November 23, 2024
MEN'S COLLEGE HOCKEY

UMaine defensemen tame Minutemen Bears clinch top-three league finish

ORONO – There certainly have been more dramatic Seniors Night games at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena than Saturday night’s 7-0 win over the University of Massachusetts.

But you may be hard-pressed to find a more thorough performance.

Maine received goals from seven players and limited the Minutemen to 12 shots on goal and three high-percentage scoring opportunities to improve its record to 19-9-6 overall, 13-5-4 in Hockey East. Maine ensured itself a top-three finish in Hockey East while extending its Alfond Arena unbeaten streak to 13 games (10-0-3).

UMass suffered its worst defeat of the season and fell to 8-22-2 overall, 3-17-2 in league play.

UMass is now 0-17 at the Alfond Arena.

“Our defensemen were holding the red line and the forwards were coming back [to backcheck],” said junior right wing Gray Shaneberger, who scored a second-period goal to build the lead to 3-0.

“The guys played hard and by playing well defensively, we got plenty of offensive chances,” said Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead.

Francis Nault and Lucas Lawson scored first-period goals; Ben Murphy and Shaneberger extended the lead to 4-0 in the second and Paul Falco, Peter Metcalf and Colin Shields (power play) added third-period scores.

“They forecheck hard and they feed off their crowd,” observed UMass goalie Mike Johnson, who made 32 saves.

Maine’s four seniors each did their share to contribute to the win.

Defenseman and captain Metcalf had a goal and two assists; Dimitrakos had an assist and goalies Mike Morrison and Matt Yeats teamed up for the shutout. Morrison had eight saves through two periods and Yeats stopped four shots in the third.

Nault opened the scoring at the 10:31 mark by converting a long diagonal pass from Lawson.

UMass’ Martin Miljko was hooking Nault but Nault gathered in the puck with his stick hand, fought off the check to get his other hand on the stick and roofed a 14-footer to the far [blocker] side.

“I didn’t think he was going to be able to break free so I dropped by pad down and he got it over me,” said Johnson.

“Lucas made a great pass,” said Nault. “I saw that the goalie had gone down and the top corner was open.”

Lawson made it 2-0 6:43 later after linemates Marty Kariya and Dimitrakos played keep-away with the puck in the slot.

“Marty gave me a pass and I one-timed it,” said Lawson, who left the game in the third period after taking a stick in the groin.

“I had [the puck] between my legs and then it dropped down,” said Johnson.

Lawson extending his goal-scoring streak to four games.

Shaneberger’s goal, snapping his eight-game goal-less drought, came about when Robert Liscak’s slap shot missed the short side but came to him on the other side off the back boards.

“I beat my guy to the net and got my stick on it. I don’t think the goalie knew what was going on,” said Shaneberger.

The high-energy all-freshman line of Murphy between Falco and John Ronan buzzed the net on Murphy’s goal and Johnson made saves off Metcalf and Falco before Murphy pushed the loose puck under Johnson’s arm.

“That line got us going. Everyone sees how hard they work [and follows suit],” said Metcalf.

In the third period, Falco shouldered a UMass defenseman off the puck and beat Johnson with a rising snap shot; Metcalf weaved his way across the crease and scored with a 20-foot wrister and Shields jammed the puck home from a difficult angle to Johnson’s right.

BLACK BEARS 7, MINUTEMEN 0

UMass (8-22-2) 0 0 0 ? 0

Maine (19-9-6) 2 2 3 ? 7

First period ? 1. Maine, Nault 6 (Lawson, Kariya), 10:31; 2. Maine, Lawson 11 (Kariya, Dimitrakos), 17:14. Penalties: UMass, Sickavish, cross checking, 11:11.

Second period ? 3. Maine, Shaneberger 5 (Liscak, Metcalf), 9:01; 4. Maine, Murphy 5 (Falco, Metcalf), 11:32. Penalties: Maine, Ryan, slashing, 15:00; UMass, Turner, cross checking, 15:00; UMass, Jalkanen, hooking, 15:25.

Third period ? 5. Maine, Falco 2 (unassisted), 9:37; 6. Maine, Metcalf 7 (Jackson, Liscak), 11:51; 7. Maine, Shields 23 (Jackson, Reimann), 14:08 (pp). Penalties: UMass, Demianiuk, cross checking, 12:26; UMass, Trovato, slashing, 15:43; UMass, Zavisza, roughing, 19:46.

Shots on goal: UMass 4-4-4?12; Maine 16-14-9? 39

Goaltenders: UMass, Johnson (39 shots-32 saves); Maine, Morrison (8-8), Yeats (0:00 of 3rd, 4-4)

Power-play opportunities: UMass 0-0, Maine 1-5

High-percentage scoring chances: UMass 2-0-1? 3; Maine 10-9-4? 23

Attendance: 5,415


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