ORONO, Maine - Spencer Abbott's (Hamilton, Ontario) goal in the middle of the second period off a feed from Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) proved to be the game-winner to push the University of Maine men's ice hockey team by the #5 Boston University Terriers at Alfond Arena on Sunday evening. The Black Bears picked up their second Hockey East win in a row and their second win in a row over a top-10 team to move to 3-5-0 and 2-2-0 in Hockey East. Boston University drops to 2-5-0 and 1-4-0 in Hockey East play.
The Black Bears opened the scoring by taking advantage of Boston University skating two-men down. Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) collected a rebound and slid the puck out to Jeff Dimmen (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Dimmen then fired a rising wrist shot over the glove of Terrier goaltender Kieran Millan to put the Black Bears up 1-0. For Dimmen, it was his second goal of the season.
Maine would waste no time getting on the scoreboard again. Tanner House (Cochrane, Alberta) threw a puck on net that got directed behind the Boston University net. Gustav Nyquist collected the puck behind the net and stuffed home his fifth goal of the season to give the Black Bears the 2-0 lead. It was the seventh straight game that Nyquist has scored at least one point.
Boston University would cut the lead in half 14:06 into the first period on Alex Chiasson's fourth goal of the season. Chiasson set up on the power play to Maine goaltender Scott Darling's (Lemont, Ill.) right. Corey Trivino threw a pass diagonally to the middle that found Chiasson's stick and he buried it into the net to bring the game to 2-1.
The Black Bears extended their lead half way through the second period when Spencer Abbott found the back of the net for the second time this year. Will O'Neill (Salem, Mass.) chipped the puck to Nyquist who gathered the it in the neutral zone from and skated across the blueline, getting behind the Terrier defense. He carried the puck deep into the zone before dumping a pass through the middle to a streaking Abbott who put Maine up 3-1.
Boston University would battle back, getting a power play goal to bring the score to 3-2 with 6:59 left in the third period. The Terriers worked the puck around the Maine zone as Kevin Shattenkirk sent a pass to Colby Cohen. Cohen then worked the puck to Chris Connolly who beat Darling. However, Darling would step up and shut down the Terriers the rest of the way solidifying Maine's 3-2 lead for the win.
It was another outstanding game for Darling, who made 26 saves. He improves to 3-1-0 on the season. Kieran Millan stopped 15 shots for the Terriers. He falls to 2-5-0 on the season.
Maine finished the game 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Terriers were 2-for-9. Maine improves to 3-1-0 at Alfond Arena this season.
The Black Bears return to the action on Friday, Nov. 13 when they travel to Northeastern. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 PM. Boston University will travel to Merrimack on Friday, Nov. 13 for a 7 PM game.