Huskies tame once-wild Black Bears 5-2

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ORONO – Reg Cardinal saw the loose puck in the crease. He knocked it toward the goal line and raised his stick to celebrate the goal.

In the instant it took for him to make that movement, Northeastern goaltender Todd Reynolds somehow managed to deflect the puck away.

The moment was symbolic of the frustration being felt by the University of Maine hockey team, which watched Reynolds backstop Northeastern’s 5-2 Hockey East victory at Alfond Arena here Friday night.

Northeastern, now 14-6-3 overall and 6-6-3 in league play, scored three second-period goals to extinguish what little momentum Maine was able to generate. Maine, the defending national champs, slipped to 12-10-1 overall, 7-5-1 in Hockey East.

It was an historic night for UMaine, which saw its incredible string of 148 consecutive sellouts come to an end. The last non-sellout occurred during the 1984-85 season.

The slippery roads likely played a part in keeping some fans home, but they didn’t miss a memorable performance by the Bears. Maine has now won only once in its last six tries at Alfond Arena.

Reynolds made 22 saves, including a handful of difficult stops, as the Huskies left the Black Bears wondering what they have to do to put the puck in the net.

“Quite obviously, Todd Reynolds had an outstanding performance in the net,” said NU coach Ben Smith.

“At the start of the third period Reynolds came up huge. How the puck didn’t go in our net… Maine was doing the right things, they were getting chances and Todd was making the saves.”

Maine walked away, in a word, frustrated.

“It was frustrating. We had plenty of good chances to score and we’re just having a tough time putting the puck in the net,” said Maine Coach Shawn Walsh. “The more you dwell on it the more frustrated you get and the less chance you have.”

Leading 1-0, Northeastern chased starting goaltender Blair Marsh, scoring twice in the first 3:29 of the second period. David Penney made it 2-0 when he banked a shot off the right post and in at the 1:25 mark.

Maine got on the scoreboard less than two minutes later while shorthanded. Cardinal took the puck away from Hart Webb at center ice and sped down left wing. He snapped a beautiful pass in the low slot to Wayne Conlan, who one-timed a shot past Todd Reynolds.

However, Northeastern regained the momentum only 12 seconds later as J.F. Aube took a pass in front from Dan McGillis and snuck a low shot past a sprawling Marsh at the 3:29 mark. Marsh was lifted in favor of Blair Allison.

“The special teams were exciting, both for and against,” said Smith. “Probably a real key goal was our retaliation goal to their shorthanded goal.

“They scored the shorthanded goal, which gave them a big lift, but then we scored 12 seconds later and a hush fell over the pool room.”

The Bears again trimmed the deficit to one goal at 4:45. Cardinal initiated the play, sliding a long pass from the left boards in the defensive zone to Patrice Tardif streaking down the middle.

Tardif sped in alone, faking to his forehand then flicking a backhander over Reynolds’ glove hand.

However, the Huskies pushed the lead back to two goals with a shorthanded tally at 14:31. When Dave MacIsaac failed to keep the puck in the offensive zone, Mike Taylor took a pass from Tom Parlon and made a rush down the left side.

Taylor beat Allison with a forehand shot between the pads.

Dan Lupo scored an insurance goal midway through the third period when Tom O’Connor sent him in all alone.

The Huskies took a 1-0 lead late in the first period on a power play. Defenseman Francois Bouchard intercepted a clearing pass at the right point and rifled a low shot that was deflected past Marsh at the 17:58 mark.

Maine had dominated the action, getting numerous quality scoring chances, only to have Reynolds thwart all threats.

“It’s frustrating, I guess, is the best way to put it,” said Maine’s Cal Ingraham. “We worked hard and things aren’t going in. We’re missing a lot of chances but we’re always buzzing around their net. We can’t get anything to go in.”

The game went remarkably smoothly, especially considering that two high school officials were among the three enforcers in striped shirts. The scheduled HE officials were unable to drive to Orono and tried to fly up for the game. However, their flight was canceled.

Huskies 5, Black Bears 2

Northeastern 1 3 1 – 5 Maine 0 2 0 – 2

First Period: 1. NU, Bouchard 10 (una), 17:58; Penalties: NU, Melong, holding, :48; NU, MacNair, hooking, 10:39; Maine, Clukey, hooking, 16:01

Second Period: 2. NU, Penney 3 (Melong, Kelly), 1:25; 3. Maine, Conlan 3 (Cardinal), 3:17; 4. NU, Aube 20 (McGillis, Shields), 3:29; 5. M(Cardinal), 3:17; 4. NU, Aube 20 (McGillis, Shields), 3:29; 5. Maine, Tardif 12 (Cardinal, MacIsaac), 4:45; 6. NU, Taylor 7 (Parlon), 14:31; Penalties: Maine, MacIsaac, holding, 2:31; Maine, Shermerhorn, interference, 5:05; Maine, MacIsaac, holding, 11:31; NU, too many men on ice (served by Petersen), 12:56; Maine, Conlan, interference, 15:29

Third Period: 7. NU, Lupo 11 (O’Connor, MacNair), 9:52; Penalties: NU, Bouchard, elbowing, 3:02; NU, Lupo, holding, 7:44; NU, Petersen, holding, 14:41; Maine, Mansoff, slashing, 15:06; Maine, Silverman, 15:48; NU, Melong, roughing, 15:48; NU, Kummerer, hooking, 18:52

Shots on goal: Northeastern 9-12-8-29; Maine 9-6-9-24

Goaltenders: NU, Todd Reynolds; Maine, Blair Marsh, Blair Allison