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DURHAM, N.H. – Don’t blame the University of Maine’s hockey team if it petitions Hockey East to re-open the University of New Hampshire’s old Snively Arena for league games.
The Bears’ recent futility at the six-year-old Whittemore Center continued Saturday night as Wildcat junior right wing Colin Hemingway scored a pair of power-play goals, including the game-winner with 12:25 remaining; senior center Darren Haydar dished out three assists and senior goalie Matt Carney made 26 saves in a 4-1 triumph that snapped Maine’s four-game winning streak.
UNH is now 8-1-1 in their 10 regular season meetings with Maine at the Whittemore Center, including a current six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) in which the Wildcats have outscored the Bears 19-4.
Maine rookie right wing Colin Shields staked Maine to a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 8:27 into the game as he swept home a Prestin Ryan rebound for his 13th goal of the season.
Hemingway tied it 3:36 into the second period and, after his third-period game-winner, freshman left winger Sean Collins iced it on a breakaway off the left wing with 7:14 remaining. Lanny Gare added an empty-net goal.
UNH improved to 9-2-2 overall, 6-1-2 in Hockey East. It was UNH’s fifth straight win. Maine fell to 7-5-2, 3-2 in league play.
“It was a well-played game by both teams. The difference was the game-winning goal on the power play. They were two-for-six [on the power play], we were one-for-five. That was the huge goal, the huge swing in momentum. It was a tight game at 1-1 going into the third, and whoever was going to get that goal was going to get a boost of momentum because I thought both teams looked a little bit tired in the third period,” said Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead.
Hemingway’s game-winner came off a pass from Haydar, who found him behind the net to the right of Maine goalie Matt Yeats.
“Darren gave me a great pass. In that situation, I’m supposed to go to the net hard,” said Hemingway. “I did that and followed my rebound. Luckily, the puck was still there. I had something like three whacks at it.”
Yeats said, “I got my stick on his first shot. It threw me off balance and I fell down. He had an empty net to put it in.”
Hemingway’s goal came with one second left on Maine captain Peter Metcalf’s interference penalty.
Whitehead said his team “played a good road game for most of the game. But we took a couple of penalties we didn’t want to take” and killing penalties tired his team
He also said, “UNH has an excellent power play and we didn’t protect the front of our net [on the penalty kill] in the second and third periods like we did in the first.”
Maine managed just a one-shot power play later in the third period and Collins got the clincher 21 seconds after the penalty elapsed.
“I seemed like their defensemen were thinking about a line change because they were shifted over toward the Maine bench,” said Collins. “Darren made a great play, I beat their defenseman [Francis Nault] to the outside. Yeats had to play my forehand because usually left-handed [shooters] coming down the left side will shoot. I just dropped the puck to my backhand and put it in the net.”
Haydar said he was going to pass it to [Steve] Saviano “but I saw Collins breaking wide and picking up speed around their defenseman. Sean made a great play on Yeats.”
Yeats, who turned in a strong 31-save performance, said, “I tried to get over but he had a quick release. It was a nice goal.”
After Shields’ game-opening goal, Maine had chances to expand the lead in the first period but Carney stuffed a wide open Marty Kariya twice at the top of the crease.
Hemingway tied it with a one-timer from the base of the circle to Yeats’ right off a Haydar pass out from behind the net.
Later in the middle period, Carney made five saves on an impressive Bear power play, including two rapid-fire stops on Niko Dimitrakos.
The Wildcats got stronger as the game progressed and limited Maine to just four high-percentage scoring chances in the third period while generating 12 themselves.
NEW HAMPSHIRE 4, MAINE 1
Maine (7-5-2) 1 0 0 ? 1
New Hampshire (9-2-2) 0 1 3 ? 4
First period ? 1. Maine, Shields 13 (Ryan, Reimann), 8:27 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Heisten, roughing, :27; Maine, Lawson, cross checking, 4:11; UNH, Barker, interference, 7:11; Maine, Liscak, tripping, 12:46; UNH, Abbott, interference, 16:20.
Second period ? 2. UNH, Hemingway 10 (Haydar, Collins), 3:36 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Shaneberger, cross checking, 2:09; UNH, Stafford, holding the stick, 7:24; UNH, Mounsey, cross checking, 15:34; Maine, Lawson, high sticking, 16:26.
Third period ? 3. UNH, Hemingway 11 (Haydar, Horst), 7:35 (pp); 4. UNH, Collins 10 (Haydar, Saviano), 12:46; 5. UNH, Gare 4 (unassisted), 19:35 (en). Penalties: Maine, Metcalf, interference, 5:36; UNH, Foley, charging, 10:25.
Shots on goal: Maine 7-12-8?27; UNH 10-14-11?35
Goaltenders: Maine, Yeats (34 shots-31 saves); UNH, Carney (27-26)
Power-play opportunities: Maine 1 of 5; UNH 2 of 6
High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 7-5-4?16; UNH 7-12-12?31
Attendance: 6,501 (sellout)
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