The border war between the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team and the University of New Hampshire continued last weekend when the Black Bears swept the Wildcats in a home-at-home series. UMaine improves their record with some much-needed Hockey East Conference wins to 10-5-1 and 5-7 in conference play, while UNH falls to 3-8-1 and 8-14-2.
Shore, Swavely lead UMaine past UNH
Third-year forwards Devin Shore and Steven Swavely tallied two goals and two assists each in a winning effort against conference rival University of New Hampshire, defeating the Wildcats 6-4 Friday night at Alfond Area.
The Black Bears were trailing 3-1 in the first period before converting four consecutive goals to upend the Wildcats.
“We knew it could be back and forth and go any way,” Swavely said after the game. “After they scored three straight, we kept it together on the bench and stayed positive and said we’ll get the second one and take off from there and that’s exactly what we did.”
Maine opened the scoring with a goal just 47 seconds into the contest. After gaining possession of the puck in a tie up on the boards, first-year forward Liam Pecararo chipped a pass to Swavely, who was wide open in the slot. Swavely hesitated and delivered a wrist shot that he lifted over the shoulder of Wildcats first-year netminder Danny Tirone for the early 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats responded less than a minute later, and would tally three straight before the Black Bears could answer.
Setting up in the offensive zone, first-year defender John Furgele ripped a slap shot from the point that was stopped in traffic by a Black Bear defender. Third-year forward Kyle Smith recovered the puck just right of the slot and fired a shot into the Black Bear net before first-year goaltender Sean Romeo could stop it with his glove to knot the score at 1-1.
The second Wildcats goal was tallied by first-year defender Cameron Marks on a power play. The Black Bears went down two men on penalties by third-year defender Conor Riley and fourth-year forward Stu Higgins. Just as Riley’s penalty was ending, Wildcats first-year forward Andrew Poturalski found Marks at the point, ripping a slap shot top shelf on Romeo for a 2-1 Wildcat advantage.
In the offensive zone, third-year defender UNH Harry Quast found fourth-year captain Matt Willows at the point, who sent a slap shot through a slew of traffic and screens to secure a 3-1 UNH lead.
“I thought we got off to the start you’d want to get to whenever you come up here and play the Black Bears at the Alfond,” UNH head coach Dick Umile said. “After that, we didn’t play very well, not very well in our end defensively.”
Maine responded on a power play with less than three minutes remaining in the period, the beginning of their four goal spree. Shore toe dragged to avoid a defender just left of the slot and fired a wrister at Tirone. Tirone fumbled the save and first-year wing Nolan Vesey was there for the Black Bears, tipping the puck in backhand to bring Maine closer at 3-2.
“If Vesey hadn’t scored, I was confident that we would have found another way to score. If these guys feel like that, we got a good chance to win every night,” Gendron said.
The Black Bears tallied two goals in the middle period to take a 4-3 before the final period.
Second-year forward Cam Brown took the puck behind the Wildcats’ net and swung it right of the slot, meeting Riley’s stick. Riley ripped a slap shot that skidded across the ice and through the five hole of Tirone to knot the score at 3-3. First-year forward Malcolm Hayes was causing chaos in front of the net, forcing himself down low for position on a UNH defender to screen Tirone who was unable to find the puck before it slid between his legs for the goal.
Maine regained the lead when Swavely passed the puck to Shore as he skated into the right faceoff circle on a power play. Shore squared to the net and sent a wrist shot that went over the shoulder of Tirone glove side for a 4-3 Black Bears advantage.
“We like to read off each other,” Shore said of him and Swavely. “It starts off the ice. We’re pretty close off the ice and that translates onto the ice. We got them scrambling and I just threw the puck on net and it ended up going in.”
Shore continued to pour it on and the Black Bears scored just 12 seconds into the final period. After winning the third-period face off, Swavely dumped the puck into the right corner and Vesey gained possession. Skating behind the UNH net, Vesey skipped a no-look backhand pass to Shore as he cut into the slot and delivered a wrist shot to the opposite post to extend the Black Bears lead to 5-3.
The Wildcats didn’t give up and scored their fourth and final goal of the contest after 15minutes of scoreless action.
Fourth-year left wing Casey Thrush had an easy goal off of a beautiful pass from behind the net by second-year forward Tyler Kelleher. Kelleher recovered the puck front a corner tie up and skated behind the Black Bears net. Thrush cut into the middle of the slot and Kelleher fired the pass through a Black Bear defender and Thrush put it into the back of the net, inching closer at 5-4.
UNH pulled Tirone with 44 seconds remaining, and Swavely sealed the deal for Maine on an empty net goal he scored from his own blue line.
UMaine completes sweep
The Black Bears traveled to Durham, New Hampshire for Saturday’s conference bout against the Wildcats. Second-year goaltender Matt Morris registered 40 saves and his second shutout of the season as the Black Bears defeated UNH 4-0. Nolan Vesey and Cam Brown each tallied a goal and an assist to help Maine sweep UNH on the weekend.
Maine’s power play success continued in game two and first-year forward Liam Pecararo got Maine on the board midway through the opening period.
Pecararo received the puck in the slot on a pass from Brown and fired a shot from just a few feet out on UNH first-year netminder Adam Clark that found its way under his arm and into the back of the net for a 1-0 Maine lead.
The next goal wouldn’t be tallied until early in the third period. Each team had goals waived off in the scoreless second period.
Brown led a two goal scoring surge in 21 seconds to give Maine a 3-0 cushion early in the third.
Second-year wing Blaine Byron was skating up ice and delivered a backhand pass to Brown just right of the slot. Brown received the pass cleanly and delivered a beautiful wrist shot top shelf over Clark to give Maine a 2-0 lead.
Nolan Vesey found the back of the net on a beautiful set up by Devin Shore just seconds later. Shore battled a UNH defender for possession near the blue line before gaining control and sending a spinning backhand pass up ice into the crease. Vesey out skated two UNH defenders and recovered the puck with nobody in front of him. He faked left before shooting backhand on Clark for a 3-0 lead.
Third-year forward Steven Swavely added the final Black Bear goal on a backhand shot to secure the 4-0 Maine victory.
Vesey and Swavely skated up ice on a 2 on 2. Vesey passed through a UNH defender and found Swavely open in the crease. Clark poke checked the puck as it met Swavely’s stick, but Swavely instantly recovered and delivered the backhand shot over Clark who was laying down out of position to make the save after his unsuccessful poke check attempt for the 4-0 victory.
Maine was outshot 40-21 in the contest. Clark was pulled after Swavely’s goal and was replaced by third-year goaltender Jamie Regan. Regan recorded one save in just over nine minutes of action.
Maine was 1-3 on power play opportunities and the Wildcats went 0-4, failing to convert any of their power play chances.
Maine returns to action next weekend when they face off against the University of Connecticut next Friday at Alfond Arena. After the game on Friday night, the Black Bears will travel to UConn to play a matinee contest against the Huskies at 2 p.m. on Sunday.