ORONO, Maine — Two University of Vermont freshmen scored their first career goals and that, plus the waving off of a potential game-tying goal with 6.5 seconds left, enabled the Catamounts to post a 2-1 men’s hockey win over the University of Maine Black Bears Friday night at Alfond Arena.
Center Robert Polesello’s goal with 12:16 left in the third period broke a 1-1 tie after defenseman Yvan Pattyn had scored a second-period equalizer for UVM, which is now 3-7-2 overall and 3-5-2 in Hockey East.
Maine senior right wing Joey Diamond scored a first-period goal for Maine to extend his goal-scoring streak against Vermont to five straight games.
The loss kept the Black Bears winless at home this season as Maine will enter Saturday’s 7 p.m. series finale with an 0-6-1 mark at Alfond Arena.
It was Vermont’s first win on the road after three losses and two ties.
Maine fell to 2-10-1 and 1-6-1, respectively.
Jake Rutt’s wrist shot from the left point had appeared to tie the game but, after a video review, the referees ruled that Diamond was in the crease impeding goalie Brody Hoffman.
Diamond and Maine coach Tim Whitehead wouldn’t comment on the play although Whitehead did tell the media gathering they could draw their own conclusions by watching the replay.
Hoffman said, “I was trying to go down into the butterfly but there was a guy in front of me so I couldn’t go down.”
However, he also said he was prepared to deal with the situation if the goal had been allowed.
“I’ve been involved in five or six video reviews and two or three have gone my way and the others haven’t,” said Hoffman.
Diamond said the Black Bears have had trouble putting together a full 60 minutes and that was the case again Friday night.
Whitehead called the loss “disappointing” and said each player has to play “five percent better” on Saturday night in order to improve.
The Catamounts pulled off the win despite being without three injured forwards who play on their top two lines.
It all boiled down to the final 20 minutes and the Catamounts were clearly the better team in the third period.
“We outworked them,” said Hoffman. “The guys did a great job clearing rebounds and clearing the front of the net.”
“We still came after them in the third period and we played smart,” said University of Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon “This was a real good team win. And we were fortunate that the call went our way in the third period. I know it hurts [Maine]. I’ve been on the other side of a call like that before.”
Sneddon did feel the referees made the right call.
In the third period, the Catamounts were able to sustain their forecheck more effectively than Maine and, after gaining the lead, they did an exceptional job protecting it by clogging up the neutral zone and pressuring Maine all over the ice. They had several chances to expand the lead but couldn’t convert.
Polesello’s game-winner came off a two-on-two with Chris McCarthy.
McCarthy carried the puck down the left wing and slid a short pass to the streaking Polesello, whose rising one-timer sailed over the glove of Maine goalie Martin Ouellette.
“He put it up over my shoulder,” said Ouellette who added that he’ll have to watch the replay to see if he was at fault.
Both goalies finished with 31 saves but Ouellette faced more Grade-A (high-percentage) shots and was the busier of the two. Ouellette finished with 15 Grade-A saves to Hoffman’s 11.
Diamond staked Maine to a 1-0 lead late in the first period but Pattyn tied it up at the 4:51 mark of the middle period.
On Pattyn’s goal, the puck was trapped under the body of Maine’s Steven Swavely in the high slot and it squirted free to Jacob Fallon.
Fallon got the puck over to Pattyn at the right point and his screened snap shot beat Ouellette to the blocker side.
Vermont had a two-man advantage spanning 47 seconds later in the period but the Black Bears did a nice job protecting Ouellette and getting some vital clears.
Maine played much better in the second period, outshooting Vermont 12-7 after being outshot 14-10 in the initial period.
Diamond, one of five players who tied for the national lead in power-play goals with 11 last year, notched his first power-play goal of the season and snapped an eight-game goalless drought with 3:07 left in the first period.
Diamond gained custody of the puck in the high slot, maneuvered from right to left, and took a 25-foot wrist shot that glanced off a UVM defenseman’s hip and beat Hoffman to the blocker side.
