ORONO- Wilmer Skoog scored a game winning third period goal with 9:01 remaining on Friday night, lifting #3 Boston University to a 5-3 win over Maine in a men’s Hockey East matchup at Alfond Arena.
Maine, who was beaten twice in Boston by the Terriers two weeks ago, had some good looks early on against Boston University starting goaltender Drew Commesso. Michael Mancinelli had the best one on a partial break-in after a Terriers turnover and got off a good hard shot from the high slot, but Commesso kicked it out with his pad 3:35 into the first. BU scored first just 37 seconds later after a faceoff when Devin Kaplan fired one from just inside the point that beat Victor Ostman glove side.
Maine tied it on the powerplay in the second period. As time was ticking down on the extra man, Grayson Arnott got the puck to Cole Hanson who fired a shot from just outside the right faceoff circle that was tipped in by Ben Poisson at 6:53. Matt Brown answered that with one of his own 1:50 later assisted by Lane Hutson and Skoog to make it 2-1 Boston University. The Black Bears were resilient most of the night, and made it 2 for 2 on the powerplay in the period to knot things again at 15:40. Thomas Freel let a wristshot go from outside the right circle that was stopped by Commesso, but he couldn’t handle the rebound and Lynden Breen was there to scoop it up and slam it into the back of the cage. 2:28 later, Ryan Greene had a powerplay goal to give the lead back to the Terriers after two periods 3-2.
It didn’t take Maine long to tie it in the third period, for the third time on the night. David Breazeale picked up a Boston University turnover inside the Terriers blue line and shot a quick wrister on net from the left circle that was stopped by Commesso. The goalie though was out of position and the loose puck went in behind the net, where Nolan Renwick just shuffled it in front of the cage that found its way in at 1:11. A Black Bears penalty to Hanson later would ultimately cost them the game. The Terriers didn’t score on the extra man, but kept control of the puck in the zone where Skoog got the game winner on a backhander past Ostman at 10:59 just four seconds after the infraction to Hanson expired. Jeremy Wilmer added another for Boston University with 1:32 left, as the guests made it a clean three game season sweep over Maine.
Hanson, Mancinelli, Arnott, Freel, Didrik Henbrandt, and Donovan Villeneuve-Houle all had one assist each in the Maine loss. Ostman made 20 saves. The Black Bears, who last weekend swept Providence who was ranked #17 at the time, has their overall record drop to 11-13-2 and 5-9-1 in Hockey East. Hutson was the leading scorer in the game, as he has four assists in the victory for Boston University. Skoog, Wilmer, and Brown had one goal and one assist each. Commesso had 25 stops in net. The Terriers improve to 20-6, 14-4 in conference play. Maine is at home again on Sunday when they welcome in the #15 Merrimack College Warriors for a 2:05 p.m. faceoff.
Recap/Photos/Video by Chris Lessner
