Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Some thoughts and quotes from Maine hockey's 5-4 overtime win over New Hampshire on a Frozen Fenway Saturday night, at Fenway Park:

When New Hampshire took a 2-1 lead on a rare 3-on-5 short-handed goal, Maine forward Joey Diamond looked toward the Black Bears bench.

"We were confident," Diamond said. "Right when we looked back at coach (Tim Whitehead), there was no chance he was taking us off the ice. He knew we were going to come back and get a goal."

And Maine did. Diamond and then Mark Anthoine scored on power plays to take a 3-2 lead.

Whitehead was as confident as Diamond.

"In the second period, I thought we started gaining momentum," he said. "Even though they scored, we were confident things were going to happen."

And when UNH scored two goals in the third period to tie the game 4-4. Brian Flynn said Maine was okay.

"I don't think we panicked at all," Flynn said. "We continued to play with some confidence. Guys were relaxed and we continued to stick to our game plan."

Whitehead was pleased with the play of Anthoine, a sophomore from Lewiston. He now has 10 points in his last 10 games, including seven power play goals.

"He has just worked extremely hard to keep improving," Whitehead said. "He's putting pucks in the net. It gives us a little supplemental scoring which we need. It takes some pressure off our top line."

Now Maine has won 7-of-8 games, bumping their record to 10-7-2 and 7-6-1 in Hockey East.

As for playing in Fenway Park, Diamond said, "I thought it was the coolest thing, playing in a venue like this.

Diamond, from Long Beach, N.Y., is a Yankees fan.

"But I'm also a big sports fan," he said. "I know this is one of the coolest venues in the country. This was special."
 

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