{"id":31189,"date":"2010-03-19T15:01:57","date_gmt":"2010-03-19T20:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/03\/19\/goaltender-wilson-filling-in-nicely-for-maine\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:56","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:56","slug":"goaltender-wilson-filling-in-nicely-for-maine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/03\/19\/goaltender-wilson-filling-in-nicely-for-maine\/","title":{"rendered":"Goaltender Wilson Filling in Nicely for Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Maine suspended goaltender Scott Darling indefinitely just days before the Hockey East quarterfinals, the Black Bears turned to senior Dave Wilson — a career backup goaltender — to fill the gaping hole between the pipes.<\/p>\n

Maine’s hope of postseason glory dimmed with the recollection of Wilson’s earlier stints in net. Prior to this postseason, he opened and closed the regular season with losses and posted a 0-4-0 record in nine games for Maine.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/p>\n
Dave Wilson took over as Maine’s starting goaltender at the start of the playoffs (photo: Melissa Wade).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In October, Wilson kicked things off against Union with consecutive losses of 4-1 and 6-3 while filling in for an earlier Darling suspension. He sporadically filled in during four other Maine losses and a 10-1 trouncing of St. Lawrence on Nov. 28 before losing to Massachusetts 4-3 just one week before the Hockey East quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

With the news of Darling’s punishment, most, if not all, playoff predictions unsurprisingly pegged Maine for an early exit from the Hockey East tournament.<\/p>\n

It certainly seemed that way, as the Black Bears fell in heartbreaking fashion to Massachusetts-Lowell in Game 1 of the tournament quarterfinals. Wilson turned in an admirable 19-save effort, but still had not yet backstopped Maine to a key victory.<\/p>\n

Once placed in a do-or-die situation, Wilson mounted a dramatic turnaround that carried the Black Bears out of the quarterfinals and into the championship game. Wilson pushed the series to a deciding third game by stopping all 23 shots and stoning the River Hawks on all five power plays in a 2-0 shutout of Lowell in Game 2. Spearheaded by Wilson’s 26-save effort, Maine locked up its 17th appearance in the Hockey East semifinals with a 3-2 overtime nail-biter over Lowell in the rubber match.<\/p>\n

“Every game was an elimination game for him,” said Black Bears coach Tim Whitehead. “You never really know when guys are going to rise up like that in unexpected moments. … I’ve seen other guys rise up in other situations, which he certainly has done for us this postseason.”<\/p>\n

Entering tonight’s game with a 2-4-0 record, Wilson’s statistics were deceptively strong: 2.19 GAA and .903 save percentage in 11 games. Skeptics continued to question Wilson’s longevity when the Black Bears drew tournament mainstay Boston University in the semifinals matchup.<\/p>\n

His performance against the Terriers in Friday’s game, however, will go a long way to silencing the naysayers. Wilson, who never cracked the 30-save mark this season, stymied the Terriers a season-high 37 times in Maine’s decisive 5-2 victory over BU.<\/p>\n

“Did I expect it? Yes and no,” said Whitehead. “It’s a pleasant surprise. The one thing about Dave [Wilson] is he really persevered and I’m so proud of his ability to focus when we needed him the most.” <\/p>\n

Wilson’s highlight reel-worthy save came with just under three minutes to play in the final frame. After enduring a nine-minute review granting BU a controversial second goal, Terriers forward Ross Gaudet came in all alone on a breakaway and threatened to knot the game at 3. Wilson stoned Gaudet like a seasoned veteran, and propelled Maine for the 13th time to a spot in the coveted championship game against Boston College.<\/p>\n

“As long as I have fun and relax, I can make those saves,” Wilson said. “I saw [Gaudet] coming down at me so I tried to get out and challenge him on that breakway. But like I said, I was just trying to relax and have fun out there.”<\/p>\n

Wilson will have one night to savor the effort — on the night of his 25th birthday — before facing off against the Eagles in the finals Saturday night for the chance to raise a sixth Hockey East championship banner to the rafters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senior Dave Wilson was thrust into Maine’s starting goaltender role just before the playoffs started, and he has answered the call. Jennie Sullivan reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoaltender Wilson Filling in Nicely for Maine - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senior Dave Wilson was thrust into Maine's starting goaltender role just before the playoffs started, and he has answered the call. 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