BOSTON — The University of Maine’s scoring woes and power-play problems reared their ugly heads again Saturday night.
Despite an impressive performance going toe-to-toe on the road against the No. 7 team in the country, the Black Bears were shut out for the fifth time as junior defenseman Garrett Noonan’s first-period power-play goal gave the Terriers a 1-0 victory.
Noonan scored 7:13 into the first period and freshman goalie Sean Maguire made 28 saves as BU improved to 10-5 overall and 8-4 in Hockey East. BU has won four of its last five.
Maine fell to 2-11-2 and 1-7-2. Maine is now 2-7-2 in games decided by one goal or less.
Maine entered the game ranked 58th among 59 teams in goals per game (1.43) and 57th in power-play percentage (7.5 percent).
The Bears had a five-minute power play over the game’s final 5:32 and pulled goalie Martin Ouellette in the waning stages but they couldn’t equalize.
Maguire made one terrific save during the Maine power play as he closed his pads on Mark Anthoine’s tip-in off a Billy Norman wrister from the point.
“It’s like someone has it out for us,” said Anthoine. “That was one where I got a tip on it and I felt something good was going to happen.”
Anthoine said they had other instances where people were set up in front of the net “but the puck bounced over our sticks.”
Maguire had also made a good save earlier on Joey Diamond’s slap shot from the high slot.
Ouellette finished with 20 saves, including one great glove stop on Cason Hohmann’s penalty shot with 4:52 left in the second period.
Maine was without sophomore defenseman Jake Rutt (flu) and senior defenseman Mike Cornell got hurt (upper body) in the first period and missed the rest of the game.
The Black Bears got off to an ominous start as the Terriers won the opening faceoff and spent the next 3:30 in the Maine zone, cycling the puck effectively and tenaciously keeping the puck away from the Black Bears.
Ouellette came up with a couple of saves during the siege but his mates did a respectable job limiting the Terriers’ high-percentage chances despite their failures to clear the puck.
BU had successive power plays later in the period and capitalized on the second one when Danny O’Regan made a precise diagonal pass to Noonan in the left circle and Noonan one-timed it past Ouellette into the short-side corner.
“We’ve been working on that in practice. O’Regan made a great pass,” said Noonan, whose 16 goals last season tied him for the top spot among college defensemen.
“It was a good shot but I could have stopped it,” said Ouellette.
The Black Bears got better as the period moved along and did a credible job clogging up the neutral zone against the speedy and highly-skilled Terriers. They were also able to generate some rush chances off transition chances.
The shots were 8-8 in the first period with Ouellete making five Grade-A saves to Maguire’s two.
Diamond had a good chance to open the second period as he skated down the middle of the slot, used a BU defenseman as a screen and snapped a 25-foot wrister that Maguire saved by squeezing his pads.
Ouellette made a nifty reaction stop a few minutes later when Hohmann redirected an Alexx Privitera slap pass on goal. Ouellette shifted his pad to kick out the attempt.
“It was frustrating,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “I liked the fight and competitiveness we showed. There were a lot of positives. But we’re not looking for moral victories. “
Whitehead said the team’s power play was hurt by the fact “the guys didn’t get their shots off quicker. They’ve got to shoot it even if there isn’t a screen in front. And we had the weak side open but we didn’t get the pass across.”
Noonan said they he wasn’t surprised the last-place Black Bears gave them a battle.
“We watched them on film and they work so hard. We always have trouble with them. After that first shift, we thought it might be pretty easy. But they had us back on our heels the last two periods. They frustrated us,” said Noonan who added that Maguire “bailed us out” at different times including Maine’s last power play.
1-0 means this team is back big time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember when all the “internet crazies” were saying this program was headed for disaster and all the apologists continued to do their apologizing for this coach? I do. Remember apologists, you are also to blame for this.
Amen.
It really didn’t matter if this was 1-0 or 10-0. A loss is a loss. This season just gets worse and worse. Will we hit double digit wins? Doubtful Want to help? If you’re heading to Alfond Arena, wear RED. Show your displeasure with this coach by “Wearing RED to fire Tim Whitehead.” Pass it on.
Red is great, we have had RED faces for 2 years. I really think people who can fire “Tim” either don’t get it or don’t Care!
Perhaps the money wasted on this team could be better spent in other areas.
Maybe in the Humanities or the Arts, for example.
Are you kidding? That’s the LAST thing UME would do. We’re moving ever closer to a vocational focus in which programs/depts. that don’t contribute directly to Maine’s economy are being targeted for ever more reductions by the System and the Trustees, most of them Gov. Baldacci appointees.
No thanks. But enhancing programs that provide tangible skills is not a bad idea.
We don’t need more unemployed English majors running around with 40K in student loan debt. There are however plenty of fields that cannot find workers with necessary skills.
However, why not just fire Whitehead and restore a hockey program that brings the school revenue?
Abbott needs to take a hard look at both the short term cost of buying Tim out AND the long term cost to the University and Maine hockey of keeping him. I’m a UM alum and had hockey season tickets up until 3 years ago when I realized that it just wasn’t very exciting any more, and I could buy tix at the door for an occasional game, and it’s only got worse since then. Instead of building on UMaine’s once proud hockey tradition he’s managed to turn it into a pathetic shadow of its former self. How long will we all have to wait for Maine hockey to even start on the long road back to respectability?
Until Whitehead is old enough collect Social Security.
