It was an early season Saturday to forget for the #7 Maine men’s ice hockey team. #10 Quinnipiac dominated for large portions of the contest, and capped off the weekend non-conference series with a 4-0 win at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Connecticut.
Thomas Freel was scatched from the lineup late with a possible injury, and Josh Nadeau quite possibly suffered a serious injury in the loss. Freshman forward and Falmouth native Brock James entered the lineup and made his debut, registering one shot and winning three of seven faceoffs. Quinnipiac (3-1-1) got all they needed on a goal from William Gilson not even a minute into a major powerplay at 10:23 of the first period. The major was on Jaden Lipinski who got a game misconduct for kneeing. The goal by Gilson came on a slapshot from the center point, that deflected past goaltender Mathis Rousseau off a Maine skate in front. Rousseau was also making his collegiate debut. Mason Marcellus gave the Bobcats some breathing room with a beautiful wraparound marker at 7:49 of the second. They added two more in the third period off the sticks of Jeremy Wilmer and Ethan Wyttenbach at 4:56 and 8:09. Both goals in the final stanza were on the powerplay, with the second one being on another major/game misconduct against the Black Bears for kneeing this time on defenseman Bodie Nobes.
Rousseau made 29 saves and played well in his first game between the pipes. Charlie Russell played his best game of the early season and had four shots on goal in the loss, as Maine was outshot 33-19 (69-31 in attempted shots). The Black Bears went 0-2 on the powerplay (0-5 on the weekend, 2-15 on the season after four games). Marcellus and Wilmer both had one goal and one assist in the win for Quinnipiac, who rallied back from a 4-1 deficit on Friday night to gain a 4-4 tie. Aaron Schwartz added three assists, and Matej Marinov made 19 stops for his fifth career shutout. The Bobcats went 3-8 on the powerplay. Maine (2-1-1) returns to Orono for a two game series on homecoming weekend against Colgate next Friday and Saturday night. Face-off times for both nights is set for 7 p.m.
