ORONO, Maine — The University of Minnesota Duluth survived a power outage and the University of Maine men’s hockey team on Friday night.
The Bulldogs received a goal from sophomore center Jade Miller with 8:57 remaining to beat the Black Bears 2-1.
Miller scored just 1:37 after UMaine’s Eduards Tralmaks had tied the game.
Riley Tufte staked the Bulldogs (3-2-2) to a 1-0 lead by scoring in the first minute of play.
Miller took a pass from Billy Exell in the right wing circle and snapped a quick low shot inside the far post past goalie Rob McGovern.
Miller said freshman defenseman Scott Perunovich triggered the rush that led to the goal with a nice play in the neutral zone and Exell made a good feed to him.
“Exell took the puck wide so I did a middle lane drive. Billy gave me the puck, I faked a shot, the goalie bit and I put a backhander in the far corner,” said Miller, whose goal was his second of the season and third of his career.
The Black Bears generated some good chances as they pressed for the equalizer but UMD sophomore goalie Hunter Shepard came up with some important saves, particularly on a UMaine power play and in the six-on-five after UMaine pulled McGovern in favor of the extra attacker.
Freshman defenseman Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi had a glorious chance off a rebound in the middle of the slot but he sailed his shot wide of the half-empty net.
Tralmaks had scored the equalizer for UMaine (2-3) off a 3-on-2 as he took a pass from Canon Pieper at the top of the right circle and beat Shepard with a screened wrist shot. Emil Westerlund went to the net and served as the screener.
McGovern finished with 27 saves and Shepard wound up with 26 including nine of the Grade-A (high-percentage variety) in the third period.
The two teams play again Saturday night at 7:30.
After a one-hour, 27-minute delay due to a power outage, Minnesota Duluth took just 46 seconds to take a 1-0 lead on Tufte’s goal.
Karson Kuhlman controlled the puck in the corner to the left of McGovern and slid a short pass to Tufte, who beat McGovern with a one-timer from lower half of the right circle.
The Bulldogs continued to carry the play and had several chances to extend the lead.
But McGovern came up with some critical saves to keep the Black Bears within one and the Bulldogs also missed the net on other occasions.
McGovern robbed Peter Krieger late in the period when he flashed out his glove to snare Krieger’s 20-foot one-timer off a Joey Anderson feed.
Just moments earlier, Anderson pounced on a rebound but had his backhander hit the short-side post.
The Black Bears played better in the latter half of the period and Shepard came up with a good pad stop off Nolan Vesey, who had his first shot blocked by a defenseman but had the puck come right back to his stick.
UMD outshot UMaine 14-8 in the first period after building a 10-2 edge over the first half of the period. The Bulldogs had 13 Grade-A scoring chances to UMaine’s seven and could have had a bigger lead.
McGovern made a couple of gems in the scoreless second period to keep the Black Bears within 1-0.
He stopped Kuhlman’s 12-footer and came up with an even better save later in the period off Jared Thomas, who had a clean breakaway off a long Mikey Anderson pass.
Thomas cut from right to left across the low slot but McGovern moved across with him and got his stick on the point-blank attempt.
McGovern came up with another terrific save early in the third period off Nick Swaney, who was set up nicely by Joey Anderson.
Swaney sliced across the low slot and McGovern cut down the angle and smothered the shot.
“We started slow but we got better as the game went along,” said UMaine coach Red Gendron. “Their goalie made some great saves and we missed some open nets. Both goalies played great. Rob gave us a chance to win.
“It was a real good college hockey game,” added Gendron.
UMD coach Scott Sandelin was pleased with the victory.
“It was a good road win,” said Sandelin. “I really liked our first period. We could have been up by more but their goalie made some key saves.
“We knew Maine wasn’t going to go away. They got better. Hunter made some big saves for us and the guys found a way to get the win,” said Sandelin.
UMaine wore retro uniforms dating back to the first year of the program in 1977.