ORONO, ME – The No. 12/11 University of Massachusetts men’s hockey team led early. But a late power-play goal helped No. 9 Maine claim a 2-1 victory over the Minutemen on Friday night at Alfond Arena.
The game-winning goal can be watched here.
The loss leaves UMass at 19-11-3 overall, 12-9-2 in Hockey East, while the Black Bears improve to 21-10-2, 13-9-1 in league action.
“I just thought we got out-competed,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “That was what was going to decide the game. I thought we were playing well coming in tonight. This is a step back for us. We didn’t compete at our usual level. A lot of guys didn’t give us their normal games, and it wasn’t enough tonight.”
Sophomore Michael Cameron opened the scoring 2:54 into the contest, beating out an icing and putting home his rebound in close on Albin Boija. Junior Ryan Ufko and graduate student Lucas Vanroboys picked up the assist on the clear out of the UMass end.
Maine managed to tie things up at 1-1 at the 15:50 mark as Bradly Nadeau hammered home a one-timer from Josh Nadeau on an odd-man rush by the Black Bears.
With time winding down in the third period, freshman Aydar Suniev was was whistled for tripping, and Maine converted on its third power-play chance of the night.
At 15:43, Thomas Freel tipped the puck into the UMass net under goaltender Michael Hrabal at the top of the crease off the initial shot by Sully Scholle from the perimeter. Harrison Scott also earned an assist on the tally.
The Black Bears finished the night with a 29-27 edge in shots on goal and were 1-for-3 with the man advantage, while the Minutemen were 0-for-3. Hrabal totaled 27 saves for UMass, and Boija logged 26 stops for Maine.
The two teams will conclude the regular season on Saturday night back inside Alfond Arena at 7 p.m.
