The University of Maine hockey team snapped a 14-game losing streak at Northeastern University’s 114-year-old Matthews Arena on Friday night, grabbing a 2-0 lead on second-period goals 1:19 apart by Thomas Freel and Taylor Makar en route to a 4-1 victory.
UMaine hadn’t won on Northeastern’s home ice in Boston since Feb.25, 2012. The Black Bears had a 16-game winless streak (0-14-2) there before finally getting a win.
“It has been 12 years since we last won here and, with the rink being torn down (after the season), we wanted to break the curse while we still had a chance,” said junior left wing Freel. “It’s nice to get a win in our first road game, especially in Hockey East.”
The nation’s sixth-ranked Black Bears are now 4-0 on the season while the Huskies fell to 1-3. It was the Hockey East opener for both teams.
It is the first 4-0 start for the Black Bears since the 2006-07 team won its first seven games.
The teams will conclude their series at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The Black Bears protected the 2-0 lead in the third period and sandwiched empty-net goals by Harrison Scott and Nolan Renwick around a goal by NU’s Cam Lund.
Albin Boija finished with 24 stops in net for UMaine and Cameron Whitehead had 30 for NU.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr said his team’s performance “wasn’t great, to be honest.
“It was good enough to win but it wasn’t pretty,” said Barr. “We missed a lot of hits in the neutral zone which led to rush chances for them. And we turned a lot of pucks over.
“They’re a good team. We’ve got to manage the game a little bit better and our details have to be better tomorrow night. Any road win in Hockey East is difficult so to beat a good team at their rink is really nice,” said Barr, who felt his team played its best hockey over the final 10 minutes of the contest.
Freel scored his third goal of the season with 7:07 left in the middle period when he capitalized on the rebound of a Brandon Holt shot, swiping the puck past NU goalie Whitehead while the Black Bears were on the power play.
It was the junior left wing’s third goal of the season and all three have come on the power play.
“It was nothing pretty,” said Freel. “Holt got off a shot and it bounced off the goalie’s pad. I was fortunate to be on the right side of it, it popped to me and I was able to get it in.”
Charlie Russell also picked up an assist.
Senior left wing Makar expanded the lead with his fourth of the year as the UMass transfer fired home the rebound of a Russell shot. Jack Dalton also notched an assist.
Scott’s empty-net goal came with 1:49 remaining with Freel and Frank Djurasevic earning assists.
Lund of NU scored his third of the campaign 28 seconds later with Vinny Borgesi and Biddeford’s Jack Williams assisting and UMaine’s Renwick collected his fourth with 28 seconds left in the game. Renwick’s goal was unassisted.
Freel agreed with his coach’s assessment that there is plenty of room for improvement but he also said they showed they can win when they aren’t at their best.
“You’re not always able to play your best game so you have to be able to grit out a win, especially on the road,” said Freel. “That means you did something right. We will take the positives from it and try to be better tomorrow.”
Barr said Boija was “steady” and Makar was “simple and solid.
“(Makar) played big boy hockey and he’s a big boy. He’s been good,” said Barr, who was also impressed by Russell.
“He made plays,” said Barr.