OTT MAKES 19 SAVES AS MAINE BLANKS NIAGARA, 3-0
Junior goaltender Brittany Ott earns fifth career shutout with 19 saves for Black Bears

Junior goaltender Brittany Ott made 19 saves for the Black Bears

ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine women's ice hockey team skated to a 3-0 win against the Niagara University Purple Eagles in a non-conference game. With the win, the Black Bears improve their record to 7-5-1, and the loss drops Niagara's record to 6-6-2. Tori Pasquariello (Mississauga, Ontario), Brittany Dougherty (Chesterfield, Mich.) and Myriam Croussette (Baie-Comeau, Quebec) all managed to find the back of the net for the Black Bears.

Maine started the scoring early in the first period with a goal by Tori Pasquariello, her second on the season at 1:40 for a 1-0 lead. She was assisted by Missy Denk (Poplar Grove, Ill.) and Ashley Norum (Fairbanks, Alaska). Denk earned her second assist of the season while Norum earned her third. Brittany Dougherty grabbed her eighth goal of the season in a short-handed situation, giving the Black Bears a 2-0 lead at 8:03. She was unassisted on the play.

Constant battling ensued in the second period between both teams both on offense and defense; however, at the end of the second period the score would remain 3-2.

Myriam Croussette opened up the third period with her ninth goal of the season just 32 seconds into play. Croussette was fed the puck by Dougherty and Melissa Gagnon (St. Gilles, Quebec), giving Dougherty her sixth assist of the year and Gagnon her fourth. The play started behind the net of the Black Bears and moved quickly from Gagnon to Dougherty to Croussette who then managed to beat Niagara goalie Abby Ryplanski to give the Black Bears a 3-0 lead. Thanks to solid goaltending, the score would remain at 3-0 for the duration of the game.

Black Bear goalie Brittany Ott (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) earned her first shutout of the season and the fifth of her career, making 19 saves. With the win, her record improves to 4-4-1 on the season. Abby Ryplanski was given the loss for the Purple Eagles, despite making 29 saves on the 32 shots she faced. Her season record drops to 5-2-1.

On power play opportunities, Maine was 0-for-4 while Niagara was 0-for-5.

The Black Bears will host Niagara again tomorrow for the finale of the weekend series. The puck will drop at 12 p.m. at Alfond Arena.