Bears sink BC in third Morrison stops Eagles 5-2

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ORONO – The University of Maine Black Bears needed a wake-up call after being outplayed in the second period by a fast, talented, and tenacious Boston College team.

Assistant coach Grant Standbrook and interim head coach Tim Whitehead were among those who addressed the team and, in the words of freshman left wing Ben Murphy, “challenged us to step it up in the third period.”

That’s exactly what the Bears did, receiving third-period goals from Michael Schutte, Niko Dimitrakos and Murphy to subdue the Eagles 5-2 at Alfond Arena Friday night.

Maine is now 8-5-2 overall, 4-2 in Hockey East while Boston College fell to 8-6-1 and 4-4. They meet again tonight at 7.

Defending national champion BC won all four meetings between the two a year ago, including a 3-1 triumph in their NCAA Tournament quarterfinal. BC had also won the last three confrontations in the Alfond Arena, outscoring Maine 13-4.

Maine received an outstanding performance from senior goalie Mike Morrison, who finished with 21 saves, including 12 of the high-percentage variety.

Sophomore right wing Colin Shields scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season in the first period around a power-play score by BC’s Ales Dolinar.

After an action-packed but scoreless second period, Schutte scored what proved to be the game-winner as a power play elapsed.

Marty Kariya’s second one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Peter Metcalf went through the pads of BC freshman goalie Matti Kaltiainen and squirted over to Schutte, positioned to the goalie’s left.

“I got the puck on the [extended] goal line, pulled it back [in front] and put it in the empty net,” said Schutte, whose goal was answered by BC’s Tony Voce on the power play 4:02 later as Voce finished off a play involving Dave Spina and Ben Eaves with a 10-foot one-timer from Morrison’s left.

Dimitrakos took the wind out of BC’s sails 2:20 later with a creative individual move.

“I had the puck on the backhand and the goalie kept sliding across with me. I made a fake and he dropped right down. I put it in off the far post,” said Dimitrakos who scored from a difficult angle to Kaltiainen’s right.

Murphy iced it when Prestin Ryan’s slapper from the left point hit the back boards and the back of the net before bouncing in front.

“The goalie took a swipe at it with his glove but missed it and when he did, he came off the near post,” said Murphy who jammed it home from the edge of the crease.

Maine outshot BC 15-8 in the third period and 34-23 in the game.

Shields had opened the scoring with a 50-foot slap shot that deflected off the stick of BC defenseman Andrew Alberts and sailed over Kaltiainen’s glove.

Dolinar equalized from a scramble as he followed his own poke at goal by skating behind the Maine net and tucking a backhander past the sprawled Morrison.

Shields broke the tie and gave Maine the lead for good when Kariya won a faceoff to Kaltiainen’s left and kicked the puck back to Shields, whose low snap shot beat the goalie inside the far post.

BC had long periods of sustained pressure in the Maine end in the second period as the young Eagles buzzed the net. But Morrison came up big.

“Mike kept us in the game in the second period. If he hadn’t been unbelievable, we would have lost,” said Kariya.

“I’m pretty happy with the way I played. I tried to make sure I knew where all their guys were. They have a lot of quiet guys who play off to the side,” said Morrison, who added that he and fellow goalie Matt Yeats worked a lot on being in proper recovery position to handle rebound attempts during the week.

Whitehead said he was “really pleased” with his team’s play in the third period as the Bears didn’t give BC the skating room it had in the second period.

BC coach Jerry York said with the exception of a 10-minute stretch in the second period, he thought Maine outplayed his Eagles.

“They deserved to win. They played smarter than we did. They made better plays,” said York.

Schutte had 2 assists to go with his goal.

BLACK BEARS 5, EAGLES 2

Boston College (8-6-1) 1 0 1 ? 2

Maine (8-5-2) 2 0 3 ? 5

First period ? 1. Maine, Shields 14 (Schutte), 1:20; 2. BC, Dolinar 4 (Giuliano, Peterson), 7:09 (pp); 3. Maine, Shields 15 (Kariya, Schutte), 13:20. Penalties: Maine, Kariya, obstruction interference, 6:35; BC, Murphy, hooking, 9:31; Maine, Dimitrakos, holding, 10:31; Maine, Anderson, holding the stick, 16:52.

Second period ? No scoring. Penalties: BC, Voce, hitting after the whistle, 8:26; BC, Eaves, holding, 10:45; Maine, Reimann, slashing, 10:45; BC, Giuliano, roughing, 11:22; Maine, Jackson, slashing, 11:22; BC, Alberts, roughing, 12:35; Maine, Metcalf, roughing, 12:35; BC, Alberts, obstruction interference, 19:39.

Third period ? 4. Maine, Schutte 5 (Kariya, Metcalf), 1:39; 5. BC, Voce 12 (Spina, Eaves), 5:41 (pp); 6. Maine, Dimitrakos 9 (Loya, Nault), 8:01; 7. Maine, Murphy 3 (Ryan, Lynch), 11:48. Penalties: Maine, Metcalf, interference, 4:51; Maine, Lawson, slashing, 5:41; Maine, Lawson, slashing, 18:19.

Shots on goal: BC 7-8-8-?23; Maine 9-10-15?34

Goaltenders: BC, Kaltiainen (34 shots-29 saves); Maine, Morrison (23-21)

Power-play opportunities: BC 2 of 6; Maine 0 of 3

High-percentage scoring chances: BC 4-5-7?16; Maine 9-5-8?22

Attendance: 5,553