The University of Maine women’s ice hockey team fell to the University of Vermont (UVM) Catamounts 2-1 in overtime to drop their only game of the weekend at Alfond Arena.
This was the Black Bears’ third game of the season with UVM, beating them 3-0, and 2-1 at the Gutterson Field House back in November. UVM avoided the season sweep with the win and gained a valuable two points in Women’s Hockey East Association (WHEA) conference play.
The first period began with chances for both teams, as they battled to gain an advantage. Maine would open up the scoring at 17:43 on a goal that was deflected by first-year forward Victoria Hummel.
The play began on the rush, and Maine dumped the puck in behind Catamount second-year goaltender Madison Litchfield. Black Bear second-year forward Eve Boissonneault won the puck in the far corner, and reversed the puck to the point where it was collected by second-year defenseman Kristin Gilmour. Gilmour took a slapshot that was deflected off Hummel, who was screening the goalie, and went top shelf to give Maine the 1-0 lead.
For Hummel, it was her second goal of the season. Gilmour would record her third assist, even though she was originally given credit for the goal. Boissonneault would notch her second of the season.
“Eve [Boissonneault] had the puck, cycled it up along the wall from the blue [line],” Gilmour said on her assist in the first period, “I was screaming for her to dump it back to me and she did. I just put my head up and took a slapshot and it actually went off [Hummel’s] elbow and went in.”
The Catamounts would not be down for long, as UVM would tie the score at the beginning of the second period. Maine would take a penalty for too many men on the ice with just 48 seconds remaining in the first period. UVM would enter the second period on the power play, and would score just 1:07 in.
First-year defenseman Amanda Drobot carried the puck into the Maine zone, and then dropped it back for fourth-year forward Brittany Zuback who was trailing the play. Zuback took a slapshot that was saved by Black Bear third-year goaltender Meghann Treacy, but the rebound was collected by UVM third-year forward Dayna Colang who roofed the puck past Treacy to tie the game at one.
For Colang, it was her 16th goal of the season and fourth in her last two games. Colang is also riding a five game scoring streak.
“We just had our forecheck going in the first 5-6 minutes of the game,” said UVM head coach Jim Plumer on the team’s offensive efforts during the game, “We just tried to stay balanced. Get pucks deep, stayed balanced and cycled, got [the puck] to the corners.”
Vermont would continue to have a strong second period, outshooting the Black Bears 20-9 in the period. Treacy would make a couple of key saves to keep the score even going into the third period.
UVM would dominate the third period as well, taking a total of 17 shots on net to Maine’s four. Once again, Treacy was strong between the pipes for the Black Bears, and the game would head into overtime.
After both teams got a couple of shots on goal during the first three minutes of overtime, the Catamounts would score to end the game on a breakaway by fourth-year forward Amanda Pelkey.
After breaking out of their own defensive zone, Catamount second-year defenseman Rachael Ade found Pelkey racing through center ice. After a burst of speed, Pelkey beat her defender and skated in on Treacy one-on-one. Pelkey made a forehand-backhand move and beat the diving Treacy high on the stick side to end the game.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Treacy said after the game. “We came out and we scored one and then they came back and we kept on battling. The third period showed that we never gave up… and they got a lucky break by a really fast kid.”
Treacy would have a career game despite the loss, making 53 saves. Litchfield would make 26 saves in the win. UVM outshot Maine 55-27, including launching 20 shots on goal in the second period alone. UVM would go 1-2 on the power play, and Maine would go the entire game without a man advantage, due to the discipline of the Catamounts.
Despite the loss, the Maine coaching staff was still proud of their team’s efforts in the game.
“I think, like always, our team battled to the end,” Maine assistant coach Sara Reichenbach said. “They worked really hard defensively in the second and third. I think in the first period… we got some good opportunities that we should have capitalized on and we had a nice goal. But in general, UVM battled hard. They threw everything they had at us.”
Reichenbach also explained the difference between the efforts in the first and the second periods were due to the fact that they stopped paying attention to detail.
“We stopped doing the little things that were giving us success in the first. In the second and third we stopped moving our feet and we stopped moving to support the puck,” Reichenbach said.
After the loss, the Black Bears fall to 10-14-3 (9-7-1 WHEA) and the Catamounts improve to 11-16-1 (4-13-0 WHEA).
“I don’t think [our mentality] is going to change,” Reichenbach said. “We think about how we want to one game at a time. It’s just being able to play our game with a lot of confidence, speed, and work ethic. That’s all we’re focusing on… it’s a matter of continuing what we’re doing.”
Maine will continue doing what they are doing on the road next weekend for an important conference series versus the BC Eagles. The puck drops at 2 p.m. for both games at Kelley Rink.