Colin Kessler had two goals, that included a late empty netter to put it away on Saturday night as Vermont beat #18 Maine 5-3 in a men’s Hockey East regular season finale played at the Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vermont.
The Catamounts got off to a great start by scoring twice in the opening period. Thomas Sinclair tallied even strength at 4:01, before a powerplay marker by Cedrick Guindon made it 2-0 exactly 14 minutes later at 18:01. Josh Nadeau is playing his best hockey of the season heading into the playoffs, and would cut the Black Bears deficit to 2-1 with a 4 on 4 goal just 59 seconds into the second. Another Maine penalty led the first tally of the night by Kessler on the powerplay at 15:18 of that middle period. The guests fought back within a goal again after a nice save by Mathis Rousseau, as Miguel Marques would bury a rebound on the other end at 19:08. Max Strand for a third time extended the Vermont lead back to a pair by scoring at the 6:03 mark of the third period, but an extra attacker snipe by Owen Fowler made it 4-3 with 1:55 left. The Black Bears had an interference penalty called against Oskar Komarov at the 19:00 mark as they were trying to find the equalizer with Rousseau still pulled, and Kessler cemented the Catamounts win by sliding one into an empty net with 19 seconds remaining to snap their seven games winless streak and stop a five game unbeaten streak for Maine.
Kessler had three points in the Vermont win as he also added an assist to his two goal night. Guindon also had three points with two assists to go along with his opening goal of the contest. Aiden Wright made 23 saves in net, as the Catamounts finished at 13-20-1 and 8-15-1 in Hockey East. UVM won two of three games over Maine in the regular season, and will be the #11 seed as they travel to #6 Boston University on Wednesday night in the opening round of the playoffs. Marques had one goal and one assist, while Brandon Holt added two assists for the Black Bears in the loss. Rousseau made 21 stops. The Black Bears final regular season record is 18-13-3 and 12-11-1 in league play. Maine will get an opening round bye, and will be the #5 seed as they will travel to Conte Forum to face #4 Boston College next Friday night at 7 p.m. in a conference quarterfinal.
Photo courtesy of UMaine Athletics
