UMaine men's hockey earns hard-fought 2-1 win over Quinnipiac

ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine got first-half goals from senior center Nolan Renwick and sophomore right wing Charlie Russell and a crucial 6-on-4 penalty shootout in the final three minutes to keep Quinnipiac in a national battle Defeating ranked teams 2-1 on Friday evening in the sold-out Alfond Arena.

UMaine, now 2-0, was ranked ninth in one national poll and 10th in another. Quinnipiac, 1-1, was seventh in one and eighth in the other.

Renwick scored his third goal of the season at 6:42 before Russell extended the lead with 45 seconds left. It was Russell's first collegiate goal for the Clarkson University transfer.

Freshman Tyler Borgula scored a power-play goal for Quinnipiac late in the second period, the first of his career.

Albin Boija made 19 saves for the Black Bears, while Bobcats goalie Dylan Silverstein had 27 stops.

The Bobcats pulled Silverstein in favor of the extra attacker with 2:42 left after Frank Djurasevic was assessed a tripping penalty.

But UMaine did an exemplary job on the penalty kill, limiting the Bobcats to just two shots on goal and Boija stopping both.

The teams conclude their series on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

“The cool thing about our team is that there is no panic. We’re going to keep calm and pile in front of the net,” said UMaine senior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale, one of the team’s best penalty takers. “If the shots get through, Albin will be back to save it.”

He said they need to position themselves in the shooting lanes, have active sticks and try to clear the puck once they break up a play.

The Black Bears converted four Bobcats penalties in the first period, meaning the visitors only had four shots on goal on those power play opportunities.

Renwick converted a two-on-one with Ross Mitton after a nifty one-touch pass from Taylor Makar to Renwick in the UMaine zone set up the odd-man rush.

Renwick ran down the left wing and beat Silverstein with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle into the far corner.

The Black Bears caught a break a few minutes later when a loose puck from a scramble bounced to Davis Pennington in the right circle and his one-timer hit the crossbar.

Harrison Scott set up Russell's goal when he protected the puck near the boards on the right wing and shot the puck to the front of the net.

The puck got to Silverstein and bounced off his pads to Russell, who roofed it from the low slot.

“I just saw the puck and knew I had to get it up quick,” Russell said. “It’s lucky it went in.”

Both teams created a few chances in the second half, including a two-on-Zeo for Quinnipiac midway through the half.

But Boija read Mason Marcellus' pass to Borgula and slid over to parry the ball.

“That was huge,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “Both goalkeepers were excellent. They were probably the two best players on the ice.”

Borgula took advantage of the power play when he fired a diagonal cross-ice pass from Pennington past Boija after a faceoff win by Chris Pelosi.

“Our third period was our best,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr, whose Black Bears beat Quinnipiac 9-5 in the third period. “We have a little (offensive) zone time, which we didn’t have very much in the first game. We had to take a lot of penalties in the first game.

“It was a really good hockey game. It was about what we expected. It was frustrating at times because they are a really good team. We got better as the game went on and that was a good sign,” Barr added.

“Maine was really good tonight,” Pecknold said. “They played hard. We had some moments. We had some people who were really struggling. Give Maine credit. They were good.”