ORONO, Maine —- It had been a while since the University of Maine’s hockey team had won back-to-back games. The Black Bears swept UMass 6-5 in overtime and 3-2 on Oct. 31-Nov. 1
But the Black Bears opened the 2015 portion of their schedule by completing a sweep of Atlantic Hockey’s Canisius College Golden Griffins by virtue of a hard-fought 3-1 triumph on Saturday night before 3,910 at Alfond Arena.
Maine had won Friday night’s game 4-1.
Freshman left wing Nolan Vesey had a goal and an assist as Maine won for the third time in four games and improved to 6-13-1. Canisius fell to 6-8-5.
Will Merchant’s second goal of the season, coming with 1:55 remaining in the first period, proved to be the game-winner. It capped a spurt of three goals in a span of 2:05 and broke a 1-1 tie.
Blaine Byron had opened the scoring on the power play before Ralph Cuddemi equalized with the man-advantage for the Golden Griffins. Byron’s goal was his team-leading ninth and Cuddemi’s was his 10th, which tops his team.
Vesey’s fourth goal, all of which have come in his last five games, expanded the lead in the second period and Maine efficiently protected the lead by carrying the play.
Maine outshot Canisius 39-26, including a 17-6 edge in the second period, and had 27 Grade-A (high-percentage) scoring chances to Canisius’ 17.
“We played very well,” said junior right wing Merchant. “We got off to a slow start but we got back into it. We were physical and we played very well defensively. That’s something we’ve worked hard on.”
“Maine was relentless,” said Canisius senior captain and defenseman Doug Jessey. “They were dumping pucks in [to the offensive zone] and coming down to hammer you. That fourth line [Stu Higgins between Cedric Lacroix and Malcolm Hayes] just beats you up all night and every other line after that takes advantage and adds to it a little bit at a time. It kind of wears on you after a while.”
“That’s what we try do to…come after people,” said Maine coach Red Gendron. “We always play that way. We play in your face.”
Maine freshman goalie Sean Romeo finished with 25 saves of which 12 were Grade-A stops.
“I thought I played pretty well but the team made it easy for me all weekend,” said Romeo. “We had focused on defense and defensive zone coverage all week. I didn’t have a whole lot to do back there but when I did (make a save), the guys cleared the rebound and made it easy for me to see.”
Byron opened the scoring at the 15:40 mark.
Vesey fed Devin Shore for a point-blank wrister at the far post.
Canisius freshman goalie Reilly Turner scrambled across to make the save but the rebound spilled across to the far post where Byron shoveled it into the open net to extend his points streak to five games.
Cuddemi tied it 1:32 later when he parked at the edge of the crease and tapped in a nifty cross-crease pass from Cody Freeman.
Merchant broke the deadlock courtesy of a fortuitous bounce.
A Shore backcheck enabled Connor Leen to gain the puck and set himself up for a shot in the slot.
Leen fanned on the shot but the puck rolled to Merchant and he snapped a 16-footer through the pads of Turner.
“It was a great fake-out by Connor,” quipped Merchant. “It was even better work by [Shore] to put back pressure on the guy. That’s what created everything for us. The puck popped to my stick [after Leen fanned on it] and I took a quick shot on net. I’ve been working on getting the puck to the net quicker.”
Gendron called it a “huge goal.
“We were totally in control of the game before we took an absolutely stupid penalty and they scored,” said Gendron, referring to a holding penalty on Hayes. “Then Devin backchecked the puck in a big way and got them to turn it over. The puck wound up on Merchant’s stick and he just brought it to his forehand and wired it. It was a great goal.
“That helped us recapture the momentum and, essentially, we didn’t relinquish it after that,” added Gendron.
Vesey made it 3-1 at the 6:10 mark of the middle period when he corralled a bouncing puck off the stick of Liam Pecararo, stickhandled cleverly past a defenseman and tucked the puck past Turner’s left skate from a tight angle.
Turner turned in a stellar performance with 36 saves of which 14 were Grade-A’s.
Canisius had two power-play chances in the third period but managed just one total shot on goal as Maine did an excellent job on the penalty kill.
Shore had two assists and now has six in his last four games.