ORONO, Maine — Freshman defenseman David Breazeale gave first-year University of Maine hockey coach Ben Barr his first ever win when Breazeale scored in overtime to beat Merrimack 6-5 on Nov. 12, 2021. UMaine entered that game 0-7-1.
Breazeale, now a senior co-captain, supplied Barr with one of his most noteworthy regular season wins on Saturday night with an overtime goal with 36 seconds left that gave UMaine a victory over nationally ranked Quinnipiac by the same 6-5 score.
That completed a sweep of the Bobcats, who have Division I hockey’s longest active streak of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances at five.
UMaine won Friday night’s game 2-1.
UMaine, ranked ninth in both national polls, is now 3-0 while Quinnipiac fell to 1-2.
Quinnipiac entered the series ranked seventh in one poll and eighth in the other.
The Black Bears seemingly had a stranglehold on the game after an early second-period goal by Thomas Freel built the lead to 4-1.
But the Bobcats scored three unanswered goals to tie it up after two and took their first lead of the weekend on a third-period goal by Chris Pelosi.
Junior defenseman Brandon Holt forced the overtime in dramatic fashion by scoring with 28 seconds left and the extra attacker on the ice for UMaine.
“I just saw a lane to the net and let her fly. I knew the time was ticking down, and so I figured if I got the puck to the net, good things would happen,” said Holt, who scored with a screened wrist shot from just inside the blue line.
UMaine controlled the overtime, and Breazeale capitalized by firing home his own rebound after his initial shot was blocked.
“It was awesome. Holty got us into overtime by drawing the penalty and making an unbelievable play on the four-on-four,” Breazeale said. “My first shot was blocked. I’ve had trouble with getting pucks through [to the net]. But, fortunately, the puck fell back on my stick, and I put it in.”
Harrrison Scott picked up the assist on the game-winner.
“I would have taken anybody scoring that, but it’s just fitting that it was him,” Holt said.
First-period goals by Taylor Makar, Owen Fowler and Ross Mitton offset one by Quinnipiac’s Aaron Schwartz to give the Black Bears a 3-1 lead.
Makar’s goal was shorthanded, and Schwartz’s came on the power play.
Tyler Borgula, Jake Ricketts and Travis Treloar scored the Quinnipiac goals in the second period.
“It was a gritty win for us,” Breazeale said. “It’s not the way we drew it up. But I think it shows our culture and our character. Even though we went down 5-4, we didn’t let that bring us [down]. We wanted to go out there and finish the thing.”
UMaine outshot Quinnipiac 23-6 over the third period and overtime and finished with an overall edge of 41-27.
“It was really cool for David Breazeale to score that goal,” Barr said. “He had a rough game by his standards but good things happen to good people and that was fun to see.”
“Maine had a great weekend. They played really well and we need to get better,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold, whose team appeared to be in good shape when Breazeale took a tripping penalty with 1:56 left in regulation.
But Bobcat Davis Pennington was called for holding Holt 32 seconds later to even things up.
Makar opened the scoring with a wrist shot into the far corner from the right wing circle, and Fowler made it 2-0 by shoveling home a Frank Djurasevic rebound.
Schwartz rifled a one-timer past UMaine goalie Albin Boija off a Mason Marcellus feed, but Mitton answered with a rising wrist shot off a Scott pass.
Freel swept home a power play rebound before Tyler Borgula’s across the slot shot on a two-on-one glanced in off Boija’s stick, Ricketts tipped a Marcellus shot past Boija, and Treloar scored off a scramble in front.
Pelosi started the third-period scoring by beating Boija to the short side off a one-timer set up by a Borgula pass.
Boija finished with 22 saves, while Quinnipiac’s Matej Marinov had 35 stops.
