ORONO – The University of Maine men’s hockey team, fresh from a sweep at Boston University last week, faced lightly regarded Alabama-Huntsville on Friday and barely escaped.

Down 3-0 after two periods, Maine tied the game in the final minute of regulation and won it 4-3 on Stu Higgins’ rebound goal 59 seconds into overtime, before 3,987 at Alfond Arena.

Spencer Abbott assisted on the score. He also tied the game with 46 seconds left in regulation, after Maine pulled goalie Dan Sullivan for an extra attacker.

Maine outshot UAH 38-11, but sophomore goalie Clarke Saunders backboned a trapping defense for the Chargers.

Maine, ranked 15th in the national polls, improved to 15-8-3. The hard-luck Chargers dropped to 2-25-1.

“That’s definitely a better team than most people think,” Higgins said.

Despite their record, the Chargers showed last week that they’re still playing hard, losing two one-goal games at top-ranked Minnesota-Duluth.

Maine had five power plays in the first period and outshot the Chargers 15-3, but trailed 1-0.

“The guys were frustrated after the first period,” Abbott said. “They’re goalie stood tall.”

On one of UAH’s few possessions in the Maine zone, Kyle Lysaght took a centering pass in the slot and beat Sullivan at 11:29.

Maine’s fifth power play continued into the second period. The Black Bears hit a pipe, but not the back of the net.

Anxiety elevated in the Alfond when the Chargers scored twice within three minutes in the second period, Mac Roy at 13:14, and Justin Cseter at 16:09.

A stunned crowd watched the Black Bears skate off the ice down 3-0.

“The second period was all them,” Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. “In the third period we were able to regroup. Then it was a matter of whether we got enough bounces.”

Maine finally broke through on the power play early in the third. Matt Mangene redirected Abbott’s slap shot at 2:07, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

Maine needed to get players in front of Saunders, and the Black Bears did that 9:34. After a bunch of shots, freshman Andrew Cerretani stuffed in a rebound to make it 3-2.

It was Cerretani’s first goal.

With Sullivan pulled late in regulation, Maine attacked. Matt Mangene sent in a shot that hit Abbott, who turned and lifted the puck over Saunders, tying the game.

In overtime, Abbott passed from behind the net to Higgins — who was persistent.

“I shot, the goalie stopped it,” Higgins said. “I shot (again) with my backhand. Somebody blocked it. Then it popped back to me. The goalie was out of position, and it finally went in.”

The two teams play again tonight at 7.

NOTES: The Black Bears played without top-liner Joey Diamond, who has not recovered from the hip injury he suffered last weekend. Mangene moved up to the top line, and freshman defenseman Jacob Rutt of Scarborough made his first appearance as a forward, playing left wing on the second line. While the Black Bears played a nonconference game, UMass-Lowell beat Vermont 3-1 to move into a tie for third place in Hockey East with Maine, at 24 points.

Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH

 

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