ORONO — Alfond Arena has been very kind to the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team over the last 11 months.
The Black Bears rallied from a pair of one-goal deficits Friday night at the Alfond and emerged with a 2-2 tie against the University of Nebraska Omaha to kick off the final non-conference series of the season for both teams. Maine (9-8-4) and Omaha (8-8-3) meet again Saturday at noon at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland to close out the weekend set.
Tim Doherty scored both goals for the Black Bears, his second less than five minutes into the third period to knot the score once and for all. Junior goalie Jeremy Swayman, making his 20th start of the season, made 41 stops to preserve the tie.
Maine remained unbeaten at home in eight games this season with the tie (7-0-1). The stretch extends 11 games back to last season (10-0-1), dating to a Feb. 8 loss against Providence.
Junior Kevin Conley had a goal and an assist for Omaha. Ryan Brushett also scored for the Mavericks, who got a 46-save effort from freshman goalie Austin Roden.
Doherty’s equalizer was generated from several feet inside the offensive blue line. He flipped a puck at the net where it deflected off the stick of an Omaha defenseman in front and fooled Roden.
Maine enjoyed a power play in the final two minutes of regulation and got good looks from both Adam Dawe and Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup, but neither cracked through for a game-winner.
Maine was badly outplayed over the first 20 minutes, conceded the early goal when Conley knocked home Taylor Ward’s bid at 12:16 for a 1-0 Omaha lead.
The goal came on the Mavericks’ 14th shot on goal, by which time Maine had mustered just two shots of its own.
Swayman stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced in the first period, including five on an Omaha power play less than four minutes into the game.
The Black Bears were much better to begin the second period, and were rewarded when Doherty tied the game on the power play at 8:36 with a drive from the top of the right circle.
Momentum was short-lived, however, with Maine defenseman J.D. Greenway whistled off for a penalty less than a minute later. It took Brushett all of 11 seconds on the man advantage to hand the lead back to the Mavericks, 2-1, with his first goal of the season.
After coming up with only five shots through the first period, Maine had 22 in the second on Roden – who played with No. 1 starter Isaiah Saville wrapping up U.S. National Team duty at the World Junior Championships. Roden was good enough to hold the Black Bears at bay, even after both Jack Quinlivan and Eduards Tralmaks hit the post behind him.
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