#9 UMaine Hockey Beats #12 UMass 2-1 On Late Goal Friday Night

Picked 9th in the preseason Hockey East Coach's Poll, the University of Maine locked up 3rd place, with a thrilling 2-1 win over #12 UMass at the sold-out Alfond on Friday night, March 9th.

The win means Maine will host a home-ice Quarterfinal game on Saturday, March 16th for the 1st time since the 2011-12 season. It also means that Maine has earned it's best conference finish since tying for 3rd place in the 2009-10 season.

UMass took a 1-0 lead, scoring a quick 1st Period goal with just 2:54 gone. Michael Cameron scored assisted by Ryan Ufko and Lucas Vanroboys.

Maine tied the score with 4:10 left in the 1st period, on a goal by Bradly Nadeau, assisted by Josh Nadeau. The goal was Bradly's 17th of the season, and the assist was Josh's 25th of the season. Both have 40 points on the season, and are the 1st Maine players to score 40 points as freshmen, since Teddy Purcell did so in the 2006-07 season.

The score remained tied at the end of the 1st and through the 2nd Period.

With 4:17 left in regulation, Thomas Freel scored on a power play, assisted by Sully Scholle and Harrison Scott. The goal was Freel's 6th of the season, his 1st game-winner of the season, and gave him 20 points on the year. The assist by Scott was his 12th of the season, and gave him 25 points on the season.

Albin Boijas made 26 saves in net, and is now 8-5-1 in net this season.

The Black Bears were 1-3 on the power play, while UMass was 0-3.

Maine outshot UMass 29-27.

Maine is now 21-10-2 overall and 13-9-1 in Hockey East. UMass is 19-11-3 overall and 12-9-2 in Hockey East.

Maine and UMass will meet Saturday night, March 9th in the final regular game of the season at The Alfond. The puck drops at 7 p.m. You can hear the pregame with Jon Shields and Larry Mahoney beginning at 6:30 p.m. on 92.9 The Ticket..