ORONO, Maine — University of Maine freshman left winger Josh Nadeau collected a hat trick, and the Black Bears went on to post a 5-2 Hockey East victory over archrival University of New Hampshire at a sold out Alfond Arena on Friday night.
The Black Bears, ranked 11th in the country in both major polls, improved to 7-3-1 overall and 4-2-1 in Hockey East while UNH fell to 7-4-1 and 4-2-1, respectively.
UMaine spotted UNH the game’s first goal by Harrison Blaisdell, but a late first-period goal by Nadeau began a string of five unanswered goals.
Sophomore left wing Thomas Freel scored a fortuitous goal early in the second period before Nadeau notched his second with 1:28 left in the third period.
Donavan Houle’s power-play goal on a five-on-three early in the third period made it 4-1 before Nadeau capped his hat trick.
Stiven Sardarian scored a late third-period goal for UNH.
Freshman Albin Boija, making his first collegiate start, finished with 18 saves for the Black Bears while Jakob Hellsten made 27 for UNH.
Freel gave UMaine the lead for good with his third goal of the season and extended his points streak to four games thanks to some good fortune.
He flipped the puck from the corner to the left of Hellsten, and it carried into the net off a sprawled UNH defenseman.
The Nadeau brothers teamed up to make it 3-1 late in the period.
Bradly dashed down the left wing and made a toe-drag move to maneuver past a UNH defenseman. He shoveled a backhand pass across to the right faceoff circle, and Josh one-timed it into the half-empty net.
It was his first even-strength goal of the season to go with his five power-play goals.
In the third period, Houle jammed home a Brandon Chabrier rebound from the edge of the crease, and Nadeau scored off a pass from brother Bradly, taking it in his skates, kicking it to his stick and flipping a 20-foot backhander inside the far post.
Senior center Blaisdell’s goal opened the scoring with 6:25 left in the first period before Nadeau equalized on the power play with three seconds remaining in the period.
Blaisdell took a long cross-ice pass from Alex Gagne and skated down the right wing before snapping a wrist shot past Boija from the inner half of the right faceoff circle.
It was the North Dakota transfer’s third goal of the season.
UNH’s Robert Cronin took a tripping penalty with just seven seconds left in the period and Nadeau capitalized off the faceoff.
Lynden Breen won it directly back to Josh’s brother, Bradly, and Bradly slid it across to the right side to Josh. Josh Nadeau took a stride and fired a wrister into the far corner past Hellsten’s blocker side.
That extended UMaine’s streak to four games with a power-play goal.