Sophomore right wing Thomas Pichette registered the first two-goal game and three-point outing of his career and junior goalie Albin Boija made 29 saves as the University of Maine’s Black Bear hockey team beat No. 6 Denver 5-2 at Magness Arena on Friday night.
Both teams are now 12-7-1 heading into Saturday’s 8 p.m. series finale.
UMaine entered the game ranked 15th in one national poll and 18th in the other.
UMaine has now won four games in a row.
It was just the 16th home loss for Denver over the last 92 games. They have 71 wins and 5 ties.
Following a scoreless first period, UMaine took a 2-0 lead with second-period goals 5:03 apart from freshman defenseman Lukas Peterson and junior center Sully Scholle.
UMaine killed off a five-minute major penalty on Oskar Komarov, allowing just two shots on goal, to preserve the two-goal lead entering the intermission.
Pichette expanded the lead to 3-0 early in the third period before junior defenseman Boston Buckberger got the Pioneers on the scoreboard with a power play goal 2:28 later.
Pichette restored the two-goal lead at the 9:35 mark but it was short-lived, as Denver freshman right wing Kristian Epperson responded just 46 seconds later.
Denver coach David Carle pulled goalie Quentin Miller with 5:09 left but Boija made a number of important saves. UMaine senior defenseman and co-captain Brandon Holt finished it off with an empty net goal with 59 seconds remaining.
Peterson opened the scoring and gave UMaine a lead it would never relinquish at the 3:41 mark of the second period with a shot from the point that found its way past Miller. It was his third goal of the season and extended his goal-scoring streak to three games.
Pichette and Holt assisted.
Scholle scored his fourth of the season off a three-on-one rush off a Denver turnover in the neutral zone.
He broke down the right wing with the puck and fired a 20-foot wrist shot past Miller from the inner half of the right faceoff circle. Owen Fowler assisted.
Pichette made it 3-0 by converting a feed from Justin Poirier. It was his third of the year.
Following Buckberger’s sixth goal of the season, Pichette made it 4-1 with a wrist shot from the middle of the slot off a short feed from Komarov. Will Gerrior, who is on the fourth line with Pichette and Komarov, also earned an assist.
Epperson tallied his sixth goal of his rookie season before Holt closed out the scoring with his fourth.
UMaine outshot Denver 34-31.
Denver attempted 72 shots to UMaine’s 56, but the Black Bears blocked 19 shots to Denver’s four with junior defenseman Frank Djurasevic blocking six shots to bring his team-leading total to 41.
UMaine entered the game with 273 blocked shots on the season, tied for fifth most among the 63 Division 1 teams.
“The guys sacrificed for each other and blocked a lot of shots,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “They played for each other and that’s a good sign for our culture.
“They cared for each other and did the right things. They finished their hits and backchecked. Our fourth line was outstanding and they were before the break, too. And Albin made some real good saves after they pulled the goalie,” added Barr.
Barr also noted that the penalty kill on the five-minute major was outstanding and gave them some momentum.