BOSTON — In the regular season, the UConn men’s hockey team was the University of Maine’s personal bogeyman. The Huskies and the Black Bears played three times, with UConn winning twice, and the teams tying once.
On Friday night, in front of 17,605 fans at TD Garden, the Black Bears finally kept the Huskies at bay, taking a 5-2 win to earn the Hockey East championship.
It was Maine’s sixth Hockey East title and first since 2004. Maine, now 24-7-6, will be a No. 1 regional seed when the NCAA tournament bracket is announced Sunday afternoon.
Maine coach Ben Barr, now in his fourth season leading the Black Bears, said the fan base’s support was a factor in helping his team play well after a quick turnaround from Thursday’s 4-3, double-overtime win over Northeastern in the semifinals.
“It felt like the state of Maine was here tonight,” Barr said. “It’s hard to describe what I didn’t know coming into this job, the effect our community and our state has on our program. We saw it out there tonight.”
Rather than dwell on any residual fatigue after Thursday’s marathon game, Maine captain David Breazeale said the Black Bears used the momentum from the win to their advantage.
“I think it kind of carried over. We just tried to let our minds rest, and when we got back to the rink, it was turn it back on,” he said.
The crowd was decidedly slanted toward Maine, and both teams noticed it.
“At times I felt like I was up at Alfond,” said UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh, whose team falls to 22-11-4. “Ben and his staff and his team deserved to win. I thought they played better than we did.”
Maine goalie Albin Boija was named tournament Most Valuable Player, after making 60 saves on 65 shots in the semifinals and championship game.
Maine’s goalie Albin Boija skates with the trophy after the Black Bears beat UConn to win the Hockey East title on Friday in Boston. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald
For Maine, beating the Huskies for the first time this season began with a fast start. Getting the forecheck going early was a key, Barr said.
“When we played them a few weeks back, they really took it to us. In that game, we never could get anything going,” Barr said.
Maine took control of the game with a pair of goals in the first period. First, Lynden Breen took a pass from Josh Nadeau, broke in alone on UConn goalie Tyler Muszelik, and beat Muszelik five hole, giving the Black Bears a 1-0 lead at 12:47.
Nearly four minutes later, Nadeau scored on the power play. With Ethan Whitcomb serving two minutes for tripping, the Huskies were able to clear their defensive zone, but Boija corralled the puck and made a pass to Nadeau at the blue line. Nadeau skated through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. Skating left to right between the circles and a pair of UConn defenders, Nadeau fired a low shot that found the left corner of the net, pushing Maine’s lead to 2-0 at 16:29.
“I was hoping for it. I know he could do it. There was kind of an opening, and he has good speed, and he worked his magic,” Boija said.
At 16:37 of the second period, Maine took advantage of a UConn turnover in front of the Huskies net. Harrison Scott scored on a rebound of a blocked shot, giving the Black Bears a 3-0 lead.
“Sports can humble you, and we got humbled tonight. Maine jumped us early. It was hard for us. We wanted to score first and try to take the crowd out of the game, but that wasn’t the case. They didn’t allow us to get our forecheck going,” Cavanaugh said.
The Huskies got a goal back at 3:11 of the third. Tabor Heaslip took a pass from Kaden Shahan from behind the right post and scored with a low shot to Boija’s glove side, cutting Maine’s lead to 3-1. The Black Bears regained a three-goal lead when Taylor Makar scored at 9:21. Makar’s shot came from the left circle and found the right corner of the net. Just over a minute and a half later, what appeared to be a UConn goal was waived off after a Maine challenge showed the play was offsides.
Three minutes after having the goal taken off the board, UConn did get that second goal, on Heaslip’s second of the game.
Makar’s empty net goal at 18:35 put the exclamation point on Maine’s win.
Muszelik made 19 saves for UConn. Breazeale and Nolan Renwick each had a pair of assists for Maine.
This story was updated at 8:33 a.m. on March 22 to correct the day of the week.
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