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Saturday, March 8, 2003
A rare early exit for Maine
By KEVIN THOMAS, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
ORONO -- The University of Maine hockey team created excitement through the final two periods, causing the Alfond Arena crowd of 4,100 to stand, scream, plead and yell some more. It was all a tease.
Maine allowed three first-period goals and watched the University of Massachusetts skate away with a historic 4-2 win Friday night in the Hockey East quarterfinals.
The sixth-seeded Minutemen (19-16-1) swept the best-of-three series to earn their first trip to the Hockey East semifinals.
No. 3 Maine (24-9-5), meanwhile, lost a quarterfinal series at home for the first time and was eliminated in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1994. It is also Maine's first two-game losing streak of the season.
UMass heads to the semifinals Friday at the FleetCenter, while the Black Bears have an unwanted three-week vacation before the NCAA tournament.
Yes, Maine is still a lock for the NCAAs because of its early-season success. But the Black Bears have to face facts. They've been talking about getting their game in gear for the past six weeks, but they have hit the skids and are 4-7-2 in their last 13 games.
"I think we've panicked," senior forward Martin Kariya said. "We stopped believing we can make plays. We just fired that panic button so hard after one or two weekends of iffy hockey."
For the second straight night, Maine goalie Jimmy Howard was yanked, this time at 16:11 of the first period with UMass up 3-0. He gave up three early goals on Thursday, too.
"He wasn't himself (Thursday), and that had to be in the back of his mind," UMass forward Mike Warner said. "Fortunately, we got to him early again."
Howard shrugged. "All I can say is that sometimes you get the bounces and sometimes you don't," he said.
The game started with Stephen Werner skating into the right circle unchecked and firing a shot on goal. Howard made the save, but it was an odd beginning for a Maine team that was expected to come out flying.
Two minutes later, UMass' Tim Vitek hit the post on a rush. Maine couldn't clear the puck, and defenseman Thomas Pock slapped a shot through traffic and past Howard at 3:01.
At 11:18, UMass broke out three on three. But two Black Bears covered the middle and left Chris Capraro alone on the left. The puck was crossed to Capraro, and he one-timed it in for a 2-0 lead.
UMass then easily beat the Black Bears to a loose puck behind the Maine net and passed it out to Pock alone at the blue line. His slap shot was deflected in by Werner, chasing Howard in favor of Frank Doyle.
"I thought we were gripping our sticks a little tight in the first period," Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. "Had we gotten through that first period, we were in a position to win."
Maine desperately needed a goal in the second period and finally got one at 12:48 when Todd Jackson knocked in a rebound.
Alfond rocked for the next four minutes as the home crowd finally had something to cheer. The Black Bears generated shot after shot, with UMass only able to ice the puck. Maine outshot UMass 10-1 in the period, but the Minutemen withstood the pressure.
In the third period, Derek Damon's rebound goal at 5:47 closed the gap to 3-2. Again, the crowd got loud.
But Capraro threatened to break in alone and was held up by defenseman Prestin Ryan, who was drew two minutes for hooking and a 10-minute misconduct for arguing.
Warner capitalized on the power play, roofing a shot to make it 4-2 with 8:15 remaining.
Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at: [log in to unmask]
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