ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men’s hockey team will be returning to the TD Garden for the Hockey East semifinals.
The Black Bears turned in a superb defensive performance, senior left wing Spencer Abbott had a goal and an assist, and Dan Sullivan made 20 saves as Maine beat Merrimack College 2-1 at Alfond Arena in their third and deciding game of the series.
Fourth seed Maine improved to 22-12-3 and will take on third seed Boston University, 23-13-1, in Friday’s 8 p.m. semifinal. Top seed Boston College, 27-10-1, and seventh seed Providence College, 14-19-4, will meet in the 5 p.m. opener.
Merrimack finished at 18-12-7.
Maine outshot Merrimack 32-21 and had 20 Grade-A scoring attempts to Merrimack’s 9.
Sullivan finished with seven Grade-A saves among his 20 and Joe Cannata turned in another impressive performance with 11 Grade-A stops among his 30.
The Bears took a 1-0 lead on Abbott’s first-period five-on-three power-play goal and Brice O’Connor expanded the lead 3:48 into the second period.
Ryan Flanigan answered for Merrimack 5:28 later.
But Maine protected the lead with impressive efficiency and Sullivan came up with a few key saves.
“We came out flying,” said Sullivan. “We really wanted it. We were willing to pay the price. The guys made my job easy.”
Maine carried the play in the first period as the Bears took a page out of Merrimack’s book by finishing their checks and winning the majority of the battles for loose pucks.
The Bears also created an up-tempo flow and prevented the Warriors from establishing a sustained forecheck which paved the way for Merrimack’s 5-2 win on Saturday night.
“We executed the game plan very well,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “Our compete level was better, we were disciplined and we did a better job limiting their time and space with the puck.
“(Merrimack) scored a couple rebound goals on Saturday but we did a better job in front of the net and we pressured their shooters more,” added Whitehead. “I was so impressed with Merrimack. They kept pushing. And the Vancouver (Canucks) have a special goalie coming to them in Joe Cannata.”
“Our backs were against the wall. We want to make the NCAA Tournament,” said Abbott. “Our defensemen played very well and our forwards were coming back so we had three layers of defense. And (Sullivan) has been our backbone for a while. It all starts with Sully.”
Abbott scored his 20th goal of the season at the 11:38 mark of the first period with a blistering one-timer to the far corner from the top of the right circle off an Adam Shemansky pass.
“(Shemansky) tried to make a cross-crease pass but it deflected back to him,” said Abbott. “I was cocked (in shooting position) and he gave me the pass and I put it low blocker side.”
Despite Maine’s dominance, Cannata was sharp and made six Grade-A saves to keep his team within striking distance.
Cannata caught a break late in the period when Stu Higgins was set up in the right circle for a one-timer by Jon Swavely only to see his blast ring off the crossbar.
Maine had 10 Grade-A scoring chances in the first period to Merrimack’s one.
O’Connor made it 2-0 at the 3:48 mark of the middle period.
Abbott carried the puck down the right wing and found a wide-open Nick Pryor cruising down the middle of the slot.
Pryor’s wrister was saved by Cannata but the rebound spilled to his right and O’Connor swept it home.
“I think everyone of us touched the puck on that one,” said Abbott.
Brian Flynn pushed the puck ahead to Joey Diamond but Diamond was tied up.
“I was skating up the ice and Joey gave it to me,” said O’Connor. “I sent it up to Spencer.”
O’Connor drove to the net and Abbott slipped the puck to the onrushing Pryor, who was trailing the play and had no one covering him.
Abbott said he heard Pryor yell for the puck.
Pryor’s shot was saved by Cannata but the rebound spilled over to O’Connor at the crease.
“I just stopped at the net and banked it in,” said O’Connor, who scored the game-winner in the 1-0 win over New Hampshire last weekend that gave Maine home for the quarterfinal round.
“It’s nice to chip in but it’s all about the team,” said O’Connor.
Flanigan answered at the 9:16 mark.
Jesse Todd carried the puck down the right wing and took a wrist shot that deflected across the low slot where Flanigan deposited it into the exposed net.
Sullivan prevented Merrimack from tying it when he got his left skate on Mike Collins’ wraparound attempt later in the middle period when it appeared there was plenty of net available.
“I thought he was going to shoot it at the right post but he went around the net quickly,” said Sullivan. “I was able to get my toe or the bottom of my pad on it.”
With 1:40 left in the period, a Matt Mangene rush and centering pass was deflected into the net off the skate of Mark Anthoine. It was called a goal initially but a video review negated the goal because it had gone in off Anthoine’s skate.
Merrimack took chances to try to get the equalizer in the third period and it led to several odd-man rushes for Maine but the Bears failed to capitalize as Cannata came up with a few important saves and Maine misfired on a few passes.
“We played well at times but obviously not well enough,” said Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy. “We did a pretty job containing their power play. The guys played real hard. I’m very proud of them. Maine forechecked well early. We had to kill a lot of penalties and had to expend a lot of energy in doing so. From the middle of the second period on, we played real well.”
