Maine sweeps Merrimack to advance to the Hockey East semifinals.
By Justin Pelletier
Staff Writer

ORONO – After falling behind 2-0, the University of Maine hockey team showed the mettle that has earned it the No. 2 ranking in recent polls.

The Black Bears battled back for three goals, including two in the third period, to complete a sweep of its Hockey East quarterfinal series with a 3-2 win over Merrimack at Alfond Arena Saturday.

The win moves Maine (28-7-3) into the Hockey East semifinals at the FleetCenter in Boston, where it will face No. 8 Boston University, which upset No. 1 Boston College in the deciding game of their series Saturday. Merrimack, meanwhile, is now winless in 12 straight Hockey East playoff games, and has won just three playoff games since 1990.

“This weekend is exactly what I expected it would be,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. “Both games came down to the wire, and I am proud of the guys for the way they played.”

Maine outshot the Warriors 36-11, but many of those shots came from well outside the slot, causing Whitehead a bit of concern.

“I think early on, especially, we weren’t able to get to the front of the net,” Whitehead said. “We weren’t able to get there for second chance shots.”

Ironic, then, is the fact that Todd Jackson scored the game-winning goal on exactly that, a second chance in front of Merrimack netminder Jim Healey (33 saves).

On his goal, Jackson wheeled in from the left side and took control of the loose puck at the top of the left circle. He circled in low and took a quick shot on Healey, who bobbled the puck. Jackson was still planted in front of the net, and whacked at the puck again, this time sending into the net for the game-winner.

“(Mike) Lundin had it tied up in his skates,” Jackson said. “I don’t know if he kicked it or if it squirted out, but the puck slipped out. I looked up and saw I had a lane to the net, so I went for it.”

The score was tied in the first place thanks to John Ronan, Ben Murphy, and a massive miscommunication between Healey and teammate Eric Pedersen.

With Maine killing a penalty, Healey lost his stick behind the net. As Pedersen tried to hand the stick back to Healey, Ronan scooped up a turnover at the blue line and skated to the top of the right circle. As Healey reached for his stick, Ronan fired a shot to the stick side, picking the top left corner.

“It must be the playoffs,” said Ronan, who scored the game-winning goal for Maine against Harvard two years ago in the NCAA regional in Worcester, Mass. “That shot went a bit higher than I wanted it to, but the result was the same.”

Despite outshooting the Warriors 12-4, the Black Bears came out of the first period down 1-0 thanks to a Brendon Clark tally.

Jeff Caron and Ryan Sullivan traded passes at the blue line before Caron sent the puck toward the net. Clark snagged the puck, hesitated and flipped it over Maine netminder Frank Doyle’s glove.

Maine’s best scoring chance in the first came off the stick of Michel Leveille, as he took a nifty behind-the-back feed from Colin Shields and had a point blank shot at Healey. Healey absorbed the shot with his shoulder and then flopped to his right to cover the rebound.

Merrimack extended its lead at 7:19 of the second period when Tony Johnson snuck the puck past Doyle from low in the left circle after a nice cycle on the power play.

Maine struck back on an awkward shot from the left corner.

Seeing Prestin Ryan crashing in from the point, Shields fired the puck at the net and found a hole between Healey’s legs to pull the Black Bears to within one.

“I noticed all season the way he stands, he leaves a space between his leg and the post,” Shields said. “I saw a bit of space again. I tried the same thing in the third and got it through again, but it went across the goal line because it didn’t hit anything.”

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