Flynn leads Maine to rout of St. Lawrence 10-1
college hockey

Flynn leads Maine to rout of St. Lawrence 10-1


15 of 18 Black Bear skaters register points, fuel offensive outburst in Portland
By Larry Mahoney
BDN Staff

PORTLAND, Maine — The 5,279 fans on hand at the Cumberland County Civic Center to watch the University of Maine’s annual hockey game in Portland hadn’t even settled in their seats when the Black Bears took a 1-0 lead over perennial ECAC contender St. Lawrence University on Saturday night.

It was 2-0 before they finished their soda and 3-0 before they consumed their popcorn.

And it continued as the Black Bears reached double figures for the first time since a 12-5 win over Boston College on Nov. 22, 1997 by virtue of their 10-1 triumph over the Saints.

Maine improved to 6-7-1 overall with a dynamic performance coming on the heels of Friday night’s impressive 3-1 Hockey East win at UMass Lowell against the nation’s third-ranked team.

St. Lawrence fell to 7-6-1.

Fifteen of Maine’s 18 skaters figured in the scoring led by the recently reunited line of junior center and captain Tanner House between sophomores Brian Flynn and Gustav Nyquist. That line combined for five goals and eight assists as left wing Flynn had two goals and three assists; House had two and two and right wing Nyquist added a goal and three assists.

They were linemates most of last season but had played just one game together this season until being reunited. This was their third consecutive game back together.

“It’s nice to be back with those two guys,” said Flynn, who hasn’t had a five-point game since junior hockey. “We picked up where we left off last year.”

Nyquist added, “It’s fun to play with them. We have great chemistry out there.”

“They’re both great players,” said House. “They make my job pretty easy. I let them work down low and get creative and I hang out in the slot and they find me all the time. I’m glad we’re back together.”

“We knew they were good players coming in. We weren’t able to stop them,” said St. Lawrence senior center Travis Vermeulen.

Maine’s potent power play also snapped out of a four-game, 3-for-24 slump with five power- play goals in eight attempts.

St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh said it was the most lopsided loss he can recall in his 25 years at St. Lawrence.

“That was men against boys out there,” said Marsh. “Maine did a great job. They played with a lot of intensity. They looked like the Maine Black Bears of old. I’m a little embarrassed, to be honest with you, to come to a great venue like this and not put on a better show.”

“They were hungrier than we were,” said SLU senior first line right wing Mike McKenzie, who was without injured linemates Kyle Flanagan and Jeremiah Cunningham. “They’re a very good team. They move the puck very well.”

Maine junior center Robby Dee had a pair of goals and an assist in the five-goal first period and he opened the scoring 29 seconds into the game by converting an errant cross-ice pass that he picked off in the high slot.

“I got a quick shot off to the upper right corner [over the glove of SLU goalie Alex Petizian]. That’s a place I like to shoot,” said Dee. “I saw an opening there.”

Maine went on the power play and House finished off a pass from Dee at the 3:42 mark.

“Robby was driving wide and I jumped into the play. I was the high guy in the slot and I called for it. I knew we had a three-on-two. Robby laid it back to me and I one-timed it to the blocker side,” said House.

Nyquist expanded the lead at the 8:54 mark after defenseman Ryan Hegarty rescued a puck in the corner and fired a bullet pass to him at the far post.

“That was an unbelievable pass,” said Nyquist. “He saucered it [in the air] over two sticks and it landed right on my stick for a tap-in goal.”

Flynn and Dee added power-play goals at the 14:49 and 17:58 marks to supply Maine with its first five-goal period since the third period of its 8-4 win Western Michigan in the Florida College Classic on Dec. 29, 2006.

The unattended Flynn drove down the middle of the low slot and jammed home a pass from behind the net by Adam Shemansky before Dee cut around a Saints defenseman, who fell down, and roofed a backhander.

Maine’s Joey Diamond, Will O’Neill and Flynn scored in the second period at the expense of Kain Tisi before Jared Keller netted SLU’s goal.

Maine closed out the scoring in the third period when House scored his fifth goal in three games since his line has been reunited and sophomore right wing Theo Andersson notched his first collegiate goal.

“Everybody did a great job tonight,” said Nyquist.

“When you see guys blocking shots with 10 seconds left [in a 10-1 game], that says a lot about our team,” said Flynn.

Maine’s Scott Darling made 17 saves on 18 shots through two periods before Dave Wilson stopped all five shots he faced in the third.

Petizian, Tisi and third-period goalie Robby Moss combined for 14 saves for the Saints.

Maine outshot St. Lawrence 34-23 in extending its unbeaten streak to three games (2-0-1).

