ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine has had a number of impressive freshmen over the years, but it’s difficult to recall any who had a hat trick in their debuts.
Right wing Mitchell Fossier from Alpharetta, Georgia did just that on Friday night with three goals as the Black Bears upended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 5-1 at Alfond Arena in a mutual season-opener.
Freshmen scored all five UMaine goals and also had two assists.
The two teams will play again at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Fossier scored goals in the first, second and third periods.
“It was super fun. Being my first game, I didn’t know what to expect,” said Fossier, who credited linemates Nolan Vesey and Chase Pearson with making his hat trick possible.
Pearson had a goal and an assist and Vesey had three assists.
Center Patrick Shea had a goal and right wing Ryan Smith picked up an assist.
Shea and Fossier scored 1:26 apart early in the first period to give UMaine a lead it would never relinquish.
Fossier scored the lone goal in the second period and added an insurance goal after Pearson and RPI’s Jared Wilson swapped goals 45 seconds apart early in the third period.
The Black Bears carried play in the first period to the tune of a 16-8 margin in shots on goal, but goalie Rob McGovern did have to come up with a pair of breakaway saves off Jesper Ohrvall and Drew Melanson to preserve the lead.
RPI coach Seth Appert said Maine’s “intensity level in the first period” set the tone for the game.
“Maine was fantastic,” said Appert who felt Maine’s veterans led the way with their tenacity and the freshmen followed suit.
“We wanted to come out and create our own energy and we did a great job of that,” said Vesey.
Shea opened the scoring at the 6:06 mark when he took pass from Smith, broke down the right wing, waited for an RPI defenseman to drop down to try to block the shot and snapped a wrister from the right circle deflecting into the short side off RPI goalie Chase Perry.
“I was just trying to put it on net to create a rebound,” said Shea.
Fossier expanded the lead off a rebound.
Nolan Vesey slipped the puck to Pearson in the low slot, and Perry made a nice save on the point-blank attempt.
But the rebound spilled to the goalie’s left, and Fossier roofed it from a tight angle.
Midway through the period, Ohrvall impressively corralled a long pass behind the UMaine defense and broke in alone on McGovern. But McGovern held his ground and made a stick save.
A UMaine turnover led to the Melanson breakaway, and McGovern was able to get his chest on the shot.
The Black Bears got into some penalty problems in the second period but were able to kill off five RPI power plays, including a 39-second five-on-three.
McGovern made 15 of his 29 saves in the second period and the Black Bears also caught a couple of breaks when shots by Jacob Hayhurst and Melanson hit the crossbar.
“They had some good chances in the second period. Rob McGovern made some big saves,” said Maine coach Red Gendron.
“We had a 10-minute stretch in the second period when we created some chances but McGovern played really well,” agreed Appert.
Fossier expanded the lead at the 7:30 mark when he swatted home an Eric Schurhamer rebound after Blaine Byron had won a faceoff back to Schurhamer.
Linemate Pearson made it 4-0 early in the third period by one-timing a Vesey pass past Perry from the right circle on a four-on-one break.
After Wilson’s screened one-timer from the right circle on the power play cut into the lead, Vesey and Fossier worked a nifty give-and-go with Fossier finishing it off with a 16-foot wrister into the far corner.
UMaine outshot RPI 36-30.
Maine killed off eight of RPI’s nine power plays.
“The penalty killing was very, very good,” said Gendron who added that in addition to the freshmen, Maine had several other players turn in exceptional performances even though they didn’t show up on the scoresheet.
He mentioned defensemen Mark Hamilton and Rob Michel along with right wing Brendan Robbins and he also felt Cam Brown and Byron shone.
Perry finished with 31 stops.