The University of Maine’s nationally ranked hockey team turned in what could have been its best three minutes of hockey in its 4-3 victory over Vermont on Saturday night.
The Black Bears were protecting their one-goal lead and Vermont coach Steve Wiedler was waiting to pull goalie Keenan Rancier in favor of an extra attacker.
As soon as the Catamounts were able to dump the puck into the UMaine zone, the extra attacker was going to jump onto the ice, giving them a six-on-five advantage in skaters.
He never got that chance until the waning seconds and it was too late by then.
UMaine kept the puck in the Vermont zone for the whole time. The Black Bears swarmed the puck, protected it and simply wouldn’t let the Catamounts gain clean possession of it.
The Seniors Night crowd was on its feet, applauding the effort while keeping an eye on the scoreboard as the seconds ticked off.
“There were a million opportunities to win a puck battle, win a race and get the puck out of our zone, but we couldn’t do it until there were 15 seconds left. Again credit to Ben (Maine head coach Ben Barr) and his program for the way that they work,” said Wiedler.
“We have struggled holding leads late, especially in the second half, but we held together and we didn’t give them a chance to breathe. That’s what it’s all about for us,” said UMaine graduate student center and co-captain Lynden Breen, who was playing in his first home series since returning from a broken fibula suffered on Nov. 30.
UMaine improved to 21-6-5 overall and 13-4-5 in Hockey East and the sweep ensured that UMaine will finish second in the final standings.
Mathematically, the Black Bears could still squeeze past Boston College for the top spot, but BC would have to lose its one remaining game to eighth-place Merrimack at home and UMaine would have to sweep sixth-place UMass on the road.
The second-place finish will represent the best one for UMaine since the 2005-06 team tied for second with Boston College behind Boston University.
UMaine has already locked up a second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since the Black Bears made nine consecutive appearances between 1999 and 2007.
And one of the real bright spots for UMaine was its scoring balance.
Fourteen different players registered at least one point and fourth-liners scored three of the eight goals. All four lines scored at least one goal.
Junior defenseman Grayson Arnott was moved up to left wing on the fourth line for the third period of Friday’s game after Aidan Carney got hurt in the second period and he scored the fourth goal.
Junior Nicholas Niemo was the left wing on the fourth line on Saturday after being on the right side on Friday and gave UMaine a lead it would never relinquish with a second-period goal that snapped a 1-1 tie.
Freshman Thomas Pichette replaced Carney in the lineup and played on the right wing on the fourth line and scored what proved to be the game-winner with 13:20 left in the third period.
Wiedler said the fact UMaine got goals from fourth-liners “didn’t surprise me.”
He lauded the Black Bears’ work ethic and competitiveness and said it is a blueprint for success he hopes his teams will emulate.
In addition to the fourth line, junior defenseman Luke Antonacci produced his first two points of the season, both assists, in the Saturday night win.
Antonacci had been a healthy scratch for seven games in a nine-game stretch in January and early February, but has been in the lineup for the past five games and has been a team-best plus-six in that stretch.
Players receive a plus-one if they are on the ice when their team scores an even-strength or shorthanded goal and a minus-one if the other team scores one.
Barr said Antonacci’s performance over the weekend was his best in two seasons.
“It was good to see,” said Barr.
“You have to stick with it. You have to stick to what you know even through the hardships. You know you will eventually get your shot again,” said Antonacci.
UMaine’s power play scored two more goals on the weekend, giving it four in its last eight chances after snapping an 0-for-29 drought.
UMaine isn’t blessed with a bunch of elite-level players or high NHL draft picks. In fact, senior left wing Taylor Makar is the Black Bears’ only NHL draft pick and he is a seventh rounder of the Colorado Avalanche where older brother Cale is one of the league’s best defensemen.
Makar had a hat trick on Friday and is the Hockey East Player of the Week.
So the Black Bears need contributions from everyone.
“If we’re going to make a run (for a national title), everyone has to play well,” said Barr.
And that is what has been happening most nights this season.
