Terriers nip Black Bears in overtime

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BOSTON – The University of Maine men’s hockey team received a magnificent goaltending performance from junior goalie Ben Bishop, but it wasn’t enough to snap a five-game losing streak.

Sophomore left wing Luke Popko scored 10 seconds into overtime to give the Boston University Terriers a 2-1 victory over the Black Bears.

Boston University improved to 11-14-4 overall, 9-8-3 in Hockey East. BU has won four of its last five and extended its unbeaten streak against Maine to eight games (7-0-1).

BU is 3-0-1 in four career meetings against Maine at Agganis Arena.

Maine lost its sixth straight game and fell to 8-16-3 and 4-13-3, respectively. It is Maine’s longest losing streak since the Bears lost eight straight during the 1985-86 season.

The Bears are 0-6-1 in their last seven games and are now 2-13-2 in their last 17 Hockey East games. The teams play again tonight at 7.

Senior center Wes Clark staked the Bears to a 1-0 lead on the power play just 1:45 into the game, but junior center Chris Higgins equalized while the Terriers were shorthanded 9:29 later.

The game-winner resulted from a dump-in by Brian Strait behind the Maine net off the overtime faceoff.

The puck took a funny bounce and Colin Wilson was able to pounce on it and shovel it out to Popko at the top of the crease.

“I just happened to be there,” said Popko. “[Bishop] definitely got a piece of it.”

“I got a little piece of it, but it bounced in,” said Bishop.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead said Popko was able to get inside position on freshman defenseman Jeff Dimmen and knock it in.

“This was a frustrating loss. We did a lot of good things,” said Whitehead. “[Bishop] played a very, very strong game. We didn’t show much poise in the first period and we dug ourselves a hole, but [Bishop] bailed us out.”

Bishop said, “We made a big improvement from the first to the third period.”

Boston University coach Jack Parker called it a “tremendous hockey game.”

“We played extremely well in the first two periods,” he sadded, “but Maine had its best chances in the third period and [goalie Brett] Bennett had to make some saves. Maine was without two of their top scorers [injured Billy Ryan and Andrew Sweetland] and they could have made a difference.”

Bishop finished with 31 saves, including 18 on Grade-A (high-percentage) shots.

“He played very, very well,” said Parker.

“I played all right,” said Bishop.

Maine took its lead off an impressive initial power play in which it was able to sustain pressure.

Travis Ramsey gathered in the puck at the right point and bounced a shot to the front of the net. The unattended Clark tipped it between the pads of Bennett.

Higgins tied it off a great play by Nick Bonino. Maine turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Bonino used a burst of speed down the left wing to created a two-on-one.

He slid the puck over to Higgins, who cut right to left across the low slot and tucked a backhander past the sprawled and helpless Bishop.

Bishop was brilliant in the first period, making nine Grade-A saves, including back-to-back stops on power-play one-timers by Wilson and Matt Gilroy.

In the waning moments of the period, he flashed out his glove and robbed Joe Pereira, who had driven down the slot and chipped a Bonino pass toward the short side corner.

The Bears also caught a break when an uncovered Bonino missed the short side with a rebound.

Maine did a much better job protecting Bishop in the second period, and the Bears had three power-play chances but failed to cash in.

Both teams had good chances in the third period, but Bishop and Bennett (17 saves) kept the score tied.

Maine senior defenseman Bret Tyler had a great chance when he burst down the slot uncontested and accepted a Keenan Hopson pass.

He pulled it to his forehand, but Bennett held his ground and got his stick on the shot.

Moments later, Ron Bellamy accelerated down the slot and just missed an open corner with a quick wrister.

Glenn Belmore passed across to Hopson alone in the high slot, but Hopson missed high with five minutes left.

BU had a great chance to win it in the final seconds of regulation when Bryan Ewing sliced to the net and had his 12-foot backhander deflect into the crease where Peter MacArthur took three whacks only to have Bishop hold his ground.

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TERRIERS 2, BLACK BEARS 1 (OT)

Maine (8-16-3) 1 0 0 0 – 1

Boston U. (11-14-4) 1 0 0 1 – 2

First period – 1. Maine, Clark 7 (Ramsey), 1:45 (pp); 2. BU, Higgins 9 (Bonino, C. Cohen), 11:14. Penalties: BU, Higgins, obstruction interference, :49; Maine, Ramsey, interference, 3:21; BU, Weston Gilroy, obstruction interference, 9:39; BU, Gilroy, hooking, 18:04.

Second period – No scoring. Penalties: BU, Gryba, obstruction interference, 5:36; BU, McGoff, cross checking, 8:47; Maine, Bishop (served by Dee), interference, 11:10; BU, Higgins, tripping, 15:03; Maine, Dimmen, holding, 19:50.

Third period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Dee, tripping, 6:47.

Overtime – 3. BU, Popko 4 (Wilson, Strait), :10. Penalties: none.

Shots on goal: Maine 5-6-7-0-18; BU 11-10-11-1-33

Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (33 shots-31 saves); BU, Bennett (18-17)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 1 of 6, BU 0 of 4

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 5-8-4-0-17; BU 16-8-11-1-36

Attendance: 4,955