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DURHAM, N.H. – One men’s hockey streak ended Friday night and another two fell Saturday night at the Whittemore Center.
The University of New Hampshire Wildcats, who had their 12-game home winning streak snapped by Maine on Friday night, returned the favor on Saturday (2-1) as they dealt the Black Bears their first Hockey East loss in 13 games and their first loss in 2005.
Sophomore right wing Brett Hemingway’s team-leading eighth power-play goal of the season, coming with 5:15 left in the second period, proved to be the game-winner and freshman goalie Kevin Regan improved his record to 8-1 with a 29-save performance.
UNH improved to 18-7-3 overall, 11-3-2 in Hockey East. Maine is now 15-9-6 overall, 10-4-4 in Hockey East, after having its eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3) stopped.
Freshman right wing Josh Ciocco staked UNH to a lead it would never relinquish just 1:50 into the game and Hemingway made it 2-0 before Maine freshman defenseman Bret Tyler scored with only 47 seconds left in the second period.
It was Tyler’s fourth goal in his last seven games.
The Wildcats did a good job protecting the lead in the third period and Regan made a couple of alert saves.
“I thought I played solid,” said Regan. “I didn’t have to do anything spectacular. The guys did an unbelievable job in front of me. I had a clear sight of all of the shots. They made my job easier.”
Regan made 14 Grade-A (high-percentage) saves.
“We didn’t get many second-chance opportunities,” said Maine junior center Jon Jankus. “And if you’re taking 40-foot shots, the goalie is going to make the first save.”
“He played well,” said Maine goalie Jimmy Howard, who also finished with 29 saves, including 15 Grade-A stops. “He made a huge save in the third period off Jankus.”
Jankus was positioned at the top of the crease to Regan’s left and Brent Shepheard had the puck behind the net. The pass handcuffed Jankus and he tried to put it into the open side but was ultimately called for being in the crease anyway.
“I looked to my right and he passed it out to the other side. I got my left pad over and got a piece of it. If he got it in the air, he would have scored. But I think he was in the crease before he shot it anyway,” said Regan.
“We could have played better. UNH played much better than they did last night,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “Our freshman class really had a good weekend. That was a positive. I feel better about our team and about our chances to make the NCAA Tournament.”
Whitehead said he thought UNH did a better job getting to Maine’s net front and protecting their own net front Saturday and “they got a power-play goal and we didn’t.”
UNH coach Dick Umile said he thought his Wildcats “got shots to the net tonight and were more aggressive in the offensive zone.
“This was a great character win coming back after last night. Everyone contributed.”
UNH’s Ciocco started the scoring when Mike Radja’s wrist shot from the top of the right circle hit him in the stomach and deflected behind Howard. Robbie Barker had passed it out of the corner and it glanced off the stick of Maine’s John Ronan to Radja.
Regan kept the Wildcats on top in the second period when he held his ground and stuffed a point-blank attempt by Mike Hamilton, who had cut across the crease from right to left.
Moments later, Hemingway spoiled a spectacular series of saves by Howard when he shoved home his own rebound.
First, Hemingway was robbed by Howard, who adjusted to Hemingway’s tip-in off a Tyson Teplitsky point shot. Howard then kicked out Preston Callander’s follow-up wrister and a Hemingway rebound before Hemingway banged home the loose puck.
UNH entered the weekend with the nation’s best power play (25.5 percent).
Tyler scored Maine’s only goal when he trailed a two-on-two set in motion by a Derek Damon pass to Jankus. Tyler received a pass from Jankus and wristed a 16-footer into the far corner past Regan’s blocker.
The Wildcats completely squashed a Maine power play that began with 5:55 remaining, holding the Bears to only one shot on goal. Any chance to pull Howard in favor of an extra attacker in the final two minutes ended when Michel Leveille was assessed a hitting from behind minor with 2:18 remaining, his second penalty of the period.
Maine has next weekend off before traveling to Providence for a pair on Feb. 18-19.
WILDCATS 2, BLACK BEARS 1
Maine (15-9-6) 0 1 0 – 1
UNH (18-7-3) 1 1 0 – 2
First period – 1. UNH, Ciocco 8 (Radja, Barker), 1:50. Penalties: UNH, Vinz, obstruction-holding, 11:21; UNH, Ciocco, tripping, 14:04
Second period – 2. UNH, Hemingway 16 (Callander, Typlitsky), 14:45 (pp); 3. Maine, Tyler 5 (Jankus, Damon), 19:13. Penalties: Maine, Ramsey, interference, 10:15; Maine, Murphy, boarding, 14:02; UNH, Radja, slashing, 17:12
Third period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Leveille, tripping, 4:20; UNH, Fornataro, obstruction-holding, 14:05; Maine, Leveille, hitting from behind, 17:42
Shots on goal: Maine 12-11-7-30; UNH 10-9-12-31
Goaltenders: Maine, Howard (31 shots-29 saves), UNH, Regan (30-29)
Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 4, UNH 1 of 4
High percentage scoring opportunities: Maine 9-8-6-23; UNH 7-7-11-25
Attendance: 6,501
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