September 22, 2024
MEN'S COLLEGE HOCKEY

Goalies shine as UMaine ties Northeastern 2-2 Morrison turns aside 36 shots, Gibson stops 39

BOSTON – There was no shortage of scoring chances in Saturday night’s University of Maine-Northeastern 2-2 overtime tie at Matthews Arena.

Maine senior goalie Mike Morrison and Northeastern freshman Keni Gibson prevented it from becoming a shootout.

Gibson finished with 39 saves, including 16 Grade-A (high-percentage) stops. Morrison kicked aside 36 shots with 19 of the Grade-A variety.

Senior defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf and sophomore left-winger Todd Jackson gave Maine a pair of one-goal leads but Husky defense partners Tim Judy, a freshman, and senior captain Jim Fahey answered to earn the three-point weekend.

Northeastern had beaten penalty-prone Maine 2-1 in overtime on Friday night.

“I thought Maine played a great game,” said NU coach and former Maine assistant Bruce Crowder. “Both goalies were tremendous. They made huge saves when they had to. It was more wide open than the coaches would have wanted.”

Fahey, who got the equalizer with 21 seconds remaining in the second period, said Morrison “is as good a goalie as there is in the league.”

Gibson concurred, saying, “He stood on his head tonight. He made some unbelievable saves. Usually, guys that tall [6-foot-3, 190 pounds] can’t move that fast. He’s fast for a big guy.”

Maine is now 11-7-4 overall, 5-3-2 in Hockey East. Northeastern is 10-9-3 and 4-6-2.

“I just wanted to come back and help the team the best I could,” said Morrison. “We wanted to have a disciplined game tonight to make up for the errors we made last night. We battled. It was a hard-fought game on both sides.

“Each team scored clutch goals at the end of periods and either team could have won just like Friday night. We’re disappointed to come out with a tie tonight but we definitely improved over Friday night,” added Morrison.

Metcalf opened the scoring with two seconds left in the first period as he drove to the net and one-timed a 10-footer behind Gibson off a pass out from behind the net by Robert Liscak.

“I didn’t even see the pass in front. The next thing I know, they’re raising their hands in the air,” said Gibson.

Judy tied it 1:31 into the second period when he converted the rebound of a Trevor Reschny shot off a two-on-two. Martin Kariya had hustled back to cover Judy.

“I knocked it in off his [Kariya’s] stick,” said Judy.

Jackson scored 10:26 later.

“Peter Metcalf made a nice drop pass and took two guys with him. I cut to the net, saw a lot of traffic in front and basically just threw a backhander on net to try to create a rebound,” said Jackson whose backhander sailed into the far corner past the screened Gibson.

Gibson made several good stops to keep his team within one and Fahey knotted it up with a backhander off a Reschny rebound.

“I made a blocker save and directed it to the far side like I usually do but Fahey was right there,” said Morrison. “I don’t know why I went down. I thought I might still be able to get it because I knew he was really going to have to chip it nice on his backhand. But I’ve known him my whole life and he’s the only kid who could do it.”

Fahey said, “I thought he was going to get a piece of it because as big as he is, he’s just as quick. I outwaited him a little bit and got him to lean when I faked a shot. Then I pulled it back a little and put it upstairs [short side].”

Gibson made his best save of the game off Kariya with 5:27 left in regulation.

Kariya made a terrific fake to shake a defenseman and tried to slip a backhander past Gibson.

“I had the far side open but he lunged across with his whole body. He guessed right,” said Kariya.

Gibson said “luckily, I was still on my edge [of his skates] and was able to adjust back and catch a piece of it with my shoulder.”

Kariya had an open net from a difficult angle in overtime but rolled it through the crease.

“I had lots of room. I just pulled it,” said Kariya.

Morrison had robbed Leon Hayward with his glove on a two-on-oh in the second period and, in overtime, he stopped Hayward twice more from the low slot.

NU’s Jason Guerriero hit the post in the third period.

Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead said, “We played hard. We were a lot tougher team to play against tonight and our discipline was excellent.”

BLACK BEARS 2, HUSKIES 2 (OT)

Maine (11-7-4) 1 1 0 0 ? 2

Northeastern (10-9-3) 0 1 1 0 ? 2

First period ? 1. Maine, Metcalf 3 (Liscak, Shaneberger), 19:58. Penalties: Maine, Shields, high sticking, 7:29.

Second period ? 2. NU, Judy 2 (Reschny, Hayward), 1:31; 3. Maine, Jackson 5 (Metcalf, Shaneberger), 11:57; 4. NU, Fahey 10 (Reschny, Hayward). Penalties: Maine, Schutte, roughing, 7:02; NU, M. Ryan, roughing, 7:02; Maine, P. Lynch, triple minor for roughing, 13:42; NU, Ortlip, triple minor for roughing, 13:42; Maine, P. Ryan, double minor for roughing, 13:42; NU, C. Lynch, double minor for roughing, 13:42.

Third period ? No scoring. Penalties: NU, Selig, roughing, 5:58; Maine, Loya, roughing, 5:58; Maine, Ryan, boarding, 11:50; Maine, Lynch, hooking, 17:26; NU, Hayward, elbowing, 19:29.

Overtime ? No scoring. Penalties: none.

Shots on goal: Maine 10-18-12-1- 41; NU 12-11-10-5-38

Goaltenders: Maine, Morrison 38 shots-36 saves; NU, Gibson (41-39)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 0-1; NU 0-3

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 9-13-7-3 ? 32; NU 9-7-7-5 – 28

Attendance: 3,307


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