ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men’s hockey team picked up its first victory of the season in dramatic fashion Friday night.
Sophomore defenseman Eric Schurhamer snapped a 1-1 tie with 4:02 left in the third period and the Black Bears received a shorthanded, empty-net goal from Cam Brown with 10.7 seconds to beat Alaska-Anchorage 3-1 at Alfond Arena.
Maine is now 1-4 while UAA fell to 3-1-1. The teams will play again Saturday night.
UAA beat Maine 3-1 in their season opener in Anchorage.
Maine snapped a string of nine consecutive games scoring two goals or less dating back to last season and the Black Bears also ended a streak of four straight regular season home losses.
Maine goalie Matt Morris finished with 33 saves in an outstanding performance and UAA freshman Olivier Mantha was equally superb, winding up with 37 saves.
Maine freshman right wing Liam Pecararo set up the game-winner as he skated down the right wing and took a shot from a difficult angle. Steven Swavely drove to the net and took a whack at the puck and it wound up sitting in the crease where Schurhamer jammed it home.
“Liam did a great job taking it to the net and Steven Swavely swiped at the rebound. The puck was sitting there and their goalie couldn’t find it. He was looking to his left and it was under him. So I poked it with one hand,” said Schurhamer.
UAA went on the power play with two minutes left but the Bears killed it off impressively and Brown swept the puck into the empty net from the left faceoff circle after Blaine Byron had missed the net but chased down the puck in the corner to set up the goal.
“I don’t think they got a sniff on the [late] power play,” said Maine coach Red Gendron. “Hats off to our penalty-killers.”
Maine had a significant territorial edge in the first period but the Seawolves had a decided advantage in the second period as the teams entered the third period tied 1-1.
Mantha stood out in the first period and Morris shone in the second to keep it a low-scoring affair.
The teams swapped first-period goals as Maine senior defenseman Jake Rutt of Scarborough equalized 46 seconds after UAA senior defenseman Austin Coldwell opened the scoring on the power play.
Coldwell’s game-opening goal came at the 9:33 mark as he took a pass from Brett Cameron in the middle of the high slot, took a stride and snapped a screened wrister off the post and into the net.
Rutt answered when he found an open seam in the middle, raced toward the net and fired a 22-foot wrister past Mantha off a feed from Cedric Lacroix.
“Jake did a great job shielding the puck from their backchecker and getting off the shot,” Gendron said.
Maine outshot UAA 17-13 in the first period with both goalies coming up with six Grade-A (high-percentage) saves.
The Seawolves had a 12-9 edge in the middle period with Morris making four Grade-A stops among his 12 and Mantha being forced to make just one.
Maine had a 14-9 edge in shots in the evenly-played third period to finish with a season-high 40. UAA had 34.
“Our guys went to the net hard all night,” said Gendron. “It was a very good team win but we have to get better. Matt Morris was terrific.”
“We had a good talk after the second period. We knew we needed to have a good third period,” said Schurhamer.
UAA head coach and former Maine assistant Matt Thomas was pleased with his team’s performance, especially after they adapted to the Alfond Arena, which is 15 feet narrower than the Seawolves’ Sullivan Arena.
“I liked the way we played. Olivier was phenomenal and their goalie played very well,” said Thomas. “But we turned the puck over a lot in the third period and we didn’t get enough second and third shots. Maine played better in the third period and that was the difference.”
Morris credited his teammates for making his job easier.
“I saw the puck real well,” said Morris. “They kept the shots to the outside. I owe my defensemen a steak dinner.”
Gendron pointed out that it would be a costly endeavor for the goalie.
“At Hilltop,” quipped Morris, referring to the dining commons on campus.
“Their goalie held strong,” said UAA sophomore right wing Dylan Hubbs.