Maine quieted an announced crowd of 15,232 at the Xcel Energy Center Friday, topping Minnesota 3-1 to win the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game.
No. 11 Maine got its first goal on its first shift, setting the tone for an evening that saw third-ranked Minnesota attack but rarely finish. The Gophers outshot the Black Bears 30-21, but Maine netminder Ben Bishop was equal to the task before him, stopping 29 shots.
Bishop, a sophomore who saw high-stakes action last season as Maine reached the Frozen Four, deflected the credit.
“Our defense did a great job all three periods,” he said. “There weren’t any screened shots that I didn’t see.”
After joining Maine as a backup to All-America goaltender Jimmy Howard at the start of last season, Bishop assumed a key role for the Black Bears when Howard bolted for the pros.
“He was thrust into a tough situation last year,” said Maine head coach Tim Whitehead, “and he rose to the occasion.”
Bishop did the same Friday, making key saves to allow a 2-1 first-period lead to hold up. Minnesota came at Bishop hard in the second period, but the 6-foot-7 netminder stood very tall indeed to keep the Gophers off the scoreboard.
Minnesota’s lack of veteran offensive players showed during that 20 minutes of play, as the Gophers generated 16 shots on goal but no scoring.
“That’s what we don’t have on our team, is a go-to upperclassman,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. “That has to be established.”
In fact, the Gophers’ most notable effort came from freshman Jay Barriball, who assumed Phil Kessel’s roster spot when Kessel signed with the Boston Bruins late in the offseason. Barriball also acquired Kessel’s number 26, and perhaps Kessel’s knack for scoring, as the diminutive winger potted the Gophers’ only goal of the night.
“Jay’s a hockey player,” said Lucia. “He’s a throwback.”
But the night belonged to Maine. The Black Bears shocked their hosts with a goal just 21 seconds in, when a shot from Matt Duffy bounced through traffic, glancing off Josh Soares and caroming past Minnesota netminder Jeff Frazee (18 saves). Soares was credited with the goal, which put Maine up 1-0 on the game’s first shot.
Shortly after the expiration of a tripping call on the Black Bears’ Brent Shepheard, Maine’s Wes Clark dug the puck out of traffic behind the Minnesota net and fed a short pass to Minnesota native Bryan Plaszcz, who banged a short shot off Frazee’s leg to make it 2-0 at 12:03.
After playing nearly 19 minutes with just three shots on net, the Gophers roared to life with a goal to close out the opening frame. Captain Mike Vannelli’s shot rebounded into the slot, and Barriball slung it into the open half of the net behind Bishop at 18:54.
In the second period, Minnesota made up substantial ground on the shot chart as Maine’s offense fell dormant. On another Gopher power play, Barriball made a bid for his second goal when a home-run pass gave him a breakaway, but Bishop made a sweeping glove save on his shot from 10 feet out.
Barriball then drew a slashing penalty on Clark to put the Gophers on their fourth power play, but again Minnesota could not convert, sending the teams to the locker rooms after two with Maine holding the same 2-1 edge. The Gophers outshot the Black Bears 16-3 in the second period.
Midway through the third period, a weird carom off the back boards gave Minnesota’s Jim O’Brien a shot on a seemingly-empty net, but Bishop made what might have been the save of the game, sliding back into position just in time to get a piece of the puck.
After killing Minnesota’s sixth power play — on which the Gophers were mostly unable to get the puck into the Black Bear end — Maine sewed up the contest after a Ben Gordon crosscheck ran out most of the remaining time.
Once five-on-five play was restored, Minnesota pulled Frazee with about 40 seconds left, but after a Maine clear, Black Bears freshman Teddy Purcell outraced two Gophers to a loose puck and dumped home the insurance goal for the 3-1 final.
“It’s always a good way to start the season, with a win,” Bishop observed.
Of course, it wasn’t just any win, coming at the site of Maine’s loss to Minnesota in the 2002 NCAA championship game. Whitehead acknowledged the emotion but downplayed the revenge factor.
“We could have beaten them 10-0 [Friday] and it wouldn’t have erased the heartache from that one,” he said.
Minnesota (0-1-0) next takes on Lethbridge in an exhibition on Sunday before returning to NCAA play by hosting Wayne State on Oct. 13-14. Maine (1-0-0) next hosts Bemidji State the same two days.
