Bears seek first place Maine sweeps Merrimack

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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – On Jan. 20, the University of Maine men’s hockey team was a .500 team in Hockey East play (7-7).

Now the Black Bears have a chance to win the league’s regular-season championship.

Senior center Michel Leveille extended his points streak to 14 games with a first-period goal, senior right wing John Hopson notched the game-winner 9:21 into the third period while the Bears were shorthanded, and freshman goalie Ben Bishop made 12 saves as Maine nipped Merrimack College 2-1 at Lawler Arena Saturday night.

Warrior freshman center Rob Ricci scored on the power play 24 seconds after Hopson had scored.

Maine improved to 23-10-1 overall thanks to its ninth win in its last 11 games (9-1-1). The Bears are now 16-8-1 in Hockey East and are in a second-place tie with Boston University, two points behind league leader Boston College with two games left.

Merrimack is 5-22-5 and 2-18-5, respectively, and had its winless skein extended to eight games (0-5-3). Maine has a six-game unbeaten streak.

Hopson, who had gone 16 games without a goal until scoring in Friday night’s 4-1 win over the last-place Warriors, was set up nicely by Mike Hamilton.

Hamilton’s precise diagonal pass came after he had received a long pass from sophomore defenseman Travis Ramsey to catch the Warriors in a line change.

“I was just yelling on the far side. [Ramsey] made a real nice play, we got a two-on-one, John slid in behind, and I threw it over,” said Hamilton.

Hopson said, “I looked up when Ramsey had the puck and I said, ‘Holy cow, I’ve got a breakaway here if I can just get the puck.’ Hamilton fed it right through a guy’s legs or under his stick. It was a nice pass.

“I just poke-checked the puck and Mike had put enough on the pass so [the redirection] carried over the goalie’s shoulder.”

Merrimack goalie Jim Healey said Hopson “did a great job presenting his stick and getting open for the tip. It was a nice goal.”

After a Warrior timeout, Ricci scored when he intercepted an attempted clear by Maine, faked a shot, and skated around Bishop before depositing the puck in an open net.

But the Bears did an excellent job killing a late Warrior power play and they held on for the win.

Leveille opened the scoring 4:36 into the game with a wrister from the top of the slot off a drop pass from Josh Soares after a creative passing sequence also involving Bret Tyler.

“Give credit to Greg [Moore] for driving the net and opening things up. Soares made a nice drop pass. I was sliding to the right and figured I might as well shoot it to the left,” said Leveille, who now has nine goals and 11 assists in his 14-game streak. “I figured the goalie was down in the butterfly. It hit the post [blocker side] and went in.”

Bishop preserved the lead by stopping a breakaway by his close friend and fellow Missouri native Jordan Fox with 14:30 left in regulation.

“We worked out together every day this summer in St. Louis, so maybe that got me a little more psyched,” said Bishop. “He’s a righthand shot, so I just tried to take away down low. I knew he was going to go to the far side and he did. When he came around, I got my stick on his stick. He tried to shoot, but my stick was right there.”

Maine coach Tim Whitehead called it “the defensive play of the game.”

Bishop said because he saw so few shots, it was “probably the most difficult game I’ve played all year. But I got through it.”

Bishop has now allowed one goal in six of his last seven games.

“It would be nice to get a shutout, but I’ll take one goal every game. We’ve got the offensive firepower to score more than one goal a game,” said Bishop. “Hopefully, I’ll keep it rolling.”

Merrimack’s 13 shots on goal represented its lowest shot total of the season.

Maine dominated territorially, outshooting the Warriors 33-13.

But Merrimack did an excellent job limiting Maine’s odd-man rushes and rebound opportunities.

And Healey was razor-sharp, turning aside 17 Grade-A (high percentage) shots among his 31 saves.

BLACK BEARS 2, WARRIORS 1

Maine (23-10-1) 1 0 1 – 2

Merrimack (5-22-5) 0 0 1 – 1

First period – 1. Maine, Leveille 14 (Soares, Tyler), 4:36. Penalties: Mmk, Drewicki, hitting after the whistle, 5:42; Mmk, Royston, obstruction-hooking, 8:46; Maine, Ryan, contact to the head-high sticking, 10:47; Maine, Hamilton, holding, 13:34.

Second period – No scoring. Penalties: Mmk, Nugent, contact to the head-high sticking, 12:28; Maine, Tyler, hooking, 13:45; Mmk, too many men on the ice (served by Royston), 18:04.

Third period – 2. Maine, J. Hopson 6 (Hamilton, Ramsey), 9:21 (sh); 3. Mmk, Ricci 8 (unassisted), 9:45 (pp). Penalties: Mmk, Nugent, holding, 4:13; Maine, Soares, unsportsmanlike conduct, 8:02; Mmk, Schmidt, obstruction-interference, 13:02; Maine, Tyler, obstruction-interference, 16:48.

Shots on goal: Maine 10-10-13-33; Merrimack 4-3-6-13

Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (13 shots-12 saves); Merrimack, Healey (33-31)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 7, Merrimack 1 of 5

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 11-12-12-35; Merrimack 4-3-4-11

Attendance: 2,211