Another game another loss, Maine is now last in goals per game, 59th in the nation out of 59, way to recruit Timmay
Dubious distinction.
This team needs fans now not only when they are winning. The game was absolutely amazing to watch and the players are very talented. It’s a grand game and that is what it is, a game.
This team needs a coach.
I think the team deserves some credit for this game. It wasn’t a win, but they played hard for 60 minutes.
Moral victories are for losers.
Im going to agree with you. Does Maine have a pathetic time scoring goals? Obviously!! Look at this way. Ouellette has been playing very well. Since the BC and UNH home weekend, they have played 6 games, all of which Marty started and they were 1 goal games of which the most goals allowed 3 and that was only once! Ok so its fair to say the D and tending has gotten better. BU is a good team and it was a road game and Maine still had a chance to win! We all know this year is done, nothing miraculous is going to happen and YES they still are losing. There are SOME positive signs here that this team is not bad as their record! If you read they USHO forum on recruiting it looks to be a good incoming class, this class has some upside, this team is going to be pretty good once the growing pains are over! Timmmay, may or may not be here next here who really knows? Does he need to go after this year, I think he does. Either way I think this group looking to next year is going to be competitive.
This team might improve, but the only way it’s ever gonna get “pretty good” is with a change at the top. TIMMAY’s shown that unless he has a team stocked with topnotch talent, he can’t do anything with them.
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of seeing one good season in the midst of 4 or 5 .500 and below seasons. There’s no reason why this team can’t at least be competitive, year in, year out.
I agree with you. Everyone is sick of the inconsistency year in and year out. Personally, looking at this team now coaching included, not good but better than their record, If they were getting smoked every game I would think the future look dismal. NOW is the time if you look at it, you have some talent, some incoming talent by the looks next year (Finally have commits from USHL over the EJHL) and without the current coach being able to get the most out of every player game in and out bring someone in after this season I believe it wont take that long to get back to competing for HE titles and being nationally relevant again. One semester done, half way through the season! Freshman are aquatinted to the level of play now, will improve with or without Timmay in the second half and will come into next season pretty seasoned having played so much this year! D has actually done a good job over the past 6 games as well as Ouellette playing very well with a new coach at the helm I can see this team being very competitive a year from now!
Disclaimer:
In no way is this team good now (2-11-2) and Timmay does need to go I am not making any excuses for him, his time has come to move on! Looking at the big picture this team has a decent group and think the core is workable!
They played good defense. Offensively they are a mid level high school team. When you have a 5 minute power play with the game on the line u pressure pressure pressure. Last nite they looked like a bunch of fish out of the water. There just is no leaders on this team starting at the top. Fire whitehead.!
Five minute power play at the end of the game. I was waiting for an aggressive move to pull the goalie early, score the tying goal 6 on 4, then have the power play for the balance of the game. Didn’t happen until about 30 seconds left in the power play. The team has proven they can’t score with a one man advantage, why not try to win the game? Would a 2-0 loss if B.U. scored an empy netter have been worse than 1-0?
Dubuque is 19-3-1. I like their coaches. Too bad we couldn’t get them to come to Orono.
The Jimmy and Grant push undermines the main issue of firing Tim Whitehead. It can confuse folks as to whether people want Jim Montgomery, or whether they want to fire Tim Whitehead. The truth is, we need a national search.
I disagree. Jimmy and Grant are both known quantities, and they also are familiar with our school and what it means to live in eastern Maine and nobody would be more dedicated to restoring Maine hockey than those two. Grant has a long track record as probably the best recruiter and goalie coach in college hockey, and we all have seen Montgomery’s leadership ability and watched him grow as a consistently winning coach. I can’t imagine what better applicants might result from a national search. But, whether Jimmy and Grant could be successfully recruited to come back to Maine, any coach that takes a program from first in the country to among the very best worst, needs to find a new line of work.
Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but isn’t Standbrook like 80 years old?
I think he’s about 75 but even now very, very few of us who are 20 or 30 years younger could keep up with him if you’re referring to his physical abilities. Besides, I don’t advocate we use him to demonstrate checking techniques. His knowledge of the game in general and especially his legendary results in recruiting and developing goalies is a huge asset to any team he signs on to help. He likes our local area and if he was happy with the direction of the program and felt like he was contributing, I bet we could get another 10 years out of him. Sure, 20 would be better but by the time he’s ready to entirely give up hockey, he and Montgomery could have Maine hockey back in the hunt for a 3rd NC so I’d be willing to “settle” for that…or we could keep hoping for an occasional “moral victory” or “improvement in some areas,” etc.,,,,,,,
Two words: Cindy Blodgett. She is/was Maine Women’s Basketball. If Jim Montgomery is the best candidate after that, fine. But keep in mind, he has no head coaching experience in the college game. Do you hand the turnaround of the program to someone that green on head coaching experience at this level?
Unlike Cindy, Montgomery does have head coaching experience and has been very successful as a head coach and has made contacts in leagues that Maine can recruit from, he also has people skills, and proven ability to motivate and lead. No highly successful Div. 1 college coach is going to be willing to leave his highly successful program and move to Maine and commit to staying here for the duration, whereas Montgomery and Standbrook just might. They are both proven winners and would bring winning back to Maine.
UMaine winter sports teams are now 7-38-2.
AWESOME!!!!!!
Maine fell to 2-11-2 and 1-7-2……Nothing left to say.