Maine captain Steven Swavely entered the night among the national leaders with 80 shots on goal. He led both teams with six more shots and two of them found the net as the Maine Black Bears defeated the Colgate Raiders, 3-1, at Alfond Arena.
Swavely capitalized on a turnover to score the eventual game-winner with just 3:39 remaining. After picking up the loose puck, he made a move on the remaining defenseman and slid the puck past Charlie Finn.
“Their defenseman went to make a pass but he fumbled it … I’m not going to lie, it feels good to finally get some luck,” said a relieved Swavely after the game.
“Welcome to college hockey,” chimed in Maine coach Red Gendron.
The game started off looking like a matchup of the 49th and 51st ranked teams in the RPI. Both teams made sloppy passes, turned the puck over at key times, and missed opportunities.
Early in the second period, a no-look pass up the middle of the ice was picked off by Colgate’s Tim Harrison who skated in on a partial breakaway, but his shot went high.
Colgate opened the scoring midway through the first. Following a penalty kill, the Raiders worked the puck around the boards for an eventual shot from the point by Brett Corkey to give the Raiders the lead 9:52 into the game.
Swavely answered less than five minutes later when he took the puck across the net and released a low shot at the far corner that Finn never saw.
“That goal doesn’t happen without (Will) Merchant providing a screen.”
Rob McGovern showed some of the flash from earlier in the season, stopping Mike Panowyk point blank with a pad save to start the third frame. He finished the game strong when Colgate pulled the goalie late in the third and pressed for a tying goal. He has had better games, but this will go down as his first collegiate victory.
The Black Bears also had chances earlier in the third. Cam Brown found Blaine Byron all alone streaking down the left side, but rather than shoot he tried to pass back to Brown and Finn knocked it away. Seconds later, it looked like Brendan Robbins had given Maine a lead when his shot from the bottom of the left circle headed toward an empty net, but Finn recovered in time and sprawled across the ice for the save of the night.
Colgate was playing short-handed and rolled three lines tonight.
“We played well for two periods ,” said Colgate coach Don Vaughan. “We just didn’t have any jam in the third period.”
The Raiders are now 1-9-1 since mid-November.
“We’re a team looking for a win.”
Asked about any changes for tomorrow’s finale Vaughan lamented that he had dressed all 21 guys who made the trip.
“What you see is what you get. Same lineup tomorrow.”
For his part, Gendron was satisfied with the team’s performance.
“We played very well in the third period, second period too for that matter. They had three power plays and only two shots.
