The Maine Black Bears and Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks combined for 91 shots on goal Friday night. But neither team could net more than a pair of goals as the teams skated to a 2-2 overtime tie at the Alfond Arena in Orono in men’s non-conference hockey action.
Maine (9-8-4) had to rally twice for a one goal deficit. Kevin Conley netted the first goal at 12:16 of the first period, in a period that was dominated by Nebraska-Omaha (8-8-3) outshooting the Black Bears 19-5 and taking that 1-0 lead. The hosts evened it finally at 8:36 of the second period on a powerplay goal by Tim Doherty, after the Mavericks Taylor Ward took a five minute major and game misconduct four minutes earlier. Ryan Brushett put UNO up a goal again with a powerplay marker 1:31 later. Doherty had the answer in the third period scoring the equalizer and his second of the night at 4:13. Maine had a chance in regulation when Nolan Sullivan took a boarding penalty with 1:54 left, but the Bears couldn’t convert and couldn’t get into the Mavericks zone soon enough to set anything up with the six seconds of left over powerplay time in the overtime. Neither team had any grade A scoring chances as the game ended in a draw.
Jeremy Swayman made 41 saves for Maine, while Austin Roden made 46 for Nebraska-Omaha. The Black Bears outshot the Mavericks 43-24 after the first period. Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup, Levi Kleiboer, Adam Dawe, and Adrien Bisson had the Maine assists on the night. The Black Bears went 1-4 on the powerplay, while the Mavericks were 1-3. The two teams finish off the two game weekend series in Portland at the Cross Insurance Arena on Saturday at 12 p.m.
Maine goaltender Jeremy Swayman, shown here in earlier game this season in Orono, made 41 saves on Friday night to help the Black Bears to a 2-2 tie with Nebraska-Omaha at the Alfond Arena. Photo by Anthony DelMonaco
