ORONO, Maine – With 3:25 remaining in the the second period, Maine freshman Chase Pearson put a hard shot toward Boston College Goalie Joe Woll, who deflected the effort right into the waiting stick of the Black Bears Nolan Vesey, who put the puck between the legs of Woll.
As the Maine players skated around to celebrate, the referee’s called for a review of the play, which clearly displeased the home crowd. After a lengthy review, the officials ruled that the whistle had been blown prior to Vesey’s shot, and therefore there was no goal. This single moment may have defined the game for both teams as the fifth-ranked Eagles would go on to defeat the hosts 3-2.
While Maine quickly responded with a power-play goal from Ryan Smith, the outcome could have easily played out a different way, had the referee’s call gone in favor of the Black Bears.
“I thought it might be the best start of the year,” said Boston College Associate Head Coach Greg Brown. “Seemed like we carried that about halfway through the game. They took a penalty towards the end of the second. Once they took that penalty, Maine started to build momentum. We managed the game just enough in the third period to get the win.”
Scott Savage, a senior defenseman for the Eagles added, ”The third period, we played tough, and did a good job not letting them back into it. This is the senior class’ first win here at Alfond, this is a tough place to play.”
With such a hot start, including 21 shots in the first period, it looked early like the visitors would repeat the performance of the night before, a 6-1 shellacking. The twenty-one first period shots were largely the result of the five penalties committed by the Black Bears in the period.
“It’s hard to get a flow of the game on when you keep getting penalties,” Maine coach Red Gendron said. “We outshot them 21-12 over those last two periods, when we stayed out of the box. We can be pretty good if we stay out of the penalty box. If that isn’t 100% obvious, what is.”
The penalty Coach Brown talked about earlier happened at 16:20 of the second period, and it was during this penalty kill that Nolan Vesey’s goal was waved off. Had the goal counted, the outcome of this game could have been quite different. With Maine able to stay out of the penalty box for the final two periods, the difference in the game could very well have been on the goal that wasn’t.
“They couldn’t tell when the whistle was blown,” Gendron said of the ruling by the officials.
In a league like Hockey East, where every game truly matters, this call certainly is going to be felt.
Mike Booth’s goal in the third ended up being just enough, as the Black Bears’ Rob McGovern put up a valiant but futile effort in the net, with 31 saves.
The University of Maine (3-5-2) will host No. 7 UMass-Lowell on Friday while No. 5 Boston College (8-2-1) will move on to play host to New Hampshire on Tuesday.
Hockey East roundup
No. 4 Boston University 3, Northeastern 0
The Terriers shutout their Huntington Ave. rivals, 3-0, with a pair of goals from Patrick Harper. Kieffer Bellows tacked on the third, while Jordan Greenway and Clayton Keller each added assists, as BU put all three on the board in the second period..
Merrimack 2, No. 15 Providence 2 (OT)
Trailing in the third period, Anthony Florentino put the equalizer in the net for Providence, who walk away with the tie. Merrimack saw Brett Seney lead the way with a goal and an assist in the effort.
No. 7 UMass-Lowell 4, No. 19 Vermont 2
Dylan Zink gave UMass-Lowell a pair of assists, as the Riverhawks put down Vermont by a score of 4-2. UML took advantage of the power play, with a three PP goals in five tries.