It gave Maine, which entered the game with the nation’s worst power-play percentage (5.4 percent), a power-play goal in three of its last four games.
Adam Shemansky picked up an assist.
As always, the refs had it in for the Black Bears. What other explanation holds?
Whitehead stinks?
You’re being way too kind.
Maine shouldn’t be trailing to Vermont anyway. Can’t blame the loss on the officials tonight.
Anyone who blames officiating doesn’t have perspective. Referees never cost a team the game. Only fans believe that they do. Coaching and execution are always the reason teams lose games.
I’m pretty sure that his statement was in jest.
Lots of opposing players seem to score their first career goals vs. Maine……….
UMO Hockey Trivia: When was the last time that UMO Hockey was winless at home on Dec. 1st??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Answer: NEVER!
God help us if I have to ask this same question come January
They very well could go winless at the Alfond this season.
Either fire Whitehead or drop the program. This is a slap in the face to Shawn Walsh.
Amen! Hockey is way too expensive to let it become a drain on university resources.
Amen. RIP Shawn Walsh.
Tim should have lost his mind on the ref. yet all he did was nod his head. 1st reason he should have was to back his team and show them he actually does care! 2nd reason he should have is because his job is on the line and he needs every win or tie he can get ! I guess he just does not care about either !
He doesn’t care about the first part…….he doesn’t have to worry about the second part. Losing coaches NEVER get fired at UM (unless you are a woman of course).
How many games can Maine come out absolutely flat, stay flat and expect to win hockey games. I truly believe this team has SOME talent and is better than what their record would indicate. The problem I see is fundamental hockey systems and lack of any intensity or hunger at all. I have never seen a Maine hockey team be pushed off pucks so easily, lose so many loose puck/board battles and just look slow because they are not attacking. As far as the offense….They are predictable. When they come skating into the zone they always seem to have nowhere to go because they have three guys all lined right up next to each other with no outlets due to no creativity. The only time they seem to keep sustained pressure is when they dump and chase and when you are struggling to score goals you need to do the simple things. Every time it looks like there is a glimmer of an opening to get off a shot in a high quality area, they take too long to shoot the puck. I can’t even remember seeing a one timer tonight. They wind up to shoot even on wrist shots and find more shots getting blocked than I have ever seen. Also players don’t seem to understand to just find an open spot of ice and rotate through the zone to open up more opportunities. Finally, hit the net, keep shots low enough to create rebounds and for the love of god get someone in front of the net! When you cant score you need garbage and grinding goals to get you moving in at least the right direction! Whitehead may be well overdue to be canned, but he is a hockey coach and must tell these guys to at least do those little things and still just are not doing it! A squirt coach knows all the things just mentioned so Whitehead has to be telling these guys to keep it simple!
I don’t think that there is much talent on this team…….because Whitehead can’t recruit talent! Bad coach + little talent = LOSING.
Based on the last several freshman classes, this is the best one in quite some time. Hutton is actually a stud…obviously young and makes mistakes but seems to have made jump very well. The Merchant, Shore and Lomberg line has been most consistant line and actually best line and put most quality shifts of any of them. Shore and Merchant have talent. Being a young team, obviously the Freshman contribute more than previous classes, but there is some talent.
And Whitehead should really help them improve as they become sophs, juniors and seniors…….right???
Spencer Abbott, Brian Flynn, Tanner House, Greg Moore, all got better. Some players wont develop and that is just the nature of it, some kids are not as coachable as others. I am not defending Whitehead by any means…however kids that are talented,especially drafted kids before they even get here are going to develop on their own albeit they should develop more than they do under Whitehead. Abbott had a modest 7 and 9 for 16 his freshman year and 9 an 19 for 28 his sophomore year. His junior made a huge jump and again his senior year. He was not someone on the team that jumped out as wow, he is going to be great ( hobey finalist) before he his done. Recently only Goose was a guy that shocked right out of the gate. My point is players that have that talent are gonna get better regardless and I see a few freshman that look way better than freshman classes in the most recent years that would have a combined 5 pts all season.
Abbott did all of the work on his own attending elite camps during the summer to get better.
