It was a bizarre ending, but the University of Maine men’s hockey team’s season ended in overtime at the Tsongas Center as the University of Massachusetts Lowell beat the Black Bears 2-1.

A goal 1:50 into overtime decided the game for the Riverhawks, as a breakaway was stopped by UMaine, but UMaine goalie Martin Ouellette was taken out by his own teammate Mark Nemec, leaving an open net for Derek Arnold to tap the puck into.

“It was a hard fought game,” UMaine coach Tim Whitehead said. “I’m real happy for [Lowell head coach] Norm [Bazin]. We’re proud of our guys. What’s important tonight is how far we’ve come along this year.”

Lowell advances to the Hockey East semifinal, while UMaine’s season comes to an end.

“I respect their team greatly,” Bazin said. “They should be commended for a great effort.”

It was a relatively low key first period between UMaine and UMass Lowell, as the Riverhawks outshot the Black Bears eight to five.

UMass Lowell had the best chance in the first period as UMaine senior forward Joey Diamond was called for a 5-minute major for charging the goalie. The Riverhawks had a chance to score with sophomore forward Scott Wilson had a breakaway on Ouellette, but the junior was able to deny Wilson his third goal in two games.

UMaine had its own power play with 2 minutes left in the period when Arnold was called for hitting from behind. The Black Bears weren’t able to capitalize on the man advantage.

The second period saw more action, both in between the whistles and extracurricular. The Black Bears jumped out to the first lead of the game after Lowell’s Riley Wetmore hit the penalty box, freshman Devin Shore was able to put the Black Bears ahead 1-0.

UMaine had another power play but wasn’t able to capitalize.

With less than 2 minutes remaining, a skirmish broke out in front of the net, which resulted in a 5-minute major for Diamond, as well as a game disqualification.

“I thought when Diamond left the game, their intensity went up two notches,” Bazin said. “They were out competing us for a good 10-minute spurt.”

To combat the loss of Diamond, Whitehead had to change up some of the lines of the fly.

“We doubled Beattie up in the second period then Merchant in the third,” Whitehead said. “Just juggled some lines. It was fine. We’ve been down that road before.”

The Riverhawks were able to even the score 4 minutes into the third period when freshman center Michael Fallon poked the puck past Ouellette.

The score remained the same throughout the third period despite power-play chances for both squads. UMaine’s Brice O’Connor was booked for interference with 15 minutes left while Lowell’s Joe Pendenza was called for hitting after the whistle midway through the period and junior defender Chad Ruhwedel was booked for tripping with 4 minutes remaining. All penalties were killed off as the game went to overtime.

Less than 2 minutes into the extra time, Ouellette was taken out of his crease by teammate Nemec, leaving the net open for Arnold to poke the puck in for the game winner.

“[Christian] Folin did a good job and got it on net and me and Fallon saw their was a break and joined the rush,” Arnold said of the goal. “The puck came up, Fallon got a hand on it and I spun around and the puck was right there in the crease.

“The refs made the right call and we were able to come out with the victory.”

“There’s nothing I could do to change it,” Whitehead said. “It’s one of those plays that what they usually call on the ice will stand.”

The Black Bears finished the game with six penalties for 26 penalty minutes compared to five penalties and 10 penalty minutes for the Riverhawks.