NU’s Thiessen shuts out Bears

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ORONO – Northeastern University crashed the party early.

The Huskies scored three goals in the first 7:56 to quiet the raucous Alfond Arena crowd and the Huskies went on to post a 5-0 victory over the University of Maine Black Bears in the Bears’ home and Hockey East opener Friday night.

Northeastern improved to 4-0-1 overall, 3-0 in Hockey East. The Huskies were ranked 11th in one national poll and 14th in another.

Maine fell to 1-2 and 0-1, respectively. It was NU’s third win in the last four meetings at Alfond Arena.

It was the most lopsided home-opening loss in the history of the program dating back to the 1977-78 season.

The teams play again tonight at 7:30.

NU junior goalie Brad Thiessen, the Hockey East Player of the Week last week, made 29 saves in a stellar performance and took sole possession of the school’s career shutout record with his eighth. It was his second shutout in the last three games.

Thiessen covered his angles masterfully and maintained exceptional recovery balance to turn aside any rebounds. Eleven of his saves were off Grade-A (high-percentage) shots.

“The difference was our goalie was the best player on the ice,” said Northeastern coach Greg Cronin. “Even though it was 5-0, we were fortunate that we had great goaltending. Maine had just as many chances as we did. We were very lucky we didn’t get down a goal early. I was impressed with Maine’s speed and I thought they outworked us.”

The youthful Bears outshot Northeastern 29-26.

“He’s a veteran goalie and it showed tonight,” said Maine junior goalie Dave Wilson, who finished with 23 saves including seven Grade-As.

“I felt really good out there,” said Thiessen. “I like playing up here. The defensemen did a real good job clearing the front of the net so I could see the shots and tying up their sticks. One time, the puck squirted over to the far post and [defenseman] Louis Liotti got his stick on it or their guy would have had an empty-net goal.”

Maine energized the crowd with good early pressure but NU sophomore defenseman Mike Hewkin silenced the crowd by scoring on NU’s first shot on goal.

Hewkin took a seemingly harmless wrist shot from the right point that sailed through a screened Wilson.

“They usually like us to walk the puck across the blue line but they had a guy there so I just took a wrist shot and tried to get it through,” said Hewkin.

Wilson said he never saw the shot.

“I was looking through legs to try to find it. I went down late. I think it went five-hole,” said Wilson.

Just 2:51 later, junior left wing Chris Donovan expanded the lead when he sliced from right to left across the low slot, collected a Dylan Wiwchar rebound and roofed a backhander into the short side corner.

Senior center Rob Rassey, playing in place of the injured Steve Silva, made it 3-0 off a two-on-two with Steve Quailer.

Qualier maneuvered around Maine defenseman Jeff Dimmen to create a passing lane for himself and slid it across to Rassey, who beat his checker to the net front and simply had to deposit the puck past a helpless Wilson.

“They had us back on our heels at the beginning but those goals enabled us to settle down,” said Thiessen, who preserved his shutout with a sharp kickout save off a one-timer by Kyle Solomon set up by Theo Andersson with 11 minutes left in the third period.

Freshman right wing Alex Tuckerman added a second-period goal with a 35-foot wrist shot over Wilson’s blocker off a Quailler pass and David Strathman capped the scoring in the third period with a wrister from the right circle courtesy of a Joe Vitale feed.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead and senior defenseman and co-captain Simon Danis-Pepin said the Bears played better than the score indicated.

“I don’t think it was a 5-0 game,” said Danis-Pepin. “But you’ve got to give them credit, they capitalized on their chances. We’ve got to do the little things better.”

Danis-Pepin was referring to better net front coverage and getting shots off quicker on the power play instead of delaying and having them blocked.

“The guys played hard. Nobody quit,” said Whitehead.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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HUSKIES 5, BLACK BEARS 0

Northeastern (4-0-1) 3 1 1 – 5

Maine (1-2) 0 0 0 – 0

First period – 1. NU, Hewkin 1 (MacLeod), 3:31; 2. NU, Donovan 2 (Wiwchar), 6:22; 3. NU, Rassey 1 (Qualier), 7:56. Penalties: Maine, Hegarty, interference, 4:07; Maine, Dimmen, elbowing, 12:31; NU, Muench, hooking, 18:32.

Second period – 4. NU, Tuckerman 1 (Quailler), 11:02. Penalties: NU Vitale, interference, :19; NU, Tuckerman, interfence 8:47; NU, Kraemer, late hit, 12:47; NU, McCauley, late hit, 12:47; Maine, Hegarty, late hit, 12:47; Maine, Carriere, late hit, 12:47; NU, Wiwchar, interference, 13:36; Maine, House, interference, 13:54; NU, Vitale, elbowing, 14:10.

Third period – 5. NU, Strathman 1 (Vitale, McNally), 7:51. Penalties: Maine, Orsini, elbowing, 5:45; Maine, O’Neill, hooking, 10:31; NU, Wiwchar, tripping, 13:18; Maine, House, 18:20; NU, McCauley, high sticking, 20:00; Maine, Danis-Papin, boarding, 20:00.

Shots on goal: Northeastern 9-11-6-26; Maine 9-13-7-29

Goaltenders: Northeastern, Thiessen (29 shots-29 saves); Maine, Wilson (26-21)

Power-play opportunities: Northeastern 0 of 5; Maine 0 of 6

High-percentage scoring chances: Northeastern 3-2-6-11; Maine 6-7-6-19

Attendance: 5,056