ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine’s seventh-ranked hockey team received a stiff test from the visiting Colgate University Raiders, but freshman goalie Albin Boija made 30 saves and the Black Bears received goals from Bradly Nadeau, Harrison Scott and Ryan Hopkins to post their seventh straight win, 3-1, at Alfond Arena Friday night.
UMaine improved to 13-3-1, while Colgate fell to 6-9-2.
The seven-game winning streak is the first for UMaine since the 2006-2007 team won its first seven-game en route to the school’s 11th and last Frozen Four appearance.
Freshman right wing Nadeau gave UMaine a 1-0 lead with the only goal of the first period before junior center Scott and freshman defenseman Ryan Hopkins extended the lead in the second period.
Colgate head coach Mike Harder pulled goalie Carter Gylander midway through third period with the Raiders on the power play, and it paid off as junior center Ryan McGuire scored his 10th of the season and eighth in his last eight games with a one-timer from the right circle.
Ross Mitton and Brett Chorske had assists.
But the Black Bears held on.
Boija, making just his second start, made a number of great saves, including a pad stop on Daniel Panetta’s breakaway early in the third period.
“Albin played really well. We played just OK. I thought our details were just OK and our game plan was just OK,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “We have to watch [the game] and figure out adjustments we have to make. There were times they were coming right through us.
“We had a lot of chances and then it would be a chance for them and when you’re up 2-0 or 3-0, that’s not the way you want to play. We have to be tighter and a little smarter, but a win’s a win and that’s a good hockey team we played,” he added.
Gylander finished with 32 stops in a strong performance. The teams will play again on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Scott scored what proved to be the game-winner early in the second period.
It was fifth goal of the season and fourth in his last five games and came at the 4:57 mark of the free-wheeling middle period.
Harrison hunted down the puck behind the net and cut quickly out front to the right of Gylander for a wraparound shot. His shot appeared to hit the stick of Colgate defenseman Nick Anderson and slip between Gylander’s pads.
Hopkins scored his first collegiate goal off a face-off win by Lynden Breen with 51 seconds remaining in the period.
The puck came directly back to Hopkins at the left point. He took a few strides toward the middle and sailed a screened wrist shot past Gylander’s blocker.
“It was a really good shot, and it was definitely good to see him get that goal,” said Barr.
“It was a critical goal for us,” said UMaine junior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale. “We talked all week about getting to the net and taking the goalie’s eyes away. Josh [Nadeau] did a great job of that, and [Hopkins] put it in a perfect spot.
“It’s awesome to see him get that. He works so hard,” added Breazeale.
“That one really hurt,” said first-year Colgate coach Mike Harder.
Breazeale also praised Boija.
“Albin was fantastic. He kept us in it there. He was just so steady back there,” said Breazeale.
Boija said he was “pretty happy” with the way he played,
“They came after us hard in the second period. It was fun to make some saves,” said Boija.
The two teams combined for 34 shots on goal in the middle period, with Boija and Gylander each making a number of high-quality saves. UMaine had 19 shots to Colgate’s 15.
Colgate’s Tommy Bergsland rang a wrist shot off the crossbar midway through the period.
Bradly Nadeau scored off a pass from his brother Josh just 5:26 into the game.
The puck pinballed around in the high slot before Josh Nadeau wheeled around and fired a pass to Bradly, who was alone in front of Gylander.
The younger Nadeau brother moved the puck from his backhand to his forehand and roofed a 12-foot wrist shot over Gylander’s glove and into the short side corner for his team-leading 13th goal of the season.
Josh Nadeau’s assist extended his points streak to 13 games (8 goals, 14 assists), and that is the longest streak by a Hockey East player since Providence College’s Josh Wilkins had a 13-game streak during the 2018-19 season.
Brandon Holt also earned an assist on the goal.
The Black Bears had a glittering chance to expand the lead while shorthanded late in the period.
Scott carried the puck down the left wing in a two-on-one with Donavan Houle and fed the puck across to Houle, whose shot from the top of the crease was stopped by the pad of Gylander.
UMaine outshot Colgate 10-4 in the first period, but the Raiders did a good job defensively, protecting the front of their net and limiting UMaine’s odd-man rushes.
“We didn’t play that well,” said Harder, whose team was playing its first game since Dec. 2. “There was definitely some rust to our game.
“We weren’t that connected. We were actually disconnected for a lot of the game, especially early,” said Harder. “We figured out our flow as the game went along.
“Their goalie was good, our goalie was good. It was a good hockey game. It was the way hockey should be played,” he added. “It was pretty wide open. Guys were making plays. They just made a few more plays than we did.”