That’s what happens when you get rid of one of the best recruiters in college hockey because you cannot get along. I gotta tell ya I would find a way to make it work if I had a guy like Standbrook on my side. Biggest mistake he ever made !
Its obvious that we need change here. However, while I used to and still hate that Joey Diamond can’t stay out of the box, Hockey east officials have gone too far. Schachte thinks there is too much diving in the league so now every breath gets a penalty. Every penalty gets an embelishment, or every Diamond gets no goal. WTF!! NBA here we come. Also, Whitehead your time is up. Abbott , have a spine!
Whitehead has 1 more year after this one to finish out……so he’s not going anywhere. Abbott is a politician that is more worried about his weekend dinner reservations in Portland than he is about what is happening in Orono. And as long as the Alfonds are happy with Whitehead (I hear that they LOVE him)……..then they will continue to fund this god awful mess. Good thing that Orono is on an island and next to no one cares or notices…….because if this were any other D-1 program in this country……..fans, alums, and the local media would be roasting this athletic program and the way that it is run. Stephen King must be laughing his *ss off……..someday he will write a book about it.
cindy blodget had how many more years when she got fired? it’s call breaking a contract. do it now. fans and alums ARE mad, just go to facebook and look up ‘please fire tim whitehead’, and no the people in there are not a bunch of ‘haters’, they’re actually the most dedicated fans of the program
Whitehead needs to go know. Very sad that Abbott does not have two grapefruits to get the job done know.
How much more pathetic can this program get??? I’m beginning to think that Steve Abbott and Tim Whitehead are trying to destroy this hockey program on purpose. But until Maine fans stop buying tickets………this situation will never be rectified.
If you go to the Alfond before the game you can see local business and corporate money pulling down their signage. Companies are in the process of doing next years budget and Maine Hockey is out and money is being shifted to the new Cross Insurance Center. Without funding the program will get even more pathetic. Tim Whitehead is partially responsible for dragging down the system but the powers above him should have applied pressure years ago. This is what you get when you ignore the problem, rely on the fans to keep coming regardless of the performance and don’t have the pucks to make tough decisions. It kind of looks a little like the Bo Sox right now. This year was the first year in 10 years the Red Sox broke their losing consecutive sell out streak. Maine will not sell out the Alfond in a very long time. Once people change their patterns it takes forever, if ever, to get them back.
Sad really, just plain Sad.
The best part about this is that the spotlight is now off Cosgrove. Go Blue.
Maine Hockey stopped being “Maine’s team” when men in suits allowed out of state companies to come in and run the show. I was upset when the University of Maine went with a Missouri based company to take charge of whatever it is they do, and that led to a locally owned station, Stephen King’s WZON ( an alumnus of UMaine), losing the radio contract to broadcast UMaine sports without being able to make a proper counter proposal. What company is in charge of goblackbears.com? Last I knew it was being managed from Atlanta.
And goblackbears.com is pathetic compared to most other D-1 athletic websites.
GREAT post Bushfan……..right on the money. It’s gonna take another Shawn Walsh to get the fans back…….and that happens about once every hundred years.
Wow! Tim needs to come out tonight fired up, break something, even get tossed from the game! Maybe then these guys will play like they care about this once top notch program, if the coach acted like it first……
Regardless, it is time for a change behind the Maine bench. Unless mediocrity is the accepted norm with Maine athletics?
It’s gone too far. They would know it’s just an act and would wonder if he changed his meds. Tim Whitehead will never be able to produce a winning program and he knows this so all he is going to do now is bleed the system for all he can.
Bingo. He and Woodward are very smart. They know that they have a good thing going (financially for themselves). No one to answer to…….no goals to achieve. Must be nice getting $190,000 and $100,000 respectively for doing nothing. Congrats to them……..UMaine should get a whole bunch of crappy candidates to apply for these positions eventually because of this.
Mediocrity???……I’d settle for that right now! This has gone way past “mediocrity”……..it’s downright PATHETIC and EMBARRASSING.
December and no home wins yet……ridiculous