ORONO, Maine — – In April 1999, Maine and New Hampshire went to overtime of the national championship game in Anaheim, Calif.
The stakes were not quite as high tonight.
However, like in that game more than 16 years ago, 60 minutes were not enough to settle the issue as the Black Bears and Wildcats played to a 3-3 tie in the 122nd playing of the Border War.
Trailing 2-0 midway through the second period, Mark Hamilton’s point shot through a screen was tipped home by Cedric Lacroix to cut the UNH lead in half.
Moments later, Will Merchant sent a rocket into the net that came out so quickly it wasn’t called a goal on the ice. The subsequent review was short and the sellout crowd was rocking as the score was suddenly tied.
They got even louder when Andrew Tegeler’s shot from the right circle was blocked by UNH netminder Danny Tirone, but the puck came to Brian Morgan, who was all alone, and deposited the puck in the net to cap three goals in a four-minute span that gave Maine the lead.
Kyle Smith silenced the crowd when he knocked home a rebound on an odd-man rush to even the score 3-3. Shane Eiserman and Dan Correale broke out of the Maine zone and Eiserman’s initial shot was stopped by Matt Morris, but Smith poked the puck into the net.
Despite a frantic third period, nothing was solved then or in overtime.
The Wildcats opened the scoring on the power play as Tyler Kelleher, Andrew Poturalski and Correale played tic-tac-toe with the puck ending up behind Morris. Standing behind the goal, Kelleher passed in front to Poturalski, who appeared ready to take a one-timer, but he slid the puck across to a wide-open Correale, who put the puck into a wide-open net for his ninth goal on the season.
Poturalski scored his team-high 12th goal on the power play with 8:58 gone in the second period to give New Hampshire a 2-0 lead.
The story of the game was Tirone, who was peppered with 53 shots and kept New Hampshire in the game with save after save. Numerous times, Maine players skated away from the crease shaking their heads after yet another unbelievable stop.
Steven Swavely, Blaine Byron, Merchant, Morgan and Brady Campbell combined for 27 shots.
For his part, Morris started slowly as he surrendered two goals on just 13 shots, but finished strong in making 33 saves.
Note: There was no postgame press conference. Coaches and players were not made available as both teams left immediately for Saturday’s rematch in Durham, N.H.
