Maine men’s hockey rallies in the third period for a win over UConn

Published by %s
January 12, 2024

Sometimes you don’t play your best and still get a win. That is what happened on Friday night, as the #7 Maine Black Bears rallied from a 3-1 deficit with 13:31 left in the third period to steal away a 5-3 men’s Hockey East victory over the University of Connecticut at the XL Center in Hartford. Bradly Nadeau had the tying goal, while his brother Josh scored the game winner.

Things didn’t start well for Maine, as Chase Bradley 26 seconds into the first period would score on Victor Ostman on the first shot of the game. UConn continued to buzz the net early on, and Tristan Fraser made it 2-0 at 4:10. Matthew Wood had two great chances to extend the lead to three for the Huskies, as he fired one off the crossbar behind Ostman and was also stopped on a breakaway during the opening stanza.

UConn most certainly thought they had gotten that three goal lead at 3:49 of the second period, after a hard drive to the net by Bradley that was stopped but Hudson Schandor slammed the rebound into the cage behind Ostman. After Maine head coach Ben Barr called for a review it was ruled goalie interference and it stayed 2-0 after 40 minutes.

Maine finally broke through and ended their powerplay drought early in the third period, when Harrison Scott got a rebound of a Brandon Chabrier point shot and scored from the bottom of the right faceoff circle with the extra man at 2:59 to slice the deficit in half. They had been 0 for their last 21 on the powerplay. Schandor though would extend the lead back to a pair, and this time it would count on assists from Wood and Bradley to make it 3-1 UConn just 3:30 after the Scott goal. A hustle play by Lynden Breen with the Huskies on the powerplay a few minutes later led to the second Black Bears goal. Breen got to a loose puck in the corner and it would eventually find the stick of Brandon Holt in the middle of the slot for a shorthanded marker through traffic and into the cage at 9:09. Then it was the Nadeau show to put the guests in front for the first time and for good. Bradly scored the second powerplay goal of the night just 15 seconds into the extra man opportunity at 12:03 after an elbowing penalty, and it was a brand new hockey game at 3-3. UConn nearly took the lead back at 13:36 when Joey Maldowney got a feed and walked into the low slot only to be stopped by the glove of Ostman. Josh Nadeau stunned the home crowd when he got to a rebound off a Breen shot at the 16:15 mark, and hammered home the game winner for a 4-3 Maine advantage. The last good chance by the Huskies was a shot by Jake Percival that went off the skate of Bradley and off the post with 2:15 remaining. The Black Bears would put it away just seconds later when Holt fired down ice into an empty net with just 1:52 to go.

Holt had two goals, Josh Nadeau had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Chabrier along with Breen had two assists a piece to lead the way in the win for Maine. Ostman made 25 saves. The Black Bears are now unbeaten in their last nine games (8-0-1), improving to 14-3-2 overall and 6-2-1 in Hockey East. Bradley led UConn in the loss with a goal and an assist, and Ethan Haider made 32 stops in net. The Huskies are now 8-10-2, 4-7-1 in conference play. The teams finish off the two game series on Saturday afternoon at 3:05 p.m.

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

 

Maine forward Josh Nadeau (#20), scores a goal in a win over UNH at the Alfond Arena earlier this season. Nadeau would score the game winner on Friday night, as the Black Bears rallied from a two goal third period deficit to defeat UConn 5-3 in Hartford extending their unbeaten streak to nine games. Photo by Anthony DelMonaco 

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