ORONO- After a lopsided sweep at the hands of the University of New Hampshire in Durham about a month ago, Maine needed their best players to come though on Saturday night during their Hockey East quarterfinal with the Wildcats at Alfond Arena. And Josh Nadeau and Bradly Nadeau did just that. Josh Nadeau had two goals including a second period game winner, and his brother Bradly Nadeau also tallied twice in leading the Black Bears to a convincing 5-0 win over UNH before a soldout crowd of 5,043. The duo also added two assists a piece, as Maine not only hosted their first quarterfinal in 12 years but now with the victory are headed back to the semifinal round in Boston for the first time since that 2011-12 season.
#6 seed UNH really carried the play in the first period. The Wildcats almost jumped on the scoreboard with 5:40 left, when Maine turned the puck over at their own blue line, and a shot from the high slot by Ryan Conmy would beat Black Bears goalie Albin Boija but would hit the post to his left and stayed out. Neither team had any powerplay opportunities, and the shots were 8-7 UNH who seemed to have most of the edge territorially.
The Nadeaus got the attention of the crowd before many of them settled back into their seats in the second period, connecting for the first goal of the night. After UNH had it in the Maine zone, the Black Bears took it away and headed up ice. Bradly Nadeau got the puck just inside the Wildcats blue line on the left, and chipped a backhanded pass to a wide open and streaking Josh Nadeau on the right wing. Josh skated in alone and into the low slot on goaltender Jakob Hellsten, and fired a quick wristshot under his glove just 52 seconds into the stanza that turned out to be the eventual game winner.
THAT'LL GET THE PLACE GOING 🚨🚨
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— Maine Men’s Ice Hockey (@MaineIceHockey) March 17, 2024
Maine would go on the first powerplay of the game just over six minutes later, and would find the net again to extend their lead. Brandon Chabrier sent a pass from the point to Lynden Breen in the corner, and Breen then one-timed a pass to Bradly Nadeau who one-timed a shot from the right circle. The attempt wasn’t cleanly handled by Hellsten, and Ben Poisson poked home the rebound in front at 8:23.
UNH turned it over in their own zone later in the period that led to the third goal. A clearing pass bounced off Nolan Renwick and stayed in the Wildcats end, and came right to the stick of Josh Nadeau who skated in down the low slot and sent a pass to his brother Bradly Nadeau who fired it in from the bottom of the right circle glove side for his first of the night at 15:07.
For the 23rd time this season, it's Nadeau from Nadeau 🚨🚨
💻: https://t.co/PddYouksgp | @ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/ljOqc043hy
— Maine Men’s Ice Hockey (@MaineIceHockey) March 17, 2024
Bradly and Josh capped it off in the third period, with Bradly scoring on the powerplay at 8:48 on assists from David Breazeale and Luke Antonacci. Josh ended the scoring even strength at 17:17 on helpers by Bradly Nadeau and Renwick.
Boija had 18 saves in the Maine win, his second shutout of the season in his seventh straight start. Along with the four points each from the Nadeaus (two goals, two assists)- Renwick had three assists, while Breen, Breazeale, and Antonacci had one assist a piece. The Black Bears went 2-5 on the powerplay, and their defense stepped up in a big way by holding UNH to 10 shots on goal over the final 40 minutes. Hellsten had 20 saves in the loss, after three straight shutouts over UMass-Lowell including in a 1-0 win in the Hockey East opening round on Wednesday to send his team to Orono. He had stopped 79 of his last 80 shots entering play on Saturday. The Wildcats, who will not be in line for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid, had just one powerplay opportunity and end their season with a final record of 20-15-1 that had included those pair of dominant wins over Maine at the Whittemore Center back on February 16 and 17 (6-2, 5-2). The Black Bears (23-10-2) have now won their last four games, finishing their home slate with a record of 13-2-2 at Alfond Arena. #3 seed Maine (#8 nationally) now is off to Boston for the conference semifinals next Friday, March 22 when they take on the #2 seed (#2 in nation) Boston University at 7:30 p.m. at TD Garden. The Terriers (25-8-2) swept the regular season meetings at Agannis Arena in Boston on November 17 and 18 by scores of 3-2 and 5-4. The last time Maine reached the semifinals in 2012 they defeated BU 5-3, before falling to Boston College 4-1 in the championship game. The other semifinal next Friday at 4 p.m. will pit Hockey East top seed Boston College (#1 in nation) against #5 seed the University of Massachusetts. UMass, Boston University, and BC won their quarterfinal matchups on Saturday 3-1, 4-2, and 5-4 over Providence, Northeastern, and UConn respectively. The title game is set for 7:30 on Saturday night.
Recap/Poisson goal and postgame videos by Chris Lessner/Photos by Anthony DelMonaco/Other videos courtesy of Maine Ice Hockey on Twitter (X)
