on shots attempted for the game). They went 0-3 on the powerplay. Quinnipiac (2-1-1) put 11 players into the scoring column, and Marinov made 18 stops in net. The Bobcats went 1-3 on the powerplay. The teams will finish off the two game series on Saturday evening at 4 p.m.
Photo courtesy of UMaine Athletics
