The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team dropped their only game of the weekend at home to the No. 3 Boston University Terriers 3-1. After an emotional pre-game ceremony honoring the 1999 National Championship team, the Black Bears were unable to get the victory.
Before the puck even touched the ice, 13 players and two coaches were honored on the ice in front of a packed Alfond Arena. Grant Standbrook was honored along with the late Shawn Walsh. These men helped shape the ’99 team that “refused to lose.” The current players all shook the hands of the championship team that were present after the ceremony.
As for the game, Maine would get on board first, just 1:13 into the first period. After a defensive stand, Maine looked to break out. Third-year defenseman Ben Hutton passed the puck to Steven Swavely, who was a part of a three-on-one rush. Swavely dished the puck to fourth-year forward Connor Leen, who took a shot on Terriers goaltender Matt O’Connor. O’Connor made the initial save, but Leen collected the rebound and backhanded it top shelf to give the Black Bears an early 1-0 lead.
BU would hit the crossbar on a shot in the first, but it was not until 8:48 of the second period when a power-play goal by third-year forward Ahti Oksanen tied the game at one. After a tripping penalty to Malcolm Hayes gave BU a man advantage, the Terriers worked quickly on the power play. Fourth-year forward Evan Rodrigues received a pass from third-year forward Danny O’Regan from behind the net and faked a shot that got Maine goaltender Sean Romeo to commit to the shot. O’Regan then passed the puck across the slot to a wide open Oksanen who put the puck into the open net.
The Terriers would strike again in the second period, this time for a short-handed goal on the penalty kill. First-year sensation Jack Eichel stole the puck and put a move on the defender to open up a lane. Eichel then carried the puck into the Maine zone, and made a quick pass to O’Regan who had joined the rush. O’Regan’s shot hit the sliding Romeo, but the puck hopped over Romeo’s body and into the net, giving BU a 2-1 lead with only 24 seconds remaining in the second period.
“I didn’t want to cheat and give Eichel a shot,” Romeo said on the O’Regan goal, “I knew he was going to pass … so I read [the play] and got over there, but it hit me and went over me.”
“Special teams were the difference tonight,” Terriers head coach David Quinn said. “This is not an easy place to play in, so to come up here and get two points. We’re really proud of our guys.”
Quinn also commented on the playmaking ability of Eichel, who had a goal and an assist in the game.
“Jack has that ability. He can change speeds and he has a lot of deception in his game,” Quinn said.
The third period was dominated by Maine. Maine launched 11 shots on goal to BU’s four, including a Blaine Byron shot that hit the crossbar from deep in the slot. Many of the shots were taken at point blank range, and O’Connor came up big for the Terriers. The Black Bears even had two power plays in the third and were able to generate three good scoring chances, but the Terriers’ defense kept them off the board. Maine would finish the game 0-3 on the power play, while BU went 1-4.
Maine would eventually pull Romeo in favor of the extra attacker, but Eichel would cash in on the empty net goal to put the game out of reach at 19:23 of the third period. Both teams had 28 shots on goal, but solid goaltending gave BU the edge.
“[O’Connor] made some key saves,” Quinn said on his goalie’s performance, “We all know to have a successful hockey team you need to have a good goalie. He made some timely saves.”
Despite the solid performance by O’Connor, Maine head coach Red Gendron was not pleased with the outcome of the game. When asked if he was happy with Maine’s performance in the first, a disgruntled Gendron replied, “No because we didn’t win.”
Despite scoring the only Maine goal, Leen knew that his team needed to be better before they can compete with top tier teams like BU.
“I feel like we got a little deflated and we started letting the game come to us, instead of attacking it,” Leen said on the second period, “We’ve got to compete harder. They brought the game to us, and we were on our heels a lot.”
But Gendron assured that Maine would not let this loss impede their progress as a team.
“Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. we will practice. And we will endeavor to make ourselves better, and we’ll practice again on Sunday to make ourselves better. We will continue to march forward.”
After the game, Maine falls to 3-7-1 (2-3-0 Hockey East), while BU improves to 7-1-1 (4-1-0 Hockey East). Maine will hit the road for one of the tougher stretches of the season, lacing up against BU on Nov. 21 and then against Boston College on Nov. 22. Maine return to the Alfond on Nov. 28 and 29 for a series against the University of Vermont.