The Maine goalie collects his eighth career shutout, setting a new school record.
By Peter Mullen
Staff Writer

ORONO – It was a night of redemption as well as business as usual for the No. 1 college goaltender in the nation.

Sophomore Jimmy Howard stopped all 21 shots he saw Friday night, and Maine posted goals by Todd Jackson, Derek Damon, and Greg Moore to give the No. 3 Black Bears a 3-0 win over No. 2 Boston College in Hockey East action at Alfond Arena.

For Howard, it was his eighth career shutout, (fifth of the season), setting a new school record. His performance also set a pair of Hockey East records for both goals-against average and save percentage.

Ty Conklin and Mike Ayers, both of UNH, had held the previous marks.

Howard got the Friday night start to allow teammate Frank Doyle to play Saturday when all the team’s seniors will be honored.

Howard relished the opportunity. His worst start this season came early in the campaign – a 4-1 loss in Boston.

“Coming into this game I knew we had to be sharp,” said Howard. “I knew it was going to be a tough battle. I wanted to get back to them.”

Maine (25-7-3, 16-5-2 Hockey East) opened the scoring in determined fashion that marked every aspect of the game.

Four minutes into the contest Captain Todd Jackson went the extra mile when he broke down the right hand side, faked a shot, then wrapped around the net, and poked it home on the far side of Eagle (26-5-4, 17-3-3) freshman goaltender Joe Pearce.

“I was about to shoot it,” said Jackson. “But the angle was cut off so I kind off spaced it and he went down and I had a chance to wrap it.”

Maine took advantage of its opportunities as the Black Bears registered just five shots in the opening period but lit the lamp on two of them.

Bangor’s Derek Damon made it a 2-0 game with 4:12 remaining in the first. He moved deep down the right circle and fired a 30-foot wrist shot from a tough angle. The puck found its way past Pearce.

“I thought our kid played well in goal,” said Boston College coach Jerry York. “Shaky on the first two goals. He would probably want to have those two back. I thought he played a pretty steady game.”

It was the first start for the freshman since December as netminder Matti Kaltiainen suffered a groin injury this week.

“Pearce will play tonight as well,” said York. “He might even play in the playoffs. Groin injuries are tough. I thought we were a little apprehensive early with Pearce just because we are used to Matti.”

Even with a two-goal lead at the first intermission, Maine coach Tim Whitehead wasn’t all that pleased.

“I thought we got a bit lucky at the start,” said Whitehead. “I thought they outplayed us for sure in the first period. Jimmy gave us an opportunity to get on our game and that really made the difference for us.”

Lisbon’s own Greg Moore added an insurance tally eight minutes into the final period.

The sophomore was planted in the slot and took the centering pass from Jon Jankus behind the net. It was his 14th goal of the season.

If there was anything to worry about in the game, it was the opportunities Maine gave the Eagles throughout. It might be great to say a team killed six penalties, but that means the Eagles had six chances to score.

“Too much penalty killing,” said Whitehead. “It was good and I thought the first period was a bit lucky, and the second and third period was pretty good. But we gave them too many opportunities on the power play. If we do that again tomorrow night they will make us pay for it. We can’t keep rolling the dice like that.”

Jackson agreed.

“We can’t take chances like that (tonight),” said the captain. “It will bite us if we do. Jimmy baled us out when he had to. It was a great effort tonight.”

“I thought early in the game we had some outstanding chances,” said York. “But as the game went on we ran into real difficulty bringing it up-ice to get set up.”

“I still don’t think it was our best game,” said Jackson. “But its a step in the right direction.”

Pearce made 21 saves for Boston College.

“This was important,” said Whitehead. “Any time you can grab two points from an elite team like this it means a lot. In this case its not the points because they don’t matter. It’s the win.”

“I don’t know what to say,” said Howard. “I’m still speechless. I think this win is more than just knowing we can compete with them. I think this game will get us going.”

The two teams close out the Hockey East regular season tonight at 7 p.m.

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