Senior center Nolan Renwick and junior left wing Thomas Freel scored first-period goals and sophomore goalie Albin Boija made 25 saves as the University of Maine’s seventh-ranked hockey team completed a weekend sweep of No. 8 UMass Lowell with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass. on Saturday night.
UMaine, which had won Friday’s game 3-1, improved to 15-4-2 overall and 7-2-2 in Hockey East. UMass Lowell fell to 12-6-2 and 5-5-1, respectively.
Freshman left wing Jacob MacDonald scored a second-period goal for UMass Lowell.
The Black Bears took the lead just 1:54 into the game.
Taylor Makar carried the puck down the right wing side in the UMass Lowell zone and fed a nice backhanded pass across to Renwick, who had gotten behind a pair of River Hawks and one-timed it past UMass Lowell goalie Beni Halasz from the middle of the low slot.
“Their defenseman tried to step up on me and I jumped past him. Makar made a great slip pass and put it right in my wheelhouse and I just had to fire it home,” said Renwick.
It was Renwick’s sixth goal of the season and snapped a nine-game goalless drought.
Ross Mitton also assisted on the goal.
Just over five minutes later, UMass Lowell co-leading point-getter and top goal scorer Scout Truman was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for a contact-to-the-head hit and the Black Bears were able to capitalize.
Harrison Scott got the puck to Brandon Holt at the midpoint and Holt wristed the puck to the net.
Halasz made the save but Freel was standing at the edge of the crease and backhanded the rebound between Halasz’s legs.
It was his ninth of the season and his eighth power play goal, which pulled him into a tie with the University of Minnesota’s Brody Lamb for most in the country among players at the 64 Division I schools.
The Black Bears weren’t able to add to the lead in the final three minutes of the power play.
UMaine outshot UMass Lowell 21-4 in the first period.
“The first period was phenomenal,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “We needed to get three or four [goals] in that period so it wouldn’t have been as tight. [UMass Lowell] played much better in the second half of the game but we held on at the end there.
MacDonald cut the lead in half with the only goal in the second period. It was his second of the campaign.
“They gave us a great test but the boys rose to the challenge,” said Renwick. “We battled really hard. They’re a big, strong team and had a little bit of a size advantage over us but we didn’t shy away from [contact.] We played strong and it helped get us the two wins this weekend.
It came at the 13:57 mark and was set up by Chris Delaney, who skated out of the corner to the right of Boija and fed it to the unattended MacDonald at the inner half of the left circle.
MacDonald beat Boija with a quick one-timer off Delaney’s well-placed pass. Owen Cole also earned an assist.
Shots were 7-7 in the middle period.
The desperate River Hawks outshot UMaine 15-8 in the third period but Boija stopped all 15 shots to earn the win.
“Albin’s a brick wall back there. When we have a lapse on defense or make a mistake, he usually bails us out. He’s huge,” said Renwick.
Halasz finished with a season-high 34 stops.
Renwick said the team was bolstered by the Maine fans this weekend.
“It was unbelievable. We always get support on the road but this weekend it was a little different. They were loud and noticeable and it helped give us extra energy like we get at home,” Renwick said.
UMaine will return home next weekend for a pair of games against the University of Connecticut on Friday and Saturday nights at 7. UConn is 11-8-1 overall and 6-6-1 in Hockey East and is coming off a home-and-home sweep of New Hampshire which ran its winning streak to three games.
UMass Lowell will host Stonehill (Mass.) for a 6:05 game on Saturday night.