Maine went 1-for-6 on the power play while Merrimack had just one and failed to capitalize.
The teams set a Hockey East Tournament record with 184 penalty minutes on Saturday but combined for just 30 on Sunday.
Late second-period goals 20 seconds apart by Jeff Velleca and Rhett Bly broke open a close game and gave the Warriors a well-deserved victory Saturday.
The Warriors also got under the skin of the Black Bears which led to a penalty-filled contest.
Merrimack had 26 penalties for 98 minutes and Maine was assessed 86 penalty minutes on 24 infractions.
Fantastic win Black Bears and now on to TD Garden…..total difference tonight staying away from the taunting and garbage after the whistles thus avoid setting another record for penalty minutes…..great hustle and thanks for the exciting weekend…..looking forward to the Hockey East finals and beyond!!
Great win by the Black Bears, overcoming Merrimack’s classless playing style and some refs who did a horrible job at picking up on Merrimack’s taunting in-between plays. If UMaine had lost that game, there probably would have been a riot in Orono!
Congrats Black Bears on a well deserved, hard fought game…..controlling the game from the opening whistle thru the entire game….forechecking, playing smart, etc….and HOBEY Abbott proved he deserves one of those 10 spots for the semi-finalist for the Hobey award, if not a top 3…..either way, was great to see the crowd back into it tonight, no doubt the players were glad they showed up, and the student section was fantastic as always!!! Now onto Boston, and playing our favorite coach…Parker, lets tick him off and show the two game sweep earlier this year wasnt just luck and take care of business friday! go Blue!!
Oh ya…..wasnt thrilled looking at the pairwise and see us drop to 11th…..but either way, no reason we shouldnt still make it! Congrats again!!
10th now
How do we move up when no one plays for the day? LOL….and whats up with the national poll dropping us to 11th? Oh well…..lets just play under the radar!
Another great Team effort Blue! Congratulations to the players and coaches on a big series win. Bring this effort, passion and style of play to the Garden and you guys will be just fine. Go Blue!
Anyone have an update on Parker’s injury?
Yes hopefully this is not serious…he’s a important part of the team with his high energy/hustle…from what I could see he had a hard time to put weight on his leg/knee…looked to be in pain….hopefully he can bounce back.
Hats off to the entire Maine team tonight! They played a hard fought, disciplined game tonight from minute 1 to minute 60. I was most impressed with how they just got up and walked away when Merrimack started their antics in the 2nd period. I’d love to know what Joey Diamond got 2 minutes for – he got nailed after the whistle and go up without any sort of retaliation. Way to go Blackbear hockey and good luck against BU.
Oh yeah, can anyone explain how there can be a Merrimack penalty and a Maine embellishment call??? Isn’t that like a block and a charge in a basketball game – you can’t have both?!?!
Question: Where was Sponge Bob with the flag tonight?
Merrimack, is probably this be defensive team in the country… The Maine Black Bears are probably the Best team in the country.. Both opinions are mine and don’t represent that of the BDN or other Maine Hockey Freaks.
Absolutely. Either team can beat anybody. Let’s see how it plays out. As for Tim, what do you posters want from him? He and Jerry York are the class of college hockey. Shawn is gone and no one will replace him. But Timmay has a demeanor which makes me proud and Jack Parker and coaches like him are not for me. Watch him this weekend that obnoxious tyrant.
Larry I am a fan but why would you give any KUDOS to MC for sat nites farce. They shamed the game and never manned up in that contest. The Coach stooped to a new low on sat and kudos to the Black Bear team tonite for not getting down and playing Gutter Hockey. CMON Larry!
Mr. Mahoney, you apparently were watching the Saturday night game through rose colored glasses. Just curious who did you borrow them from, the announcers for Merrimack? Hope you returned them before they left this evening.
‘Mack played the only way they could win and that was dirty.
I have done it so I can say it …. “What a joke the referees were for Sat. & Sun. games.” If that goal was an intentional kick …. ??? If that’s not a goal, then the rule should be no goals count unless off a players stick. Benedetto just continues the kind of one sided refereeing that Maine has had to play through in Hockey East from Bunyon forward. The “let’s take two” mentality is the true “embellishment” penalty of the weekend.
Great game by the Black Bears …. Merrimack is an impressive defensive team, but it was overshadowed by the “dirtiness”.
The incident on Sunday late in the 3rd period when Abbott was attacked should have been resolved with the Merrimack player being ejected for taunting.
Good luck in Boston .. Wish I could go … Just might :)
All and all they did a good job.
You musta been watchin with those “rose colored” glasses of Mahoney’s :)
Excellent job by the team to not take the bait on Sunday night. On to the Garden and a chance to beat the hated Terriers
Beat the Dogs!!!
