The University of Maine men’s hockey team was lucky to earn a split of this past weekend’s series against Providence College.
If it wasn’t for the heroics of freshman goalie Albin Boija and the Black Bears’ special teams, they would have been swept by the Friars.
Boija made 27 saves in Friday’s 2-1 win including a game-saving breakaway stop on Tanner Adams in the third period.
He made 28 more in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss including two termed “unbelievable” by Providence College coach Nate Leaman.
In the second period, Jaroslav Chmelar was set up perfectly at the far post by Chase Yoder but Boija flashed across the crease to get his stick on the one-timer.
In the third period on a power play, he again darted from post-to-post to rob Austen May, with his right pad, this time.
He faced a lot more high-percentage chances than PC counterpart and fellow Swede Philip Svedeback.
Providence attempted 134 shots in the two games, of which 60 went on goal compared to UMaine’s 94 and 48, respectively. Providence had a 59-31 edge in shot attempts in the third periods.
UMaine blocked 34 shots in the two games.
UMaine had some spurts of dominance but the Friars had more.
Even though an overtime loss is a loss in the eyes of the NCAA and not a tie, it does earn Hockey East teams one point and limits the winner to two points.
You get three points for a regulation win and two for an OT or shootout win while an overtime or shootout loser gets one point.
That means UMaine took four points from the series to Providence’s two.
So if they wind up tied at the end of the regular season, UMaine would win the tiebreaker.
UMaine is in third place with a 10-5-1 conference record and 32 points, and it now has a four-point lead over Providence and UMass. The Black Bears have played one fewer game than Providence and own a win over UMass with two season-ending regular season games at home against UMass.
UMaine is 18-6-2 overall and ranked seventh in one national poll and eighth in the other.
The top four finishers in Hockey East earn first-round byes in the league playoffs and will host a quarterfinal game. The fourth seed will host the fifth seed, which also earns a first-round bye, and the top three finishers entertain a preliminary round winner.
The Black Bears squandered three one-goal leads on Saturday night. They were unable to extend the leads primarily because they spent nearly a third of the game in the penalty box which is uncharacteristic.
They had been one of the 10 least penalized teams among 64 Division I teams all season long but took nine penalties, and the nine power plays allowed in a game were three more than their previous high.
UMaine had killed all four PC power plays in Friday’s victory and the first five on Saturday before giving up the second Friar goal on Saturday midway through the third period as well as the game-winner in overtime, which came in a four-on-three situation as dictated by the three-on-three overtime format.
With the score tied 3-3 and just 3:12 left in regulation, senior co-captain Lynden Breen was called for holding, his second penalty in five minutes. It was probably a frustration penalty because the talented and hardworking center hasn’t scored a goal in 10 games and is stuck on six this season after scoring 21 a year ago.
“He’ll learn from it,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr after the game.
Breen cares deeply about this team and desperately wants to help lead it to a special season.
The Black Bears killed off the Breen penalty but, three seconds after it elapsed, freshman defenseman Liam Lesakowski got caught out of position and pulled down PC’s Bennett Schimek who was going around him. His holding penalty came with 1:09 left and carried over into overtime.
UMaine had a glorious chance to take a 4-3 lead with two minutes left when Donavan Houle and Ben Poisson had a 2-on-0 break-in shorthanded but Poisson couldn’t convert Houle’s pass.
The chippy end-of-the-period ice was probably a factor, but Poisson said they still should have executed it and scored.
The Black Bears can ill afford any more games when they give teams five or more power plays.
Providence is a frustrating team to play against. The Friars are big, physical and effective on the forecheck. They are strong on the puck so opposing teams are always battling them for it and spending a lot of time in their own zone.
UMaine likes to play fast and get up the ice, and you can’t do that if you don’t have the puck.
But, when you are playing in your own zone, it is important to keep your composure and make sure you have your net front covered. Then, when you gain possession of the puck, make crisp break-out passes.
And use your speed and tenacity to your advantage in the offensive zone.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr said after Friday’s game that his team has had its struggles against big, physical teams this season.
Providence had a significant edge in size, experience and recent success.
PC had 16 skaters who weighed at least 185 pounds compared to UMaine’s eight. It also had nine players with at least 90 college games under their belts to UMaine’s five.
Providence won a national title in 2015 and made six straight NCAA Tournament appearances between 2014-19 while UMaine hasn’t earned an NCAA berth since the 2011-12 season.
The Black Bears scored just one even-strength goal on the weekend, the other four came on the power play.
But that series is over and the Black Bears can’t dwell on it.
They have two important sold-out games at New Hampshire this weekend against a UNH team (14-11-1, 7-8-1) that has lost three of its last four and five of its last seven.
They need to be disciplined and start producing more offense in even-strength situations while also maintaining their strong defensive structure to continue their push for a top-four finish in Hockey East and a possible NCAA Tournament berth.
