ORONO, Maine — The youthful University of Maine men’s hockey team continued to exhibit a penchant for the dramatic in the third period on Friday night.
Trailing third-ranked Quinnipiac by two goals with just 6:55 remaining, the Black Bears rallied to tie it on goals by Eric Schurhamer and Patrick Shea and then won it in 4-3 overtime on freshman right wing Mitch Fossier’s power-play goal with 2:52 left in the extra period.
UMaine had rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 4-2 last Saturday night.
Fossier now has all three game-winners for the 3-0 Black Bears. He also has a team-leading five goals.
Quinnipiac, the NCAA runner-up last season, fell to 1-1-1.
The teams play again Saturday night at 7.
Rob McGovern finished with 25 saves for UMaine while Chris Truehl made 26 for Quinnipiac.
The thriller was played in front of a sellout crowd of 5,125.
Freshman center Shea had set up Schurhamer’s goal with 6:55 left to pull UMaine within 3-2, tied it up by sweeping his own rebound home from his stomach and then drew the penalty in overtime that led to the goal as he was hauled down by Andrew Taverner while skating down the slot and getting off a shot.
Fossier was positioned near the left faceoff dot when he received a cross-ice pass from Schurhamer.
“I just tried to get my shot off quickly,” said Fossier. “There was some traffic in front. It went in off the near post.”
“Mitch is a very smart hockey player. When players are in the right position, the puck finds them,” said UMaine coach Red Gendron.
Fossier registered two assists to go with his goal while Schurhamer and sophomore defenseman Rob Michel each posted two assists.
Shea had tied the game with 4:53 remaining with a terrific individual effort.
He took a Mark Hamilton pass and busted down the right wing while surrounded by Bobcats. Truehl kicked out the shot but Shea kept driving to the net and, after being knocked down to the ice by Derek Smith and with Smith on top of him, he swept the puck into the net.
Smith received a slashing penalty on the play.
“(Gendron) kept yelling shoot, shoot, shoot,” said Shea. “I just whacked at (the rebound).”
“Patrick is a tank,” said Gendron.
Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said his team had a defensive breakdown on Shea’s goal but added “you have to give (Shea) credit for making a play.”
Schurhamer had made it 3-2 when he skated behind a Quinnipiac defenseman and snapped a 10-foot wrister between Truehl’s pads off a perfect feed from Shea.
Tanner MacMaster’s goal with 8:29 left in the third period had restored a two-goal lead for the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac took a 2-0 lead in the second period on power-play goals 1:06 apart by Taverner and Thomas Aldworth. UMaine’s Nolan Vesey answered on the power play early in the third period and gave the Black Bears some momentum.
But MacMaster found himself all alone in front of McGovern and when Connor Clifton’s slapper from the right point spilled over to him off McGovern’s pad, he calmly deposited it into the empty net.
Gendron said the Vesey goal gave the Black Bears some confidence and that stayed with them the rest of the game even after MacMaster had scored.
“The kids believe in each other,” said Gendron. “There was no magic elixir. The kids kept battling. They never quit.”
“We played with more intensity in the third period,” said Schurhamer. “We have more swagger now.”
Taverner’s goal came on a 5-on-3 as penalties 1:33 apart on Daniel Perez (holding) and Cedric Lacroix (hooking) gave the Bobcats a 27-second, two-man advantage.
Taverner was positioned at the base of the right faceoff circle and one-timed a diagonal pass from Chase Priskie into the short-side corner.
Aldworth scored a similar goal from the other circle off perfect cross-ice pass from Priskie.
Scoring chances were few and far between in the scoreless first period as the teams combined for only six Grade-A scoring attempts over the first 20 minutes, four by Quinnipiac.
McGovern had three Grade-A stops and Truehl had two.
“It was a great college hockey game,” said Gendron. “Both teams battled. Quinnipiac played their tails off.”
Pecknold, the Spencer Penrose Award recipient as the national coach of the year last season, said his team played well in spurts.
“You’ve got to give Maine credit. They battled hard,” said Pecknold, who was irritated that his team gave the Black Bears 12 power plays.
“I don’t recall ever giving another team 12 power plays,” said Pecknold, who felt his team has to do a better job adapting to the way the game is being called this season.
Taverner had two assists to go with his goal for Quinnipiac.