ORONO- UMass-Lowell transfer Lee Parks scored a goal for a fifth straight game on Saturday night that turned out to be the game winner, as Maine men’s hockey finished off a two game non-conference sweep on homecoming weekend over Colgate 3-0 at Alfond Arena.
Colgate had two powerplays in the opening period, and outplayed Maine while outshooting them 10-5. Albin Boija was up to the test though by keeping the Raiders off the scoreboard. The Black Bears really took over after that outshooting the guests 27-7 the rest of the way, and Parks scored the eventual game winner on the powerplay at 9:04 of the second. After a shot by Lukas Peterson went wide, Max Scott picked up the loose puck behind the net and tried to wrap it around. His attempt though was knocked away by a defender, but came right to Parks standing in the bottom of the right circle who hammered it into the net.
Despite the shots heavily tilting in Maines favor, the game remained 1-0 until the later stages of the third period. Loic Usereau and Sam Alfano changed that in a 33 second span. Usereau picked up his second goal of the weekend, on another beautiful shot, on a primary assist from Judah Makway at 14:46. Alfano picked up his second of the season at 15:19 on a rush up the left wing, beating Colgate goalie Reid Dyck far side from the left circle to help cap off the sweep.
Dyck made 29 saves in the Colgate loss. The Raiders would go 0-2 on the powerplay, as their record drops to 0-6 on the season. Peterson, Scott, Makway, Tanner Klimpke, Dru Krebs, and Thomas Pichette each had one assist in the win for Maine. Boija made 17 stops in net. The Black Bears would go 1-4 on the powerplay. Petter Wickström Stumer and Boija became the first Maine goalie tandem to record back to back shutouts on the same weekend since Jimmy Howard and Frank Doyle did so vs Mercyhurst on November 1-2, 2002. The Black Bears (4-2) will now begin Hockey East play beginning with a two game series at Agannis Arena in Boston next Friday and Saturday night against the Boston University Terriers (4-2). Friday is a 7 p.m. face-off, while Saturdays game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
