LOWELL, Mass. — If one moment encapsulates the struggles of the Maine hockey team this season, it would have to be center Cam Brown’s howl of frustration after being foiled on a scoring attempt in the third period Friday.

The Black Bears lost for the seventh consecutive time, 2-1 to No. 5 Massachusetts-Lowell before an announced crowd of 6,572 at the Tsongas Center.

But the game was still scoreless when Brown snapped off a shot from the slot that appeared to be heading for the corner of the net until River Hawks goaltender Kevin Boyle snatched it in midflight. Brown, facing the goaltender, emitted a scream, his head snapping quickly up and down before he stared at the ceiling.

What more could he do, Brown seemed to be asking as Maine (0-7-3, 0-3 Hockey East) extended a scoring drought that included shutouts in its previous two games.

“There wasn’t much traffic when he made the save. I got good wood on it,” Brown said.

“If I get a chance like that and I don’t bury it, I’ll still be a little upset no matter what’s going on in the season.”

The good news for Maine was that Will Merchant prevented what would have been an unprecedented third consecutive shutout, blasting in a power-play goal from the right circle with 30.3 seconds remaining. The senior forward has four of Maine’s nation-worst 11 goals this season.

That trimmed the deficit to 2-1, but the Black Bears couldn’t get off another quality shot in the final seconds. Still, it might provide a small measure of momentum as the team heads home to finally play in front of its Alfond Arena fans, against Lowell (7-1-2, 3-0-2) at 5 p.m. Sunday. That belated home opener is the first of six straight games in Orono.

“We’ve been working hard. I would say the bounces aren’t going our way,” Merchant said. “Getting one to go in helps going in to the weekend, finally at home. If that doesn’t jack you up, I don’t know what does. It’s been a long time for us, and we’re itching to get back home.”

Maine once again got superb goaltending from freshman Rob McGovern, who made 26 saves. The game was scoreless through two periods, although the River Hawks ringed two shots off the post just seconds apart on their initial power-play opportunity in the first period.

Lowell finally got on the scoreboard at 9:35 of the third when defenseman Michael Kapla took a pass from Nick Master, wheeled in the slot and sent the puck through traffic and past McGovern.

The River Hawks struck again after McGovern was lifted for an extra attacker, when C.J. Smith broke loose with the puck for an easy empty-net goal at 18:59.

Maine Coach Red Gendron put McGovern back in, but Lowell was whistled for a penalty at 19:16. McGovern returned to the bench and Merchant breathed some life into his team by scoring off a nice feed from freshman defenseman Rob Michel.

That seemed to change the mood of the Black Bears as they boarded the bus back home.

“Some teams would go through a stretch like what we’ve gone through and they would have mailed in this hockey game. They’d say, ‘We’ll save our energy for Sunday afternoon in Orono,'” Gendron said. “Our kids didn’t do that. And they’ve been battling all year long. We’re much better than our record suggests.”

 

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