Maine wins men’s Hockey East opener over Merrimack on the road

Published by %s
November 3, 2023

Bradly Nadeau scored a game winning third period goal on Friday night, in leading the #20 Maine Black Bears to a 2-1 victory over Merrimack College at Lawler Rink in North Andover, Massachusetts in men’s Hockey East action. It was the conference opener for Maine.

Both teams came out flying in what was a fast paced and physical game. Maine had the better chances in the first five minutes of the opening period with some chances in front of Merrimack goaltender Hugo Ollas, while the Warriors also had some good looks in the later stages but Victor Ostman stood tall to help keep it scoreless. The Black Bears struck first, set up by freshman Josh Nadeau. Nadeau got control of a loose puck from his own blue line and found Lynden Breen behind the defense, and Breen broke in alone and beat Ollas stick side for his second goal of the season 1:03 into the second period for a 1-0 lead. Both teams also had their first powerplay chances of the night in that middle period, but came up empty as it remained 1-0 in favor of the guests headed to the third. Ben Brar had a breakaway 3:45 into that final period that was stopped by the glove of Ostman, and about a minute later Ty Deneault was wide open in the low slot but shot it wide. Maine got the game winner at the 10:44 mark when they took capitalized on a Merrimack turnover in their own zone. Josh Nadeau scooped up the mistake, turned and skated into the right faceoff circle sending a pass over to his brother Bradly Nadeau who ripped the one-timer past Ollas from the left faceoff circle. The Warriors down by a pair pulled their netminder with 3:32 left for an extra attacker, but still couldn’t get anything past Ostman. Bradly Nadeau was called for a slashing penalty with 1:11 remaining to give Merrimack a 6 on 4 advantage. The hosts would spoil the shutout bid when Matt Capponi re-directed a centering pass by Zach Bookman into the net with 51.1 seconds left. The Black Bears were able to hold on in the final seconds, with Ollas still pulled for that extra attacker, to win their Hockey East opener.

Ostman made 25 saves in the win, as Maine improves to 4-1 overall (1-0 in HE). Josh Nadeau had a pair of assists. Ollas made 20 stops in the loss for Merrimack, who falls to 3-3 and 1-1 in conference play. The Black Bears won 32 of the 53 faceoffs on the night, and won for the first time in their last five trips to Lawler Rink. Maine went 0-1 on the powerplay, while the Warriors were 1-2. The teams finish off their two game series on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Recap by Chris Lessner/Videos courtesy of Maine Ice Hockey on Twitter 

Bradly Nadeau winds up for a shot in a game against RPI at Alfond Arena. Nadeau scored the game winning goal, and his brother Josh had two assists Friday night as Maine won their Hockey East opener at Merrimack. Photo courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco 

 

 

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