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Comments
13 comments on this item

before you guys even say it,, st lawrence is ranked even lower then maine,, Ill take ten goals anytime and finally a good weekend,, but the bangor high team could of beat st lawrence,, dump whitehead

Grayson21.....here you go again....Mr Negative....go kick your dog and yell at your wife. You do a great job putting a negative spin on a postive weekend....what else is new? Go Black Bears! Nice job Coach . Yaddayaddayadda

The first naysayer doesn't even deserve a response. I was at the game. No team in D1 would have beat the Bears Saturday nite. Most importantly and impressive is the fact that only one goal was given up each night. Consistent effort is what this team needs to produce. There is clearly enough talent on the team to get in the conversation nationally. St. Lawrence is a good team that had a bad night and some injuries. Lowell is a very godd team that the Bears manhandled.

Let's give credit where credit is due. When Maine is playing with less than a 100% effort, we jump on them without pity and show no mercy. I think that's we expect from them in a game in and game out effort. Now it's time to send a little "love" their way. Both Friday and Saturday games were very well played games. Maybe St. Lawrence wasn't at the top of their game on Saturday, but Lowell is ranked 3rd in the NATION. Hey, nay sayers explain that one. Okay, let's take a look at the big picture: we've lost some games that SHOULDN'T have been lost ( Coach ) and maybe we've won a couple that maybe we shouldn't have won ( Coach ), but the bottom line is the team is coming together, playing much better than games one and two, and are in the fight to open some NCAA eyes. All we ask as fans is that the team plays hard, never gives up, and keeps the focus. GOOD JOB BEARS!! Can't wait til Friday nite. Big games ahead, go get 'em.

Great attendance at the CCCC; why is Alfond not sold out? 10,000 students and so few are taking advantage of our hard earned tax dollars. OUTRAGIOUS!

I was at the Lowell game. The score doesn't tell the whole story of how Maine clearly out played the #3 team in the country. Things a re coming along nicely...it's a long season and it's not where you are at the beginning but where you are at the end of the

season. I think they'll surprise the naysayers. yaddayadda...the glass is half full ...go blue.

Pretty sure it is not the 10,000 UMaine Students not taking "advantage of your tax dollars"... the last two home games so many UMaine Students were at the game that they were given seats with the general public as the student section was at capacity... nice try though.

Go Maine.

If that is true about the students, great. It just bothers me when the teams can not fill seats. Why do we spend money if no one cares. Maybe the students sections needs to be enlarged and the general public reduced.

As long as the coaches keep coaching and implementing game plans that take advantage of opponent weaknesses, and taking advantage of Maine's strenghths, then I am sure the naysayers will be happy. The naysayers were not simply saying "whitehead sucks because the team is losing", the naysayers were describing with particularity, the problems that Tim never corrected, or even tried to correct. Not a single naysayer is a casual observer. They understand the game and they understand what Maine was not doing the past 2 years and what Maine is finally doing, these past 2 games. But, beating Lowell the same week that Lowell loses to Providence might not tell us a lot. Beating a team that clearly has no goaltender and not a single defender who knows how to take a body out front also might not tell us alot, (there are not many D1 teams with 6 Mushaluks on D, so don't expect Maine to walk around everyone the rest of the season) but if Maine can get to the net against good Hockey East opponents and play each game with playoff intensity, like they did at Lowell this weekend, then I am sure the nay sayers will say that they got what they were asking for, a well-coached team of competitive players who play every shift like it is the most important one ever. We have not seen either of those since Ben Murphy tripped over the blue line.

First off I think its great MAine won twice but talking about beating a #3 program like Lowell means nothing, guess what this week Quinnipiac is #4, anybody watch them play UMass.? Polls mean nothing at this time of year, Lowell was overrated just like Quinnipiac is over rated. The thing thats encouraging is Maine closed a good team like Lowell out and then put their foot on St Lawrences neck and never took it off. Win 2 agaInst PC and I'll start thinking they're turning a corner

I wonder if Sirman regrets his decision to come to Maine. I'm not sure what the logic was to put in a senior goalie after getting the confortable lead instead of giving the playing time to a freshman goalie.

Agree billybob, I liked the killer instinct against St Lawrence. It's good to see them play hard.

hey yaddyadda... if you wife was messing around on ya,, would you kick her to the curb or just let her keep doing it year after year.. speaking of wives and all... you kick her to the curb!!! Great team win... I acklowledged that,, just dont like Whitehead and I have the right to voice that opinion... cause if we dont we will never get our voice out there to get rid of him... there are more people apart of the get rid of whitehead group then the actually fan numbers at alfond on the weekends. Are you guys telling me you think he has been doing a great job with these boys,, hahahahahahha yadddayadda

Ahhhh....I needed a negative point of view...it's been a while....Thanks Grayson21.

I'm good for the day.....yaddayaddayadda

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