The Maine Black Bears took six third period penalties on Tuesday night eventually leading to a goal that put the game out of reach, as the Yale Bulldogs scored a 3-1 non-conference men’s ice hockey win at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Connecticut.
Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup did what he could to try to help the Black Bears break a three game winless streak, scoring his ninth goal of the season just 43 seconds into the first to make it 1-0 Maine. That though was all the scoring for the visitors. Tyler Welsh tied it for Yale (5-7) at 10:32, before Luke Stevens put the hosts up for good with the only goal of the middle period at 5:23. The fifth penalty of the third period against Maine (8-8-3) was the one that ended up putting the game away, as Curtis Hall tipped in a Jack St. Ivany shot five seconds into the powerplay at 16:25. The Bears had a powerplay with 24 seconds left, and also pulled goalie Jeremy Swayman for a two man advantage but go no closer.
Swayman made 35 saves in the loss for Maine. Corbin Kaczperski made 31 stops in the third straight win for Yale. The Black Bears were 0-5 on the powerplay, while the Bulldogs went 1-8 with the one goal being the backbreaker with just 3:35 left. Adam Dawe and Ben Poisson had the assists on the lone goal by Schmidt-Svejstrup.
Maine is now 1-5-1 in their last seven games and winless in their last four (0-3-1), and finish with a .500 record for the first half after a strong 7-3-2 start. The Black Bears are now off until December 29 when they face American International at the Alfond Arena in Orono.
