#11 Maine Sends #15 UNH Packing 5-2 Friday
The #11 Maine Black Bears sent the #15 University of New Hampshire Wildcats packing Friday night, 5-2 in front of a sold-out crowd at The Alfond Arena in Orono
Josh Nadeau had a hat-trick for the Black Bears, and freshman Albin Boija making his 1st career start in goal for Maine, turned away 18 shots.
UNH scored 1st, with 6:25 left in the 1st period on a goal by Harrison Blaisdell assisted by Alex Gagne and Robert Cronin.
Maine tied it at 1-1 with just 3.7 seconds left in the 1st period on the power play. Josh Nadeau scored assisted by Bradly Nadeau and Lynden Breen.
With just 23 seconds gone in the 2nd period, Thomas Freel was credited with a goal that may have gone in net off of a UNH defender. Assists went to Brandon Holt and Harrison Scott.
Then with 1:28 left in the 2nd period, the Brother's Nadeau teamed up for a goal. Josh Nadeau scored his 2nd of the night, assisted by Bradly Nadeau.
Maine led 3-1 at the end of the 2nd period.
With 5:55 gone in the 3rd period, the Maine power play scored their 2nd goal of the night. This time it was Donavan Villeneuve-Houle scoring, assisted by Brandon Chabrier and Nolan Renwick.
Just 1:59 later, Maine's power play lit the lamp again, this time on a 5 on 3. It was the Brother's Nadeau teaming up again. Josh with his 3rd goal of the night and Bradly with his 3rd assist of the night.
That made the score 5-1.
UNH scored on a power play with 2:22 left in the game. Stiven Sardarian had the goal, with assists to Ryan Conmy and Morgan Winters.
Maine was a very efficient 3-7 on the power play, while UNH was 1-5.
Jakob Hellsten had 27 saves for UNH, while Albin Boija had 18 saves for Maine.
UNH is now 7-4-1 overall and 4-2-1 in Hockey East.
Maine improves to 7-3-1 overall and 4-2-1 in Hockey East. Maine will host UConn on Sunday, December 3rd when they host UConn at 5 p.m. The pregame on 92.9 The Ticket begins at 4:30 p.m.
The Maine-UConn game will be the last time the Black Bears play at The Alfond in 2023. The next time they play in Orono will be Friday, January 5th. Maine is at Union College on Wednesday, December 6th and then plays Bentley in Portland on Saturday December 9th. The Black Bears then have 3 weeks off for exams and holidays before playing in a Dartmouth Tournament on December 29th against RIT and then on December 30th against Lake Superior State. The Dartmouth Tournament will take place in Hanover, New Hampshire.