The University of Maine’s hockey team received a second-period goal from senior center and co-captain Lynden Breen and a third period score from freshman linemate Bradly Nadeau to edge Merrimack College 2-1 at Lawler Arena in North Andover, Mass. on Friday night.
It was UMaine’s Hockey East opener and it snapped a five-game winless streak in league openers dating back to a 4-3 win over UConn on Oct. 6, 2017.
UMaine had gone 0-3-2 in its last five Hockey East debuts.
UMaine, which entered the game ranked 20th in the country in both major polls, improved to 4-1 while Merrimack had its three-game winning streak snapped and is now 3-3 overall and 1-1 in Hockey East.
It also ended Merrimack’s home winning streak at six games dating back to last season.
The teams will conclude their series on Saturday night at 7.
Junior center Matt Copponi’s power play goal with 51 seconds remaining made things interesting. It was a six-on-four since the Warriors had pulled goalie Hugo Ollas in favor of an extra attacker.
But the Black Bears hung on for the victory.
UMaine senior goalie Victor Ostman made 25 saves while Ollas finished with 20.
Breen opened the scoring with his second goal of the season and 35th of his career at the 1:03 mark of the second period.
Freshman right wing Josh Nadeau, Bradly’s older brother and the third member of the line, snapped a pass to Breen that sent him in alone on Ollas.
Breen converted by roofing his breakaway.
Josh Nadeau rattled a shot off the post later in the period and Ostman made a good save off Max Wattvil, who had a high-percentage chance after coming out of the penalty box.
Ostman preserved the 1-0 lead 3:44 into the third period when he made a crucial glove save on Ben Brar’s breakaway.
Bradly Nadeau gave the Black Bears some valuable breathing room with 9:16 left when he took a pass from his brother and fired it past Ollas from the left wing circle. It was his team-leading third of the season.
Josh Nadeau’s second assist of the night gives him four on the season and ties him with Thomas Freel for the team lead.
Copponi made it 2-1 when he was able to swat home the rebound of a Zach Bookman shot for his third of the year but the Black Bears were able to keep the Warriors at bay.
“The guys worked hard and found a way (to win),” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “This is a real hard place to win and Merrimack is a real good team.
“Merrimack took it to us in the second period but we had some pushback in the third. Our third period was solid. It was good to see us raise up a little bit rather than go into a shell. We were able to get some extended shifts (in the offensive zone) and we protected the puck well,” said the UMaine third-year head coach.
He also said “Victor made some really big saves. So did their guy (Ollas).”
Barr said his team was able to “keep the game simple” and the players didn’t get frustrated like they did in last Saturday’s 4-1 loss at Quinnipiac.
Barr praised the play of the leaders, co-captains Breen and David Breazeale and assistant captains Nolan Renwick and Ben Poisson.
“They led us today and you need that from those guys on the road,” said Barr.
Merrimack went 23-14-1 a year ago, lost in overtime in the Hockey East championship game to Boston University and earned an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Warriors, who went 16-8 in league regular season play, were picked to finish third in the Hockey East preseason coaches poll.