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BURLINGTON, Vt. – The University of Maine Black Bears were playing an efficient road game against the University of Vermont in their quest for a Hockey East Tournament berth.
But a five-minute major and game misconduct on assistant captain Rob Bellamy for hitting from behind led to two second-period power-play goals and the Catamounts went on to post a 2-0 victory over the Black Bears Friday night.
Sophomore centers Brayden Irwin and Colin Vock scored 1:22 apart to give the Catamounts a lead they would never relinquish.
Senior goalie Joe Fallon made 23 saves for his 19th career shutout which puts him second on the all-time list behind Ryan Miller of Michigan State, who had 26.
Maine goalie Ben Bishop made 29 saves in another strong outing.
UVM improved to 13-11-7 overall, 12-7-5 in Hockey East, while Maine fell to 10-18-3 and 6-15-3, respectively.
Maine was shut out for the sixth time and the Bears have been held to one goal or less 13 times.
The two teams play again tonight at 7:30.
It was Vermont’s fifth straight win and seventh in its last eight games.
Maine remained two points behind UMass in the battle for the eighth and final Hockey East playoff slot. BU beat UMass 3-0. UMass Lowell beat Northeastern 5-4 in overtime to clinch a playoff spot. Maine can’t catch the River Hawks, whom they host for a pair next weekend.
Bellamy’s hit came at the expense of freshman defenseman Kyle Medvec behind the UVM net.
“I had a lot of momentum but I tried to hold him up,” said Bellamy. “[Medvec] may have sold it a little, I don’t know.”
Irwin started the scoring at the 13:41 mark when he took a pass from Wahsontiio Stacey and skated down the left wing on a two-on-one.
However, Maine backcheckers quickly negated the two-on-one so Irwin wound up and took a slap shot from the top of the left circle that squeezed between the pads of Bishop and rolled over the goal line.
“Their defenseman gave me a little room so I took a couple steps and shot it,” said Irwin. “He’s a big goalie so I tried to keep the shot low. There’s not much room to shoot around him.”
“He just beat me,” said Bishop. “I thought I had it but he must have put it in the perfect place.”
Vock made it 2-0 when he swooped on a loose puck in the low slot to Bishop’s right and flipped it into the short-side corner.
Corey Carlson had tried to center the puck from the same side and Bishop moved across but it deflected to Vock, who was a few feet from Carlson and a little higher in the slot.
“It was a good shot,” said Bishop.
Irwin said the Bellamy penalty opened the door for them.
“When you’re playing games down the stretch like this, you’ve got to capitalize on your chances. We did a good job of that tonight,” said Irwin.
Maine’s Bret Tyler nearly closed the gap later in the period on the power play but his wrist shot from the point rang off the crossbar.
Early in the decisive power play, Billy Ryan sent Keenan Hopson in alone on Fallon but the goalie made a right-pad save.
“I was racing to get to the puck and had more time than I realized,” said Hopson. “I didn’t have time to think about what I was going to do. I faked to his left and pulled it across to his right. I should have gotten it up over his pad.”
Fallon said one of his defenseman hustled back so Hopson “didn’t have his full potential” on the breakaway, enabling him to made the pad save.
Chris Hahn had hit the short- side post in the first period for Maine off a Ryan pass but the puck came out, hit Fallon and defenseman Patrick Cullity alertly tucked it under his goalie.
Fallon said he was excited to move into the second spot on the all-time career shutout list especially in front of “friends and family.”
“The five-minute major changed the game,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “We had chances to get it to 2-1 and even knot it up 2-2 but, unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”
“We definitely had chances but we’ve got to find a way to score some goals. Bishop kept us in the game,” said Hahn who considers Fallon “one of the best goalies in the country.”
Hopson added, “We just couldn’t get anything going.”
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CATAMOUNTS 2, BLACK BEARS 0
Maine (10-18-3) 0 0 0 – 0
Vermont (13-11-7) 0 2 0 – 2
First period – No scoring. Penalties: UVM, Higgins, boarding, 3:51; Maine, Ryan, hitting from behind, 3:51; UVM, Lawson, holding, 13:03.
Second period – 1. UVM, Irwin 9 (Stacey), 13:41 (pp); 2. UVM, Vock 6 (Strong, Carlson), 15:03 (pp). Penalties: UVM, Irwin, hitting after whistle, 5:27; Maine, Laise, hitting after whistle, 5:27; Maine, Bellamy, 5-min. major, hitting from behind, game misconduct, 10:56; Vermont, Lawson, tripping, 16:58; Vermont, Tomko, cross-checking, 18:57.
Third period – No scoring. Penalties: No penalties.
Shots on goal: Maine 6-8-9-23; Vermont 9-16-6-31
Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (31 shots-29 saves); Vermont, Fallon (23-23)
Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 3; Vermont 2 of 3
High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 5-4-9-18; Vermont 3-10-5-18
Attendance: 4,003
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