ORONO, Maine — Freshman right wing Josh Nadeau collected a hat trick in Friday night’s 5-2 win over New Hampshire and, on Sunday, it was brother and linemate Bradly’s turn.
Freshman left wing Bradly Nadeau’s hat trick and senior goalie Victor Ostman’s 38 saves led the Black Bears to a 7-3 Hockey East victory over the University of Connecticut in front of 4,665 at Alfond Arena.
UMaine improved to 8-3-1 overall and 5-2-1 in Hockey East. The win also snapped a string of five straight losses to the Huskies. UConn fell to 7-9-1 and 4-6-0.
Bradly Nadeau had an assist to go with his three goals. Sophomore defenseman Brandon Chabrier had a goal and three assists, and Josh Nadeau set up his brother’s three goals to earn three assists. Senior center and co-captain Lynden Breen, junior center Nolan Renwick and sophomore defenseman Brandon Holt had the other goals for UMaine.
UConn sophomore left wing Jake Percival had a pair of goals to lead the Huskies. Senior right wing Nick Capone had the other goal and senior goalie Ethan Haider finished with 31 stops.
“I thought we got outworked for large portions of the game,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “But we found a way to win.”
Barr said his team is not accustomed to getting outworked by its opponent. “They have a big heavy team, and they played really hard. It’s a credit to them. They took it to us physically for a lot of that game. They had as many scoring chances, if not more, but Victor played really well,” he said.
“We have some guys who can make some plays. Obviously some of those goals [we scored] were just ridiculous,” added Barr, referring to the three scored by Bradly Nadeau off pinpoint passes from his brother.
Percival scored the only goal in the first period before UMaine erupted for four second-period goals to take a 4-2 lead.
Breen and Renwick gave UMaine a 2-1 lead in the first 2:35 of the second period before Capone equalized on the power play.
Holt gave UMaine the lead for good at the 13:54 mark before Bradly Nadeau scored UMaine’s first shorthanded goal of the season with 54 seconds left in the period.
The four goals were the most UMaine had scored in a period this season.
Percival’s second goal of the game opened the third period scoring just 1:29 into it.
But Bradly Nadeau scored his second of the game at the 6:15 mark and his third at 10:40 before Chabrier capped the scoring on the power play with 2:51 remaining.
Breen erased the 1-0 deficit at the 1:07 mark and Renwick made it 2-1 1:28 later with a fluke goal off a UConn defenseman’s stick.
Breen’s fifth goal of the season came off a Bradly Nadeau pass.
Breen had just come onto the ice on a line change, skated right to left across the slot and fired a wrist shot into the short side corner to Haider’s blocker side.
Renwick’s second goal of the season came about when his centering pass from the left side hit a UConn defenseman’s stick and popped over the shoulder of Haider.
Capone tied it during a multi-shot flurry in front of Ostman as he swooped on a rebound and flipped it home from 15 feet away.
It was Capone’s second goal of the season.
Holt scored his first of the season with a screened wrist shot from the left point that sailed into the short side corner. Thomas Freel provided the screen.
With the Huskies on the power play at the end of the period, Ostman made a save off Jake Richard’s breakaway and freshman defenseman Liam Lesakowski flipped the puck out of the zone resulting in a two-on-0 break-in by the Nadeau brothers.
Josh Nadeau had the puck and slipped it across to Bradly Nadeau, who one-timed it past Haider.
“That was a huge save [by Ostman],” said Bradly Nadeau. “That created a scoring chance for us the other way.”
Percival pulled the Huskies within a goal early in the third period when the puck bounced in front of the net and Ostman wasn’t able to cover it before Percival roofed it.
But Bradly Nadeau restored the lead with another one-timer off his brother’s feed, and they combined again with Bradly one-timing his brother’s pass for his team-high 10th goal of the season.
Chabrier’s third of the season came off a screened wrister from the middle of the high slot.
Percival’s fourth goal of the season staked UConn to a 1-0 lead.
In a physical first period, there were very few good scoring chances until the final three minutes.
Percival scored his second goal in as many games as he was parked at the post to the left of Ostman and swatted the rebound of a Jake Flynn shot past the UMaine goalie with 2:51 remaining in the period.
Flynn did a nice job keeping the puck in at the right point, and his shot hit Ostman in the chest and deflected across to the far post where an open Percival converted from 10 feet.
Ostman said he felt he played pretty well.
“They make it hard on you. They’re real good at the net fronts. It’s hard to see the puck. They throw everything at the net. They’re hungry at the net front,” said Ostman. “Makes it fun, too. It felt pretty good.”
Bradly Nadeau said he benefited from his brother’s passes.
“The net was empty for all three of them. They were three really good passes, so it was easy to put the puck in the net,” he said. “The win is more important than the hat trick, but it’s also nice to have some success as well.”
Chabrier said “this wasn’t our greatest game by any means, but it’s good to get the win.”
Chabrier said it seems like the Nadeaus have “telepathic powers.
“It’s awesome to see that. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he added.
UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh called it a “real funky game.
“Our effort was there. We played pretty well,” said Cavanaugh. “We get a breakaway to make it 3-3, and all of a sudden it comes back and it’s 4-2.”
UMaine will visit Union College in Schenectady, New York, for a non-conference game at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
UConn won’t play again until it hosts Harvard at 3:05 p.m. Dec. 31.