The University of Maine Black Bears won a double overtime thriller 4-3 over Northeastern on Thursday night and will now take on UConn in Friday’s Hockey East championship game.
You can watch each of the four goals that helped UMaine earn its first appearance in a Hockey East final since 2012, thanks to video shared by UMaine hockey and NESN.
UMaine took a 2-0 lead on two goals by junior left wing Owen Fowler.
Fowler opened the scoring at the 14:02 mark of the first period when he came out of the penalty box, took a feed from Scott and broke in alone on Northeastern’s Cameron Whitehead before firing the puck between the goalie’s legs.
Fowler made it 2-0 just 2:03 into the second period when he pounced on a Lynden Breen rebound and wristed it past Whitehead for his 10th goal of the season.
Northeastern then scored three goals in a row. Sophomore right wing Dylan Hryckowian and junior left wing and linemate Cam Lund scored second-period goals for Northeastern to tie the game.
Northeastern sophomore center Andy Moore from Cumberland gave the Huskies their first lead when he outmuscled UMaine’s Sully Scholle in front of the net and shoveled a backhander past Black Bears goalie Albin Boija off a Nick Rheaume rebound.
But UMaine junior defenseman Luke Antonacci’s second goal of the season and second in three games forced overtime.
Antonacci got the equalizer with a wrist shot from the high slot off a Harrison Scott faceoff win.
Antonacci maneuvered neatly around a diving Husky and snapped a wrist shot that beat Whitehead with 7:17 remaining in the third period.
After a scoreless first overtime, UMaine senior center Nolan Renwick decided the game off a pass from sophomore right wing Charlie Russell.
Russell maneuvered cleverly into open ice in the right faceoff circle and passed the puck to the far post where it hit off the leg of the crouching Renwick and went in for Renwick’s ninth goal of the season.
“I don’t know if [Russell] meant to hit me with that one, but right spot, right time and I can’t complain about it,” Renwick said during a TV interview after the win.
The second seeded Black Bears, 23-7-6 and ranked fourth in both national polls, will now take on fourth seed UConn at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the conference title game at TD Garden in Boston.
It will be UMaine’s first appearance in a Hockey East championship game since 2012, when the Black Bears lost to Boston College 4-1. They will be seeking their first conference title since 2004 when they beat UMass 2-1 in triple overtime.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that UMaine junior defenseman Luke Antonacci’s goal was his second of the season, not the second of his career.