One more thing, Coach Whitehead “we need a little more support from you during this type of game” …. Those kids need you to stand up and battle for them …. Sorry, but it didn’t look very well on television when the other coach (who must know that he was getting the benefit of many of those calls) was doing his best political maneuvering with the referees and all we got to see was “acknowledgment” from you …. We needed some verbal offense from you on Sat. night !!
Your a really nice guy and great potential … Just need you to bring it to the next level … Would hate to see you go !!!
The headline says advances to semifinals. The first sentence says returns to quarterfinals. All the excitement must have caused a momentary blimp because Mahoney obviously knows better; however, this type of error raises some doubt on the accuracy of the article. What else was overlooked because of a partisan view? An earlier column by one of BDN’s writers (Symboliak – ?) criticizes readers for being negative about University of Maine; however, this same writer had complained about poor attendance at UMO games. In this case, the error is obvious and BDN writers should start spending more time on details and less time on self-promotion while presenting the relevant facts.
I have a couple of observations from last night’s game (it was the first one I got to see this weekend):
1. Merrimack has a dirty hockey team
2. Can someone PLEASE clarify for me the “kicking in the puck” rule? Mike Tuell on TV seemed to think that it had to be an actual kicking motion, while Larry and Dan seemed to be of the opinion that if it went off a Maine player’s skate, that it should be disallowed. It ended up not mattering, but it easily could have. Frankly, I thought the Maine player “guided” into the net, but anyway….
3. The “embellishment” rule REALLY needs to be looked at. If all it takes to get a star player off of the ice is to pull his leg out from under him during a faceoff, then there is a big issue…
4. Thank you to Mike Tuell for finally bringing up an issue on TV last night: Why wasn’t Whitehead on top of the boards SCREAMING at the refs during that debacle in the second period. They swung the camera to Whitehead during the fiasco, and he wasn’t even standing; he was crouched down just watching behind the bench….argh!!
Good job last night by the Black Bears. A tough series against a tough opponent.
Pretty much the theme for the weekend was if you were hooked, slashed, or tripped and you went down, then it had to be embellishment……. This call is out of control!
I will take Whitehead’s calm demeanor over Dennehy ‘s/Parker’s dirty play game plans any day. With that being said, Tim you need to get some fire in your belly and fight for these boys because they are out there playing hard for you….!
I agree. You don’t have to be a jerk like Jack Parker and start throwing crap at the refs and punching man fans behind the bench (as happened during a game at Alfond I was at back in the early 90s), but COME ON Whitehead, at least stick up for your players so they know you care!!!
I actually found an old BDN article about that incident. It was in 1991 for all you kids who probably weren’t even born yet!
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19910129&id=Oq1JAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cg4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=5519,4264844
I agree with not acting like a child or “jerk”. However, what I did see and admire was the way that Dennehy worked the officials even though he had to know it was wrong. All he did was got his points in and let the refs know where he stands. Right or wrong …. IT WORKED!!!~ Some would say that “it wouldn’t make a difference” … I disagree as refs are humans and can only deal with so much and only want to deal with so much. The calls really couldn’t have gotten any worse. :)
That diving call against Maine is made often in Orono. All a player has to do is be on the ice.
Tuell used to be an official, so I would take his word over anything the radio guys said. According to Tuell on the CW last night, the rule allows a goal to be scored if the puck deflects off an offensiv player’s skate. However, the player cannot kick the puck and he cannot redirect the puck (such as by changing the angle of his skate). Apparently the referee ruled that the player intentionally changed the angle of his skate to deflect the puck into the net.
From what I saw, the replays were inconclusive at best. In real-time, I didn’t see anything wrong. One slow-motion angle suggested that the player MAY have changed the angle of his skate. Another angle indicated the change in angle was probably the result of the player’s stopping.
Hockey isn’t my specialty. But I would think that unless a replay is DEFINITIVE, the call made at the time of the play should stand.
As for Whitehead’s demeanor after the embellishment that wasn’t, you don’t honestly think acting like a child would have changed anything, do you?
Act like a child (Parker / BU and the water bottle incident) … NO … However, working the officials and letting them know your distaste for what they are doing is another thing. By the way, Whitehead seemed to think the game was refereed just fine during his post game comments. Not the same game I saw …. Maine was taken to the shed by the refs on Sunday and won the game despite it .. Typical for us though as we are pretty used to it, but Sunday’s “job” was up there with the finest. The referees should be reviewed by Hockey East for the performance. Somebody else posted it best …. SHAMEFUL !!!!!
It was refreshing to see Mike Tuell calling out Whitehead for his lack of passion. Too bad other “journalists” can’t do the same.
They are going to the Garden for the Hockey East Semifinals… not Quarterfinals, as the article says..
I tell you, the paper must have fired the entire copy desk…
you think you could do better, bro?
Yup.
An awesome series win. Just awesome. For those who call Whitehead’s complete and utter lack of passion a calm demeanor, get a grip. The fans need a coach who can stand up for his team. Shameful.
iairmaxshoes.com