The University of Maine’s eighth-ranked hockey team extended its winning streak to five games and earned a spot in the 34th annual Ledyard Bank Classic championship game with a 5-2 victory over nationally ranked Rochester Institute of Technology at Thompson Arena on the Dartmouth College campus in Hanover, New Hampshire, Friday night.
Freshman left wing Bradly Nadeau scored his team-leading 11th and 12th goals of the season, and the Black Bears received goals just 21 seconds apart from junior center Harrison Scott and sophomore center Felix Trudeau midway through the second period to build a 4-1 lead.
Nadeau’s first goal broke a 1-1 tie after UMaine’s Brandon Chabrier and RIT’s Carter Wilkie had swapped goals.
Matthew Wilde cut the deficit to 4-2 midway through the second period, but Nadeau added an empty net goal with 16 seconds left to register his fourth multi-goal game of the season.
Senior goalie Victor Ostman finished with 14 saves for the Black Bears and became the first UMaine goalie to reach the 10-win mark (10-3-1) in the first 15 games of the season since Ben Bishop in 2006.
Junior Tommy Scarfone finished with 33 saves for RIT.
UMaine, now 11-3-1, will take on the winner of the Dartmouth-Lake Superior State game in Saturday’s championship game.
Dartmouth will play the 7:30 game on Saturday night regardless of its outcome against Lake Superior State, so if Lake Superior State is UMaine’s opponent, that game will start at 4 p.m.
RIT, ranked 18th in one national poll and 19th in the other, fell to 11-6 and will play in the consolation game against the Dartmouth-Lake Superior State loser.
UMaine has reached 11 wins in the opening 15 games of a season for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign (12-2-1). The Black Bears’ five-game winning streak is its first since the 2019-20 season.
Sophomore defenseman Chabrier’s fourth goal of the season staked UMaine to a 1-0 lead just 3:06 into the game as he scored with a shot from the point after being set up by Thomas Freel and Donavan Houle.
That was the only scoring in the first period.
Junior center Wilkie’s team-leading eighth goal tied it up 1:34 into the second period as he scored unassisted, but the Black Bears scored three times in a span of 3:39 with Nadeau starting the flurry at the 5:17 mark before Scott and Trudeau each notched their third goals of the season and second in three games.
Nadeau kept the puck in the offensive zone and fed the puck to his brother, Josh. Josh gave his brother a return pass and Bradly Nadeau fired it past Scarfone.
Josh Nadeau’s assist extended his points streak to 11 games (8 goals, 11 assists) while Bradly’s goal moved his points streak to seven contests (6 goals, 7 assists).
Scott made it 3-1 when he was set up by Houle and Sully Scholle and beat Scarfone with a backhander.
Trudeau extended the lead on the next shift as he converted from in front after Reid Pabich and Cole Hanson had established a forecheck and created the opportunity for him.
Freshman left wing Wilde’s power play goal cut the lead to 4-2 at the 11:55 mark of the middle period, but the Tigers couldn’t get any closer. It was his sixth goal of the season.
Cody Laskosky and Gianfranco Cassaro picked up assists.
Houle racked up his third assist of the night on Nadeau’s empty-netter and David Breazeale also assisted on it.
Eleven Black Bears registered a point.
UMaine outshot RIT 38-16 including a 30-7 edge over the final two periods.
“We had more jump than we did right before the break,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “The effort was much better. The guys played hard.
“We took care of the puck for the most part. We didn’t turn it over in the neutral zone and we played in their zone a good portion of the time. That’s when we’re effective,” added the Black Bear coach.
He said Ostman was “solid” between the pipes and the line of Scott between Freel and Houle turned in an outstanding performance while noting that everybody played well.
