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ORONO – The University of Maine men’s hockey team took a significant step forward in its quest for a seventh straight NCAA Tournament berth Saturday night by beating UMass Lowell 5-1 to sweep their best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series.
A suddenly rejuvenated power play produced two more goals after notching four in Friday night’s 7-2 win, junior goalie Jimmy Howard made 21 saves, and freshman center Keenan Hopson dished out three assists as the fourth-seeded Black Bears earned a berth in the HE semifinals at the FleetCenter in Boston.
Maine (20-11-7) plays top seed Boston College (23-6-7), which was 2-0-1 against the Bears this season, in Friday’s 5 p.m. game. Second seed Boston University and No. 3 New Hampshire square off at 8 p.m.
Second-period power-play goals by Josh Soares and Michel Leveille gave the Bears a lead they would never relinquish. Derek Damon expanded the lead 8:14 into the third period and, following a UML power-play goal by Andrew Martin, freshmen Billy Ryan and Rob Bellamy (empty net) finished off the River Hawks.
Maine improved its playoff record at Alfond Arena to 33-3, including a 25-2 mark in Hockey East postseason games.
Fifth seed UMass Lowell finished at 20-12-4 with five of those losses coming at the hands of Maine.
“We weathered the storm in the first period. We knew they’d come out hard,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “The key thing was getting that first one in the second period. That gave us a big lift, especially with it coming off the power play. Then getting the four-on-three goal [by Leveille] was important.”
“To beat a real strong team like that in two of the last three weekends is really a good sign for us now,” added Whitehead, referring to Maine’s 2-0 and 5-3 victories over UMass Lowell two weekends ago. “We didn’t squeeze our way into the FleetCenter. We had to earn it.”
The River Hawks were able to establish some sustained forechecking pressure Saturday, but Maine did an effective job in the defensive zone as Howard was forced to make only seven Grade-A (high-percentage) saves. UML also squandered a few glittering chances by shooting wide or making a poor pass to an open shooter.
“We had a solid defensive effort,” said Maine senior right wing and co-captain John Ronan. “We know about their offensive potential and we really wanted to shut them down.”
UMass Lowell entered the weekend as the No. 9 scoring team in the nation (3.44 goals per game).
“We definitely played much better tonight,” said UML senior defenseman and captain Peter Tormey. “We had the puck in their zone a lot. But Howard’s a great goaltender. It’s tough to get a few by him. He just played phenomenal and they played great in the [defensive] zone. Their defensemen were jacking [tying up] sticks and everything.”
Howard has now held opponents to one goal or less in eight of his last nine playoff starts.
Soares, filling in as the net- front screener on the power play for the injured Brent Shepheard (abdominal strain), opened the scoring 3:07 into the middle period by redirecting a Bret Tyler wrister from the point between the pads of River Hawk goalie Peter Vetri.
“I had good position on their defenseman and got my stick free,” said Soares, who was skating from right to left across the slot. “Bret put a nice little shot through, it was going off the post, so I angled my stick, tipped it back toward the middle of the net, and it snuck through.”
Leveille’s fifth goal over his last eight games came on a four-on-three power play at the 14:30 mark.
Hopson slid a soft pass over to Leveille in the right circle and he one-timed a bullet over Vetri’s glove into the short-side corner.
“Hopson made a great pass and Josh did a great job taking the goalie’s eyes away. I had an empty net,” said Leveille.
UML coach Blaise MacDonald said his team’s energy level and competitive spirit were the best they have been in their four games in Orono, “but Howard shut the door on us in the first period, and when you give a goaltender like Jimmy Howard a two-goal lead, it’s game over.”
Damon made it 3-0 8:14 into the third period when Mike Hamilton did a nice job corralling his bouncing pass and touched a soft pass back to him in the high slot.
“I just put my head down and fired it. I put everything I had into it,” said Damon, whose rising 25-foot slapper beat Vetri glove side.
Martin gave the River Hawks some life by fighting his way to the front of the net and jamming a short rebound of a Cleve Kinley shot behind Howard.
But Ryan answered from the top of the crease with 5:13 remaining off a Hopson feed from the corner.
“Hopson threw it to the net and it bounced right onto my stick. I faked like I was going to go far post, moved it to my backhand, and put it back under his arm,” said Ryan.
Maine outshot UMass Lowell 38-22.
“I’m just real happy for these players,” Whitehead said. “It’s been a long, hard road. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. But they’ve clawed their way back into the mix, they’ve really had to fight for every win we’ve gotten, and now we have an opportunity to go back to the FleetCenter.”
BLACK BEARS 5, RIVER HAWKS 1
UMass Lowell (20-12-4) 0 0 1 – 1
Maine (20-11-7) 0 2 3 – 5
First period – No scoring. Penalties: UML, Pence, obstruction-interference, 1:45; Maine, Zabkowicz, obstruction-interference, 8:45; UML, Robins, cross checking, 15:22; Maine, Soares, tripping, 19:02
Second period – 1. Maine, Soares 11 (Tyler, Hopson), 3:07 (pp); 2. Maine, Leveille 12 (Hopson, Moore), 14:30 (pp). Penalties: UML, Tejchma, tripping, 2:02; UML, Robins, roughing, 2:02; Maine, Leveille, roughing, 2:02; UML, Kinley, holding, 8:45; Maine, Johnson, roughing, 10:19; UML, Hall, hitting after the whistle, 13:04; Maine, Tyler, hitting after the whistle, 13:04; UML, Tormey, interference, 14:17; Maine, Deschamps, holding, 14:59; UML, Tormey, high sticking, 17:07; UML, Martin, holding, 19:10; Maine, Leveille, diving, 19:10
Third period – 3. Maine, Damon 14 (Hamilton, Johnson), 8:14; 4. UML, Martin 12 (Kinley, O’Brien), 10:40; 5. Maine, Ryan 6 (Hopson, Bellamy), 14:47; 6. Maine, Bellamy 3 (Deschamps), 16:52 (en). Penalties: Maine, Bellamy, tripping, 9:50; Maine, Damon, hitting after the whistle, 17:53; Maine, Ramsey, hitting after the whistle, 17:53; UML, Robins, instigating and hitting after the whistle, 17:53; UML, Tejchma, hitting after the whistle, 17:53
Shots on goal: UML 7-7-8-22; Maine 9-13-16-38
Goaltenders: UML, Vetri (38 shots-33 saves); Maine, Howard (22-21), Ma. Lundin (17:53 of 3rd, 0-0)
Power-play opportunities: UML 1 of 5; Maine 2 of 7
High-percentage scoring chances: UML 5-5-6-16; Maine 5-9-9-23
Attendance: 4,307
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