Bears tie ‘Cats

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DURHAM, N.H. – It was the ultimate gut check.

In front of a sellout crowd of 3,530 frenzied fans at the University of New Hampshire’s Snively Arena, the University of Maine hockey team trailed UNH 3-1 with 15:31 remaining. UNH led 2-1 after two periods and was 14-1-1 when it led after two periods.

The Bears responded with three goals in a span of 3:52 by Brian Downey, Jean-Yves Roy, and Eric Fenton before UNH’s Savo Mitrovic tied it 4-4 on a breakaway with 7:49 remaining, leaving both teams with a well-deserved point from the thriller.

Hockey East regular season champion Maine had its seven-game winning streak snapped, but extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games (8-0-2). Maine is 26-3-2 overall, 15-2-2 in Hockey East. UNH is 18-11-2, 11-6-2.

“It was a good character builder,” said Maine Coach Shawn Walsh. “Most teams would have lost this game. They would have been (mentally) down going into the third period trailing 2-1 after playing as well as we did in the first two periods. We showed a lot of character. It was a great game to be involved in.”

“When we got up 3-1, Maine turned it up a notch,” said UNH goalie Jeff Levy.

The teams swapped first-period goals as Maine’s Scott Pellerin opened the scoring while the Bears were shorthanded and Dom Amodeo answered with only 39 seconds left in the period. Pellerin’s 25-foot slap shot broke between the pads of Levy and Amodeo lifted a six-footer past Maine goalie Garth Snow off a Jason Dexter pass.

In the second period, Amodeo gave UNH a 2-1 lead when he converted a breakaway with only two seconds remaining. Amodeo poked the puck from between the skates of Maine defenseman Matt Martin and beat Snow with a low 11-footer to the stick side.

Maine had outshot UNH 25-17 through two periods (20-12 in high-percentage shots) and had attempted 43 shots to UNH’s 22.

However, Levy came up with several great saves.

Kevin Thomson made it 3-1 at the 4:29 mark when he chipped Glenn Stewart’s cross-ice pass past Snow’s glove.

But Jim Montgomery took matters into his own hands and set up Downey’s goal 29 seconds later. Montgomery stickhandled past a couple of UNH players before slipping the puck to Downey, who one-timed a 10-footer past Levy.

“That was a huge goal. It seemed like Jimmy went through their whole team,” said Walsh.

Roy followed 1:55 later with a nifty individual effort as he dug the puck out of the right corner, stickhandled across the top of the crease, and slipped the puck between Levy’s pads.

“Coach (Walsh) said force everything to the net and I went five-hole,” said Roy.

Fenton scored 1:57 later when he took a pass from Tony Link and, after getting the puck pokechecked away by Levy, he managed to sweep the loose puck home.

“I’m surprised it went in,” said Fenton.

Mitrovic’s tying goal came at the expense of Martin, who again had the puck poked free from between his skates.

“I was going to shoot high but I saw his glove there,” said Mitrovic. “He slid over a little, I moved it to my backhand, and when he opened up his legs, I put it through the five-hole.”

“I was falling back a little. I’ve got to work on breakaways,” said Snow.

However, Snow preserved the tie with a great overtime glove stop off Stewart’s rising 40-foot drive through a partial screen.

Snow finished with 36 saves to Levy’s 32.

Bears 4, Wildcats 4 (OT)

Maine 1 0 3 0 – 4 New Hampshire 1 1 2 0 – 4

First Period – 1. Maine, Pellerin 26 (unassisted), 9:34; 2. UNH, Amodeo 23 (Dexter, Klym), 19:21. Penalties – Maine, Imes, holding, 9:24; Maine, Pellerin, hooking, 15:32; UNH, Amodeo, tripping, 16:43; Maine, Widmeyer, delay of game, 19:42; UNH, Morrow, delay of game, 19:42.

Second Period – 3. UNH, Amodeo 24 (Cooper, Thomson), 19:58. Penalties – Maine, Martin, late hit, 4:21; UNH, Thomson, late hit, 4:21; Maine, Silverman, late hit, 6:09; UNH, Mitrovic, late hit, 6:09; Maine, Pellerin, delay of game, 6:09; UNH, Morrow, delay of game, 6:09; UNH, McGrath, hooking, 6:54; Maine, Martin, holding, 7:48; UNH, Dexter, elbowing, 11:20; Maine, Tardif, interference, 11:54; Maine, Martin, holding, 15:34; UNH, Russell, slashing, 17:37.

Third Period – 4. UNH, Thomson 11 (Stewart, Amodeo), 4:29; 5. Maine, Downey 17 (Montgomery, Martin), 4:58; 6. Maine, Roy 29 (Saunders), 6:53; 7. Maine, Fenton 7 (Link), 8:50; 8. UNH, Mitrovic 12 (Morrow), 12:11. Penalties – Maine, Murphy, holding, 12:58; Maine, LaCouture, 10-minute misconduct, 16:03; UNH, Morrow, 10-minute misconduct, 16:03.

Overtime – No scoring. Penalties – none.

Shots on goal: Maine 12-13-11-0-36; UNH 10-7-19-4-40

Goaltenders: Maine, Garth Snow; UNH, Jeff Levy

Attendance – 3,530 (sellout)