University of Maine junior defenseman Frank Djurasevic scored his second goal of the season with 2:27 remaining to enable the Black Bears to earn a 3-3 overtime tie with No. 6 Denver at Magness Arena in Denver on Saturday night.
UMaine, ranked 15th in one national poll and 18th in the other, had beaten Denver 5-2 on Friday night. The tie salvaged a positive series for the Black Bears on the road against the 2022 and 2024 national champions.
After the scoreless five-minute, three-on-three overtime, UMaine won the shootout 2-1 as goals by freshmen Miguel Marques and Justin Poirier overcame one by Denver junior left wing Sam Harris. The game goes in the books as a tie. Both teams are now 12-7-2.
UMaine had a pair of one-goal leads, but the Pioneers erased the deficits with power play goals. Junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp broke a 2-2 tie with his 13th goal of the season early in the third period to give Denver its first lead of the weekend.
But with UMaine goalie Albin Boija pulled in favor of the extra attacker, Djurasevic, set up at the left point, one-timed a cross-ice pass from freshman defenseman Lukas Peterson past the glove of Denver goalie Quentin Miller to tie it up.
Junior Boija came up with a game-saving stop in overtime as he sprawled to get his pad on Garrett Brown’s point-blank re-direction attempt off a Kieran Cebrian pass from the left side.
UMaine freshman left wing Will Gerrior opened the scoring just 4:09 into the game with a wrist shot from the middle of the slot after a Brandon Chabrier shot was blocked and the loose puck landed on his stick. It was his third goal of the season.
Harris equalized on the power play later in the period with a tap-in from the edge of the crease off a Kyle Chyzowski pass for his ninth of the campaign.
Junior right wing Charlie Russell gave UMaine a 2-1 lead with an unassisted goal at the 11:35 mark of the second period as he poked the puck free from a Pioneer in the defensive zone, raced down the ice on the right wing side and snapped a wrist shot from the inner half of the right circle past past Miller for his fifth goal.
But freshman left wing Chyzowski tied it up just 1:01 later while the Pioneers were on a four-on-three power play as he rifled a one-timer from the right faceoff dot past Boija off a pass from Pohlkamp. It was his fifth of the season, and it is the fifth time this season UMaine has given up multiple power play goals.
Pohlkamp notched his goal 3:37 into the third period with a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Boija to the glove side.
Boija finished with 24 saves, including six in overtime, and freshman Miller wound up with 30.
“It was a battle tonight and the guys played hard until the end,” said UMaine coach Ben Barr. “There was a lot of positive energy all weekend. The guys cared about each other and did a lot of the little things you have to do to have a chance to get the results we wanted.”
He also said Boija made some “big saves” and Peterson made some “game-saving plays, defensively, and blocked some shots.”
UMaine will return to Hockey East play with a pair of games at Providence College on Friday night at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m.
Denver will entertain defending national champ Western Michigan on Friday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m.. Western Michigan beat their National Collegiate Hockey Conference rival 3-2 in double overtime in their Frozen Four semifinal last season.
