ORONO- In one of the more highly anticipated men’s college hockey matchups of the season, sophomore defenseman Cale Ashcroft scored a game winning goal with 20.7 seconds left in the third period Friday night in lifting #6 Denver to a 2-1 series opening win over #7 Maine at the Alfond Arena before a sold out crowd of 5,043.
Maine had the better of the chances in the early going in what ended up being a scoreless first period. Neither team had a powerplay opportunity either in the first 20 minutes. Denver (15-4) had the best Grade A chance to crack the scoreboard when Aidan Thompson had a breakaway with 1:17 left, but Black Bears sophomore goaltender Albin Boija came up with a pad save.
The hosts got into some penalty trouble early in the second that would lead to the first goal of the night. Sully Scholle was whistled for tripping at 2:28, and then just 20 seconds later David Breazeale took a boarding penalty to put Denver on a 5 on 3 powerplay for 1:40. It took the Pioneers just five seconds on that 5 on 3 to find the opening tally, as a shot off a faceoff win went off the boards behind the net and landed into the low slot to the stick of Carter King who banged it home past Boija to make it 1-0 at 2:53. Maine killed off the remainder of a 5 on 4 powerplay, and then late in the period would score the equalizer on a man advantage of their own. Josh Nadeau from the high point passed to Scholle in the right faceoff circle, who then found Nolan Renwick in the middle of the slot. The shot by Renwick was stopped by the pad of Pioneers goaltender Matt Davis, but the rebound came right to Frank Djurasevic in the left circle who fired it home at 18:37. It was the fifth goal of the season for Djurasevic, who now has 13 points (also 8 assists) after recording 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) during his freshman season at Merrimack last year.
Maine carried most of the play in the third period but couldn’t cash in despite outshooting Denver 11-4, as the Pioneers were able to make one more play in the end to win the game. With 27 seconds left, the guests won a faceoff in the Black Bears zone. A shot from just outside the top of the right circle by Eric Pohlkamp was blocked by Thomas Freel, but the puck stayed in the zone and would come to Ashcroft who put a wrister on net through traffic from just inside the blue line that found its way into the net that gave the defending national champions the road victory.
Scholle and Renwick had one assist each in the Maine loss, while Boija had 22 saves. The Black Bears converted their only powerplay chance of the night in suffering back to back defeats for a second time this season (also November 8 and 10 at Boston College). Pohlkamp was the only multiple scorer in registering two assists in the win for Denver. Thompson and Kieran Cebrian added one assist each, while Davis made 29 stops in net. Maine falls to 12-4-2 in also dropping their first game at Alfond Arena this season (8-1-1). The finale of the two game series is scheduled for 6:30 on Saturday night.
All videos by Chris Lessner/Photos by Chris Lessner and Anthony DelMonaco
