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Comments from Sender: This is Saturday's Portland Press article on the Maine/NU game.
This story can be found online at:
http://www.portland.com/news/umhockey1106.shtml
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Saturday, November 6, 1999
UMaine fortunate to get tie
By KEVIN THOMAS, Staff Writer
Copyright 1999 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
ORONO -- The No. 1 ranking enjoyed by the University of Maine hockey team is already in jeopardy.
The Black Bears lost the lead twice Friday night and settled for a 2-2 tie with Northeastern before 5,482 at Alfond Arena.
Maine remains undefeated at 5-0-1 and jumps into the Hockey East standings at 0-0-1. The Huskies stopped a three-game losing streak and are 2-3-1, 1-1-1.
Northeastern, one of the few teams that still has an edge in the overall series (30-28-9) with Maine, gave the Black Bears a rink-full of trouble, chasing down loose pucks and causing better chances in the last two periods.
While the Black Bears may be upset with the tie, they're fortunate goalie Matt Yeats was on. Yeats made 24 saves, some from difficult angles.
"I don't think we played very well in the last two periods," said Maine Coach Shawn Walsh, "but Northeastern had a lot to do with that. They took it to us."
Maine took control in the first period, outshooting the Huskies, 15-7. The Black Bears looked smooth but also scoreless, until late in the period.
They finally finished an opportunity after a series of slap shots. Niko Dimitrakos' slap went wide. Cory Larose gathered it in and sent it back to Doug Janik, whose slap shot slid between the post and goalie Mike Gilhooly's glove at 17:37.
With the assist, Larose moved to 24th on the school's career scoring list with 124 points, tying him with Paul Kariya (of course, Kariya played in only 51 games for Maine; this is Larose's 104th).
Northeastern put on the pressure during its second power play of the first period. The Huskies teed up some high-percentage shots, including a wrap-around and a one-timer outside the crease. Yeats blocked both.
Still, the Huskies could be pleased. They had been outplayed and trailed by only one.
"We let them stay in it," Walsh said. "We dominated in the first period and had little to show for it . You'd like to get at least a two-goal lead after (dominating)."
Yeats needed to be ready in the second period when Northeastern outshot the Black Bears, 11-4.
The Huskies finally beat Yeats on a power play after Maine lost the puck in its zone. Mike Jozefowicz drove in but Yeats blocked the shot. Todd Barclay was there for the rebound to make it 1-1 at 9:32.
The Black Bears showed little offense in the second period until the end. The Heisten brothers, Barrett and Chris, bolted on a rush with defenseman Peter Metcalf.
Barrett sent the puck up to Metcalf. He slid it to Chris, who returned it to Metcalf outside the crease. Metcalf faked Gilhooly and beat him on the stick side at 17:10.
Any hopes of holding onto the 2-1 lead faded fast in the third period. Maine just didn't take care of the puck well. Another turnover in the Maine zone led to Leon Hayward's slap shot past Yeats at 4:20.
Maine had a couple of chances in the third period, but Gilhooly stood up to them. The Black Bears got their seventh power play in the period and looked out of sync.
Yeats continually bailed out the Black Bears. At 16:40, Yeats made a sliding kick save on Arik Engbrecht, and the game went into overtime where, like most of the game, Northeastern enjoyed the better chances.
Northeastern Coach Bruce Crowder said this was his team's best game. "We were composed," he said. "We got it taken to us pretty good in the first period. We settled down and played with a lot of confidence."
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