The University of Maine hockey team’s season came to a crashing conclusion on Wednesday night.
The 11th-seeded University of Vermont’s Catamounts overcame a pair of one-goal deficits and scored a weird game-winning power play goal by sophomore right wing Isak Walther with 6:05 remaining to oust the sixth-seeded Black Bears 4-2 at Alfond Arena Wednesday night.
William Lemay scored an empty-net shorthanded goal to ice it.
The Catamounts earned their road win, outshooting the Black Bears 26-14 over the final two periods after UMaine had a 16-4 edge over the first 20 minutes.
Gabe Carriere made 28 saves for UVM while Victor Ostman had 26 for UMaine.
Junior Lynden Breen gave the Black Bears a pair of one-goal leads but the Catamounts received equalizers from sophomore left wing Timofei Spitserov in the second period and sophomore right winger Andrei Buyalsky in the third period.
With 7:01 left in the third period, Parker Lindauer was called for a hooking minor and the Catamounts capitalized.
Walther made a cross ice pass to Jacques Bouquot and UMaine goalie Victor Ostman made a save on his shot from the left faceoff dot.
Ostman tried to reach out and corral the loose puck behind his net but couldn’t haul it in and Bouquot shoveled it to Walther, who tapped the puck toward the net from the edge of the crease and it deflected just over the goal line off UMaine’s Dawson Bruneski’s stick.
Vermont is now 11-19-5 and will take on top seed Boston University on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
UMaine, picked last in the preseason coaches poll, wound up 15-16-5.
Breen became the Black Bears’ first 20-goal scorer since the 2011-12 season when he converted on the power play with 5:59 left in the initial period.
A Luke Antonacci shot was blocked and David Breazeale pushed the puck into the corner where Thomas Freel, who had been knocked down, was able to swat the puck along the ice to Breen.
Breen took a couple of strides to the top of the crease and tucked a backhander between Carriere’s pads.
UMaine had some chances to expand the lead as it outshot UVM 16-4 in the first period but Carriere came with some good saves and his veteran defense corps did an effective job limiting the Black Bears’ second-chance opportunities.
He made an important stop on Didrik Henbrant’s break-in down the left wing as he cut across the top of the crease. Henbrant tried to shovel home the rebound from a difficult angle but Carriere was able to grab the slow roller.
Spitsereov tied it at the 6:40 mark of the second period with his fourth of the season.
Will Zapernick was able to put a wrist shot on net from the top of the circle and Ostman made the pad save.
But the rebound spilled over the he far circle and Spitserov fired the rebound past Ostman.
UVM was energized by the goal and played a much better second period, outshooting UMaine 12-8.
Ostman was called on to make a series of saves during a wild flurry during a delayed penalty situation with two minutes left in the period.
Breen swatted home a rebound early in the third period to make it 2-1 and Didrik Henbrant had a golden opportunity to expand the lead when he stole the puck and broke in alone on Carriere. He missed to the blocker side.
UVM tied it when Massimo Lombardi stole the puck from UMaine’s Aidan Carney and fed it to Buyalsky who roofed it from point-blank range.