ORONO, Maine — A relieved University of Maine hockey team had plenty of energy as it went through a Sunday morning practice in preparation for a pair of games against visiting Princeton University on Friday and Saturday nights.
The 2-8-3 Black Bears (2-4 in Hockey East) had come off their first two wins of the season, 3-2 and 4-1, over Vermont thanks to an exemplary job of penalty-killing, the goaltending of senior Matt Morris and goals by players who were long overdue.
Morris finished with 74 saves, Steven Swavely ended a 19-game goal drought, Nolan Vesey snapped a 16-game famine, Dan Renouf scored for the first time after 14 games, and Blaine Byron and Cam Brown lit the goal lamp after 10 games without one.
In addition to killing off all 10 Vermont power plays, Brown and Swavely scored a pair of shorthanded goals 12 seconds apart on Saturday to give Maine a 2-1 lead it would never relinquish.
Maine held Vermont to eight shots on seven power plays Saturday and is tied for third in the country with three shorthanded goals.
The Black Bears have killed off 32 of the last 34 power plays and are tied for 25th in the country on the penalty kill with an 84.6 percent success rate.
Swavely said associate head coach Ben Guite does a “great job” working with the penalty-killers. Guite was an effective penalty killer throughout his pro career, which included 175 NHL games.
“He shows us what to do and gives us the tools to be successful,” Swavely said.
“You need to have a good stick and keep your head on a swivel. We’ll make adjustments relative to what the other team does on the breakout and in our zone,” sophomore Cedric Lacroix said.
Senior Will Merchant said the Black Bears have been pressuring the puck.
“We don’t want to give anyone time with the puck,” he said.
Merchant noted that they do have to “pick their times” to attack the puck possessor because they don’t want to get out of position. Two of the best times are when “they’re bobbling the puck or on the backhand side.”
The power play also was productive as Maine went 2-for-8 with the man advantage, scoring a power-play goal each night.
The goals by Swavely and Vesey came 7:09 apart on Saturday to turn a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 lead. Vesey’s came on the power play after Swavely’s shorthanded tally.
Both said it was a relief to finally break through.
“It’s big to get that monkey off your back. I can stop worrying about it. It’s a confidence builder,” said Swavely, who hadn’t scored since a 5-3 win over Merrimack on Feb. 14.
“I’d be lying if I said [the drought] wasn’t bothering me. I just tried to stay positive. Hopefully, I’ll get on a roll like I did last year after I scored my first one,” said Vesey, whose last goals came when he had three in a 6-3 win over Northeastern on Feb. 21.
Swavely had eight goals last season, and Vesey had 10.