Owen Fowler scored twice including a second period game winning goal, and Josh Nadeau had another big game on Saturday night with two goals and two assists as Maine capped off a big weekend sweep over Merrimack College with a 5-2 victory in men’s Hockey East action at Alfond Arena in Orono.
After Caelan Fitzpatrick opened the scoring at 3:49 of the first period for the Warriors, Nadeau got his first of the night for the Black Bears on assists from Fowler and Brandon Holt at 8:13. Michael Emerson regained the Merrimack lead with a marker at 12:06. Maine owned the second period. Miguel Marques powerplay tally made it 2-2 at 1:15, before the eventual game winner by Fowler at 15:47 came off assists from Jaden Lipinski and Frank Djurasevic. Nadeau found the net for his second of the evening on the powerplay at 18:01 for a 4-2 advantage. Fowler capped the scoring with the third powerplay goal of the contest for the Black Bears at 17:48 of the final stanza, giving Maine their second Hockey East home sweep of the season (October 31 and November 1 over Boston University) on Senior Night.
Nolan Flamand led Merrimack in points in the defeat with two assists. Max Lundgren made 27 saves in net. The Warriors went 0-3 on the powerplay in falling to 15-15-1 and 8-12-1 in Hockey East. Nadeau (two goals, two assists) and Holt (four assists) both put up four points each in the Maine win. Fowler had two goals and one assist, and Marques had one goal and one assist. Nadeau had eight points in the two games (five goals, three assists). Mathis Rousseau played the entire weekend in between the pipes and made 21 stops in the victory, as the Black Bears also went 3-8 on the powerplay. After the game senior players Brandon Holt, Owen Fowler, Brandon Chabrier, Grayson Arnott, and Thomas Freel were honored. Fowler intends to return next season with a fifth year of eligibility. Maine improves to 16-12-3 and 10-10-1 in conference play and will battle Northeastern in a two game series next weekend. Both games are at 7 p.m. with Friday’s game in Portland and Saturday’s contest to be played at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Black Bears all of a sudden after the weekend seeep sit only two points out of fourth place in the league standings.
Photo courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco (UMaine Athletics)
