DURHAM, N.H. – Spencer Abbott had one last swipe at the puck.

One last chance to help the University of Maine salvage at least one point out of a southern weekend.

One chance to finish off a hat trick for the night.

But it didn’t happen, and Maine suffered a 3-2 Hockey East loss Saturday night to New Hampshire at the Whittemore Center.

Maine goalie Martin Ouellette was on the bench for an extra attacker in the closing seconds and the Black Bears had a faceoff in the New Hampshire end.

Abbott set up to the right of goalie Matt DiGirolamo, but the puck bounced past him and that was that.

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UNH left Maine 0-for-the-weekend when combined with Friday night’s 5-1 loss at Boston College.

“I tried to time it when the puck met the ice,” Abbott said. “I kind of missed it. I was early. I missed it by a lot.”

The Black Bears, much happier with how they played Saturday night, fell to 3-4-1 overall and 3-3 in Hockey East.

“When you come down the road to UNH and BC, you know you’re going to be in for two tough nights,” Abbott said. “The first night we didn’t come out hard. Tonight we did and I think we deserved better. I think we outplayed them tonight. We’ve got to take the positives and move on.”

They Black Bears will play UMass-Lowell at home on Friday and Saturday.

New Hampshire has rallied from its worst start in more than 20 years to even its record at 4-4-1 overall and 3-3 in Hockey East.

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DiGirolamo made 31 saves to earn the win.

“I thought Maine was as good as we’ve played and (DiGirolamo) was on his game, no question about that,” said New Hampshire Coach Dick Umile.

“He gave us a chance to win tonight. They had some pretty good scoring opportunities.”

Ouellette struggled early but came on strong late for the Black Bears and finished with 25 saves.

UNH opened a 3-0 lead early in the second period, then had to hold off the Black Bears.

Freshman Jay Camper, centering the fourth line, scored his first career goal just 3:13 into the game to give the Wildcats a quick lead.

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Sophomore Kevin Goumas set Camper up in front from behind the net.

Junior Dalton Speelman doubled the lead in short order with a goal that looked much like the first, 25 seconds into the middle period. Nick Sorkin passed out from behind the net to Speelman.

Sorkin got the next goal on the power play to make it 3-0 at 3:57 of the second.

From there, the offense was all Maine’s.

Abbott cut the deficit to 3-1 with 6:10 left in the second period. He scored again 5:14 into the third to make it 3-2.

New Hampshire had a flurry of shots on a power play late in the third period but was unable to poke an insurance goal past Ouellette.

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Maine killed off the penalty and finally had a chance to pull Ouellette for an extra attacker in the final 30 seconds.

The Black Bears earned a pair of faceoffs in the UNH end but came up just short.

“We had the opportunity to tie it up and win and we didn’t,” said Maine Coach Tim Whitehead.

“The effort was there. The focus was there. (But) to give a strong team like UNH a 3-0 lead obviously was difficult, but we clawed back.”

 


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