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BOSTON – The last time the University of Maine Black Bears swept a two-game men’s hockey series at Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena, Jim Montgomery and Paul Kariya scored the game-winners and the goalies were Mike Dunham and Garth Snow.
It was Feb. 12-13, 1993. Maine went on to win its first national title.
Maine completed its first sweep in the last six series at Matthews Arena on Saturday night. Sophomore Matt Lundin made 20 saves, including 11 Grade-A (high-percentage) stops, and the Bears used first-period goals from senior center Derek Damon and freshman left wing Chris Hahn (power play) to post a 2-1 triumph.
Maine, which posted a 6-3 triumph on Friday night, improved to 17-9 overall courtesy of its third straight win. Maine is 10-7 in Hockey East and pulled within one point of New Hampshire in the battle for the fourth and final home playoff berth for the league quarterfinals.
The Black Bears entertain UNH for a two-game set next weekend.
Northeastern fell to 1-18-5 overall, 1-13-5 in Hockey East. The Huskies have now gone 16 games without a win (0-12-4).
Senior defenseman Chuck Tomes scored for NU 2:17 into the second period when his centering pass from along the extended goal line to Lundin’s right glanced in off the goalie’s glove.
“Our team played really well,” said Lundin. “We definitely executed everything that we needed to the whole game. It was a good win.”
Maine coach Tim Whitehead said, “A win is a win. We’ll take it. It was a very hard-fought game. I was impressed with how Northeastern played. They deserved a better fate. I like how we played, I liked how they played.”
Northeastern carried the play in the first period, outshooting Maine 14-9 and having an 11-7 edge in high-percentage scoring chances.
But Lundin was sharp and the Bears were opportunistic.
A tremendous individual effort by Damon resulted in his game-opening goal 3:59 after the opening faceoff.
He had the puck behind the NU net and actually passed to himself off the back of the cage before wheeling in front for a wraparound attempt.
“One of their defensemen was coming at me and I had to keep him from playing me. I knew if I played it off the back metal pipe, it would keep him from coming at me,” said Damon. “I got free, tried to stuff it, and the puck came right back to me. I was able to go far post with it.”
Lundin preserved the lead by going post-to-post to make a save off Ryan Ginand’s power-play one-timer from the left circle, and the goalie caught a break a few minutes later when Ray Ortiz’s quick wrister off a Joe Vitale pass hit the near post.
Hahn’s third goal in his last five games was a tap-in that finished off a perfectly executed passing sequence. Jon Jankus made the final pass.
“I walked up the wall and slid it to Keenan [Hopson]. He went down to John [Hopson] with it, and I curled and went to the net,” said Jankus. “John gave it right back to me, I saw the [defenseman] cheating over to me and I poked it over to Hahn.”
Hahn said, “The guys did such a good job cycling the puck, nobody worried about me. The goalie and defensemen had to worry about Jankus coming out of the corner. I slid back door and Jankus made an unbelievable pass to me. I just had to slide it into the empty net.”
Northeastern junior defenseman Steve Birnstill said, “We made two mistakes in the first period and they resulted in goals. When you make a mistake against a good team like Maine, they’re going to capitalize.”
Maine outshot NU 22-7 over the final two periods.
“Lundin played very well. “He was very steady. He didn’t leave any rebounds out front. And he was pretty good at handling the puck, too,” said NU junior goalie Adam Geragosian, who turned in a stellar 29-save (17 Grade-A’s) effort.
Lundin’s best save in the third period came on a turnaround wrister by Jimmy Russo from the base of the right circle.
“He had his head down, so I knew he was going to shoot. I went down early and it hit my stick and went into the corner,” said Lundin, who credited his teammates with making his job easier by clearing the netfront and back-checking effectively.
BLACK BEARS 2, HUSKIES 1
Maine (17-9) 2 0 0 – 2
Northeastern (1-13-5) 0 1 0 – 1
First period – 1. Maine, Damon 10 (Danis-Pepin, Soares), 3:59; 2. Maine, Hahn 3 (Jankus, J. Hopson), 16:39 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Moore, interference, 6:41; Maine, Wight, tripping, 11:06; NU, Lewis, charging, 14:47; Maine, Bellamy, high sticking, 19:07
Second period – 3. NU, Tomes 2 (unassisted), 2:17. Penalties: NU, Liotti, high sticking, 7:16; NU, Swiniarski, interference, 10:38; Maine, Hamilton, boarding, 13:05; NU, Ortiz, contact to the head-roughing, 19:36
Third period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine Ryan, tripping, 9:15; Maine, Damon, charging, 17:05; NU, Geragosian (served by Robertson), slashing, 17:05
Shots on goal: Maine 9-9-13-31; NU 14-4-3-21
Goaltenders: Maine, Ma. Lundin (21 shots-20 saves); NU, Geragosian (31-29)
Power-play opportunities: Maine 1 of 4; NU 0 of 5
High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 7-9-8-24; NU 11-4-3-18
Attendance: 2,955
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