March 14, 2010

Box Score

The #20 UMass Lowell River Hawks (19-16-4) lost a heartbreaker, 3-2, to Maine (18-16-3) in overtime in the Hockey East quarterfinals on Sunday night. UMass Lowell led twice in the game, but couldn't hold on either time.

The teams skated through a scoreless first period dominated by the Black Bears. Maine outshot the River Hawks 16-5, but was stifled on three power play chances.

The scoring drought was finally broken in the second period by freshman Colin Wright (Burlington, Ont.). After substantial pressure in the offensive zone appeared to be wearing down the defense, Michael Budd (Burlington, Ont.) and Ryan Blair (Ashburn, VA) poked the puck to Wright as he curled in front of the net. Wright peeled off a quick wrist shot that surprised goaltender Dave Wilson (Caledon East, Ont.) for his seventh score of the season and the 1-0 lead at 5:48.

A few minutes later the Black Bears managed to tie the game at 1-1 with a power play goal from Will O'Neill (Salem, MA). Set up in the umbrella, Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, MA) and Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) passed to O'Neill who unleashed a rocket through traffic. The sophomore's seventh of the season came at 13:44.

UMass Lowell resumed its lead in the third period on a perfectly executed tic-tac-toe play from behind the net on the power play. Wetmore tossed it from the near corner to David Vallorani (Hamilton, Ont.) behind the net. Vallorani quickly tapped it to the net front for Scott Campbell (Navan, Ont.) to bury into the mesh. Campbell's 16th goal of the season at 7:42 gave the River Hawks' a crucial one-goal third period lead.

Maine refused to go silently, evening the score at 2-2 with only 4:48 left in the third period. Matching penalties had the teams skating four-on-four and the Black Bears rotated the puck at the blue line. Matt Mangene (Manorville, NY) faked a River Hawk with a hesitation move and dished a pass to O'Neill at the near point. O'Neill took the one-timer and the puck was deflected off of a UMass Lowell defenseman's stick and into the net.

In a high flying overtime period, Maine played the victor with a quick-strike game-winning goal by Tanner House (Cochrane, Alb.). Flynn got behind the net and centered a pass for a crashing House to tap off the post and in before Carter Hutton (Thunder Bay, Ont.) could react.

Hutton was outstanding in net throughout, stopping 33-of-36 shots, but was saddled with the loss to drop his record to 13-12-2 for the season. Wilson made 26 saves in the win, improving to 2-4-0 on the campaign. Each team was one-for-five on the power play.

While the loss likely ends UMass Lowell's season, the Black Bears will advance to the Hockey East semifinals at the TD Garden next weekend.