The University of Maine’s hockey team’s offensive woes continued.
And the result was another loss.
Merrimack College’s six-foot-eight sophomore goalie Hugo Ollas made 32 saves and sophomore center Matt Copponi scored a first-period goal as the 19th-ranked Warriors extended their winning streak to four games and UMaine’s winless streak to six games with a 1-0 Hockey East victory at Lawler Arena in North Andover, Massachusetts, on Friday afternoon.
Merrimack is now 7-3 overall and 5-1 in Hockey East while UMaine fell to 2-7-1 and 0-4-1, respectively.
The teams will play again Saturday night at 7 in North Andover.
UMaine outshot Merrimack 32-23, including a 17-8 edge in the third period.
But it was UMaine’s third consecutive one-goal loss to a nationally ranked opponent after it lost a pair of 3-2 games at UConn last weekend.
It is the eighth time UMaine has been held to two goals or less this season.
UMaine has scored only nine goals during its six-game winless stretch.
The Black Bears have scored just seven goals in their five Hockey East games.
“It is the same as the last six or eight games. We’re having a hard time putting the puck in the net,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “I hope it breaks for us soon. It’s not like we aren’t getting chances.”
Barr, in his second year as head coach, said they have to stay positive.
“The guys are doing a lot of good things. I have to believe it will change. It’s frustrating, no doubt, but I have a lot of faith in the guys in that locker room,” Barr said. “They will change our destiny. They are working too hard to not get some results going forward. We will stay on it.”
Ten of the 19 UMaine skaters who played were freshmen.
Merrimack’s Copponi scored with 7:36 left in the first period.
Alex Jefferies took a shot that was saved by UMaine goaltender Victor Ostman, but the rebound spilled over to Copponi, who snapped the puck past Ostman.
It was his third goal of the season.
He had scored only three in his 25 games last season.
Warriors leading scorer Jefferies picked up an assist, as did UMass transfer Slava Demin.
Ollas protected the lead a few minutes later when he made a nice stop off Ben Poisson, who received a nifty pass from Lynden Breen and got off a quick shot.
Merrimack had a 10-8 shot advantage in the first period.
UMaine had a decided edge in the first half of the second period, outshooting the Warriors 7-2.
But the Black Bears couldn’t capitalize.
UMaine finished with a 7-5 edge in shots on goal in the period, which left both teams with 15 shots on goal after the first two periods.
Each team had also attempted the same number of shots through the first 40 minutes, 33.
UMaine carried the play in the third period but couldn’t solve Ollas.
Ostman finished with 22 saves.
“Victor played very well,” said Barr, who also credited Ollas with a top-quality performance.
Both goalies are from Sweden.
Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play and UMaine is now a dismal 3-for-34 with the man advantage (8.8 percent success rate).