Jaden Lipinski scored a game winning third period goal on Saturday evening, as the Maine men’s hockey team defeated #20 Vermont 3-1 at the Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vermont in the finale of a two game conference series. The Black Bears took four of the possible six Hockey East points on the weekend from the first place Catamounts.
Maine scored at 5:08 of the first period, registering the first regulation tally between the two teams after a 0-0 tie on Friday night. Tanner Klimpke skated in behind the net to the bottom of the right circle and found a wide open Dante Siciliano who fired in a wrist shot from the high slot. It was the first collegiate goal for the freshman defenseman. Vermont had the answer just over a minute later as Ethan Burroughs tied it on the powerplay at 6:11. The game stay deadlocked into the third period, with the Catamounts having many more Grade A opportunities than the Black Bears but Albin Boija was up to the task in net to keep it tied. Lipinski put the guests up for good on a wraparound at 2:29 of the third period that just squeezed by goalie Jacob Oster inside the far post. UVM had more great looks over the final minutes, but again Boija was able to bail out his team to keep them in the lead. Owen Fowler sealed the road victory with an empty net goal with 13 seconds remaining.
Cedric Guindon and Michael Hagens each added an assist in the loss for Vermont, while Oster made 25 saves. The Catamounts fall to 5-4-2 and 4-2-2 in Hockey East. Lee Parks had two assists for Maine, while Klimpke, Jeremy Langlois, Dru Krebs, and Will Gerrior contributed one each. Boija ended up stopping 22 shots. Defenseman Chris Romaine was also back in the lineup for the first time since suffering a concussion after taking a nasty hit vs Quinnipiac on 10/10. The Black Bears improve to 6-5-1 and 2-3-1 in league play and will return home to host Boston College next weekend. Both games on Friday and Saturday night are set for a 7 p.m. faceoff.
Photo of a goal scored by Jaden Lipinski vs UMass on November 6th is from Anthony DelMonaco (UMaine Athletics)
