 "Photo: Mike Ralph")
The sellout crowd of 6,501 kept the “Whiteout the Whitt” tradition alive, while the Wildcats dismantled the Maine Black Bears, 5-2.
UNH had an answer for everything Maine threw at them, including the opening goal from Tanner House that gave Maine a brief 1-0 lead.
Seventeen seconds after House’s wrist shot, junior forward Greg Manz netted a goal in front of the net to knot the game at 1-1.
The Black Bears even outshot UNH in the first period, 8-7, before the Wildcats exploded in the second period for three goals, outshooting Maine 15-5.
Speedy sophomore Stevie Moses more than made up for his turnover the prior day against Northeastern, netting two second period goals on Saturday night.
“You can’t think about that at all,” Moses said. “Our line has played well last night and tonight. (The turnover) happened last night (Friday)...and I left that on the ice after Northeastern.”
Moses lit the lamp 3:31 into the second period to give UNH the one goal advantage after putting in a backhanded shot off a pretty pass from junior Paul Thompson.
The sophomore scored again on a wrist shot that sailed just above Maine goalie Shawn Sirman’s leg pad. Sirman stopped 18 UNH shots, before being replaced by Scott Darling in the third period.
Moses’ line scored for a third time, just minutes later when sophomore Mike Borisenok connected on a rebound slap shot in front of the net. Sophomore Damon Kipp was credited with the assist, after providing the initial shot.
“We’ll take the two points tonight and the four on the weekend,” said UNH head coach Dick Umile. “We took control of the game. Borisenok’s line put the puck in the net. It was good for Moses to come out and get some goals for us. We don’t expect Peter LeBlanc and Bobby Butler to do it every night.”
Goalie Brian Foster stopped 22 shots, only allowing the first period goal and a late Maine power-play goal from Will O’Neill.
“We weren’t able to handle the excitement of the moment,” said Maine head coach Tim Whitehead. “We’re not feeling very good. They’re a good team, but we didn’t have the confidence. We’re not protecting the net, which gave them glorious chances.”
The Wildcats first line had multiple chances to light the lamp, including a one-timer from LeBlanc to Butler that was stopped. Butler went without a goal in Saturday’s game, snapping his streak of scoring in every game.
UNH entered the game winless through its first three contests after dropping a road contest to Rensselaer, and taking a loss and tie out of a series with Miami.
But with the weekend’s victories, the Wildcats sit on top of the Hockey East with four points.
“We want to be the best at the end, not at the beginning of the season,” Moses said.
Next on UNH’s schedule is a road, two-game weekend series with perennial powerhouse Wisconsin.
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