ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine received first-period goals from senior center Nolan Renwick and sophomore right wing Charlie Russell and a vital 6-on-4 penalty kill in the final three minutes to edge Quinnipiac 2-1 in a battle of nationally ranked teams at sold-out Alfond Arena Friday night.
UMaine, now 2-0, was ranked ninth in one national poll and 10th in another. Quinnipiac, 1-1, was seventh in one and eighth in the other.
Renwick scored his third goal of the season 6:42 into the game before Russell expanded the lead with just 45 seconds remaining in the period. It was Clarkson University transfer Russell’s first collegiate goal.
Freshman Tyler Borgula scored a late second-period power play goal for Quinnipiac, the first of his career.
Albin Boija made 19 saves for the Black Bears while Bobcats goalie Dylan Silverstein finished with 27 stops.
The Bobcats pulled Silverstein in favor of the extra attacker with 2:42 left after Frank Djurasevic was called for a tripping penalty.
But UMaine did an exemplary job on the penalty kill, holding the Bobcats to just two shots on goal and Boija stopped both.
The teams conclude their series at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
“The cool thing about our team is there is no panic. We’re going to keep it calm and stack in front of the net,” said UMaine senior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale, one of the team’s top penalty-killers. “If the shots get through Albin is going to be back there to save it.”
He said they had to position themselves in shooting lanes, have active sticks and try to clear the puck as soon as they broke up a play.
The Black Bears killed four three Bobcats penalties in the first period, limiting the visitors to only four shots on goal on those power play chances.
Renwick converted off a two-on-one with Ross Mitton after a nifty one-touch pass by Taylor Makar to Renwick in the UMaine zone created the odd-man rush.
Renwick skated down the left wing and beat Silverstein with a wrist shot into the far corner from the left faceoff circle.
The Black Bears caught a break a few minutes later when a loose puck off a scramble bounced to Davis Pennington in the right circle and his one-timer rang off the crossbar.
Harrison Scott set up Russell’s goal when he protected the puck near the boards on the right wing side and fired the puck to the net front.
The puck got through to Silverstein and glanced off his pads to Russell, who roofed it from the low slot.
“I just saw the puck and knew I had to get it up quick,” said Russell. “Lucky it went in.”
Both teams generated some chances in the second period including a two-on-zeo for Quinnipiac midway through the period.
But Boija read the pass from Mason Marcellus to Borgula and slid over to make the save.
“That was huge,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “Both goalies were excellent. They were probably the two best players on the ice.”
Borgula capitalized on the power play when he one-timed a diagonal cross-ice pass from Pennington past Boija off a faceoff win by Chris Pelosi.
“Our third period was our best,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr, whose Black Bears outshot Quinnipiac 9-5 in the third period. “We got a little [offensive] zone time, which we didn’t have a ton of in the first. We took a lot of penalties in the first.
“It was a really good hockey game. It was kind of what we expected. It was frustrating at times because they’re a really good team. We got better as the game went along and that was a good sign,” added Barr.
“Maine was really good tonight,” said Pecknold. “They played hard. We had some moments. We had some guys who really struggled. Give credit to Maine. They were good.”
