Maine defenseman Brady Keeper scored a big go ahead powerplay goal late in the second period to give the visitors back a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and sophomore goalie Jeremy Swayman made 41 saves to lead the Black Bears to a 5-3 Hockey East win over UNH at the Whittemore Center in Durham, New Hampshire Saturday night.
A wild flurry of goals in the first period of play. Maine dominated play early, and was finally rewarded when Tim Doherty buried a rebound to make it 1-0 at 11:15. The Wildcats also had a penalty called on the play, and just 52 seconds later Mitch Fossier scored with the extra man to make it 2-0. Almost four minutes later UNH scored a pair. Frankie Cefalu ripped a slapper from the right point past Swayman glove side, and 17 seconds later Ara Nazarian scored his third goal of the weekend to knot things up 2-2. The goals came at 16:02 and 16:19.
Things remained tie until late in the second period when Keeper got the lead back for Maine, one they wouldn’t give up this time. On the powerplay, Keeper beat UNH goalie Mike Robinson with a quick snapshot from just beyond the right faceoff dots with 1:15 left in the period. Chase Pearson made it 4-2 on a great passing play near the front of the UNH net 2:50 into the third period. Eduards Tralmaks made the extra pass to Pearson after receiving a pass from Fossier. Pearson found a wide open cage and buried his 14th goal of the season and ended up as the game winner. Wildcats forward Max Gildon scored an extra attacker goal to cut the Maine lead in half at 4-3 with Robinson pulled at 18:11, but Fossier ended the comeback threat with an empty netter about a minute later. For Fossier, it was his third goal of the season and second of the night.
Maine improves to 10-13-3 overall, 6-7-3 in Hockey East. The two teams finish their season series at 1-1-1. UNH is now 10-9-8, 6-6-5. Fossier also added a pair of assists for a four point night. Tralmaks added two assists, while Pearson and freshman Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup also added one each. Robinson made 22 saves in the loss for the Wildcats. Maine was 2-2 on the powerplay, while UNH was 0-2. The loss snaps a seven game home unbeaten streak for UNH (6-0-1), as they hadn’t lost at the Whittemore Center since December 1 against Providence.
Maine will return home to host Providence College next Friday and Saturday in a two game set at the Alfond at 7 pm each night. The Bears are 0-16-1 against the Friars including playoffs in their last 17 games. The last Maine win in the series was on October 29, 2011, the last year the Bears made the NCAA Tournament.
