Maine’s NCAA hopes dimmed

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AP PHOTO BY NANCY PALMIERI

“Each time we built some momentum, they came back and capitalized on a defensive breakdown.”

MAINE COACH TIM WHITEHEAD

AMHERST, Mass. – Sophomore goalie Jon Quick and the University of Massachusetts’ opportunistic Minutemen put the University of Maine’s chances for a ninth straight NCAA Tournament berth on life support Saturday night.

Quick made 35 saves, including 14 of the Grade-A (high-percentage) variety, and senior left wing Chris Capraro had a goal and two assists as the Minutemen completed a sweep of Maine in their Hockey East quarterfinal series with a 5-2 victory at the Mullins Center.

UMass’ triumph finished off a collapse by the Black Bears, who lost their last four games for the first time in the school’s history. All four losses came to UMass.

The fourth-seeded Minutemen, now 20-11-5 and winners of six straight, will face top seed New Hampshire, 25-9-2, in Friday’s 5 p.m. semifinal at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston with second seed Boston College, 24-11-1, and third seed Boston University, 20-8-9, squaring off in the second semi. The title game will be Saturday at 7.

Fifth seed Maine is now 21-14-2 after losing for the sixth time in its last eight games.

The NCAA tourney field will be announced Sunday after conference tourneys have concluded.

Capraro and Cory Quirk staked UMass to a 2-0 lead in the first period but Maine’s Teddy Purcell answered on the power play.

After keeping the puck in the UMass end for the first four minutes of the second period, Capraro passed to Matt Burto to finish off a beautiful passing sequence that expanded the lead to 3-1 at the 4:45 mark.

Matt Anderson extended the lead to 4-1 8:11 later.

Billy Ryan pulled Maine within 4-2 at the 6:14 mark of the final period by tipping home Purcell’s shot but Quirk made a series of terrific stops before P.J. Fenton’s empty-netter sealed the win.

“This game was eerily similar to last night’s [3-2] game and the previous Saturday night’s [5-3] game,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “We had great discipline, we won the special teams [1-0], we won the territorial battle but we lost on the scoreboard.

“It’s a shame but, unfortunately, that’s the way it played out,” added Whitehead. “Each time we built some momentum, they came back and capitalized on a defensive breakdown.”

Maine outshot UMass 37-28 and attempted 76 shots to UMass’ 49.

But Quick was superb and his mates blocked 28 shots while efficiently covering the net front and effectively trapping in the neutral zone to limit Maine’s odd-man rushes.

“They’re just a really opportunistic team,” said Purcell. “I’ve got to give them a lot of credit for making sure on the chances they did have. We worked real hard as a team. We got to the net, we got a lot of shots and our power play was good.

“It’s really tough to swallow after playing so well,” added Purcell.

Freshman Dave Wilson, playing in place of the injured Ben Bishop (groin pull), finished with 24 saves including 13 Grade-A’s.

“I thought we outplayed them but they found a way to win,” said Maine junior defenseman Bret Tyler. “Quick stood on his head. He’s a fantastic goalie.”

Quick passed the credit on to his teammates.

“The team played excellent all weekend as they did last weekend,” said Quick.

UMass coach Don Cahoon said, “Our guys did a relatively good job of executing and competing. It all starts with Quick. He’s special. He makes big saves here or there and the next thing you know, you’re feeding off it.”

Capraro opened the scoring with a backhander from a difficult angle just to Wilson’s left.

“I tried to get it up,” said Capraro.

Wilson shouldered blame for the goal.

“I should have come out higher in the butterfly. Instead, I stayed on the post and he shot it off the post, it hit my back and trickled in,” said Wilson.

UMass’ second goal came off a turnover by Keenan Hopson, playing just his second game on defense after being moved back from center.

Justin Braun corralled the puck at the left point and made a short diagonal pass to the unattended Quirk in the middle of the slot.

“Hopson went to block it but, unfortunately, it snuck under his arm and beat me. I was screened,” said Wilson.

Purcell made it 2-1 when he carried the puck from left to right across the high slot and beat the screened Quick with a wrister over his left pad.

Energized by the goal, Maine carried that momentum into the second period and kept the Minutemen pinned in their own end until UMass eventually broke out of its zone and scored on its first shot of the period.

Mike Kostka fed Capraro, who shoveled it to the far post where the uncovered Burto directed it inside the left post.

“That was, without question, the back-breaker,” said Whitehead. “I really felt good about our club at the start of the second period. I thought we were going to win that game.”

Anderson capitalized off a juicy rebound as he skated away from the traffic and flipped it into the empty net.

Ryan’s goal jump-started an all-out attack by the desperate Bears.

But Quick was at his best.

He calmly absorbed Chris Hahn’s 12-footer off a give-and-go with Hopson; came out in the butterfly to get his right shoulder on Keith Johnson’s left wing break-in; punched away Ryan’s point-blank rebound with his blocker and held the short side to rob Josh Soares, who walked out the corner.

MINUTEMEN 5, BLACK BEARS 2

Maine (21-14-2) 1 0 1 – 2

Massachusetts (20-11-5) 2 2 1 – 5

First period – 1. UMass, Capraro 9 (Burto, Kostka), 8:21; 2. UMass, Quirk 13 (Braun, Capraro), 15:27; 3. Maine, Purcell 16 (Shepheard, Leveille), 16:07 (pp). Penalties: UMass, Davis, hooking, 5:43. Maine, Hamilton, tripping, 11:24. UMass, Davis, tripping, 15:39.

Second period – 4. UMass, Burto 5 (Capraro, Kostka), 4:45; 5. UMass, Anderson 9 (Matheson, Crowder), 12:54. Penalties: UMass, too many men on the ice, 7:16; Maine, Shepheard, hooking, 14:19; UMass, Leaderer, unsportsmanlike-diving, 14:19; Maine, Ryan, hitting from behind, 18:27.

Third period – 6. Maine, Ryan 12 (Purcell, Lundin), 6:14; 7. UMass, Fenton 10 (unassisted), 18:41 (en). Penalties: UMass, Watson, interference, 10:15; UMass, Crowder, tripping, 13:21.

Shots on goal: Maine 13-9-15-37; UMass 5-16-7-28

Goaltenders: Maine, Wilson (27 shots-23 saves); UMass, Quick (37-35)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 1 of 5; UMass 0 of 2

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 6-9-13-28, UMass 10-12-4-26

Attendance: 8,062