Maine reaches Hockey East final after wild double OT thriller

Mar. 21—BOSTON — When he pulled off his white jersey, soaked with sweat after four and a half periods of hockey Thursday night, University of Maine senior Nolan Renwick noticed it was turning yellow. I need to hydrate, Renwick thought.

It was Renwick who made sure he and his teammates could finally get off the ice after more than 90 minutes of hockey at TD Garden. His goal at 11:02 of the second overtime lifted the Black Bears to a 4-3 win over Northeastern, and into the Hockey East championship game for the first time in 13 years.

Planted at the left post, Renwick took a pass from Charlie Russell and knocked it past Huskies goalie Cameron Whitehead. Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe challenged the goal for goaltender interference, briefly stalling the Maine celebration, but after review officials ruled it was a good goal.

"You get deep into that second overtime, we figured it was going to be a greasy goal. I just parked myself at the side of the net, and Charlie Russell made a great play there," Renwick said. "That's the goal I dream of every night."

Maine (23-7-6) will face UConn, which defeated Boston University 5-2 in the earlier semifinal, Friday at TD Garden for the Hockey East title. Maine is playing for its first conference belt since 2004, while UConn is in the final for the first time since 2022. The winner will be the first team from outside of Massachusetts to win the Hockey East crown since Maine 21 years ago.

Despite playing such a long, hard-fought game Thursday, Renwick said the Black Bears will not have any trouble finding energy Friday.

"I don't think it's going to be that hard, honestly. Energy-wise, we expended a lot tonight, but we're playing for a championship (Friday), so it's not going to very hard to get up for that game," Renwick said.

Whitehead was outstanding for the Huskies. Maine had 61 shots on net, the most in Division I this season, and the Northeastern goalie made 57 saves. The Black Bears had the better scoring chances in the first overtime. Five minutes in, Harrison Scott had a shot at an open right side after taking a pass from Josh Nadeau from the left circle, but his stick broke as he shot, sending it high. In the final minute of the first OT, Nadeau's shot sailed high when his stick was lifted by a Northeastern defender as he released the shot. Just over two minutes into the second overtime, Maine defenseman Bodie Nobes hit the right post with a shot from the top of the circle.

Whitehead has played well over the last few weeks, Jerry Keefe said, pointing to the Huskies' double overtime win at Merrimack in the first round, and the Huskies 3-1 upset win at top-seed Boston College to advance to the semis.

"He showed up in the big games when it mattered most. That's what you need your goaltender to do," Keefe said.

Down 3-2 midway through the third period, Maine tied the game on Luke Antonacci's second goal of the season, at 12:44 of the third. Scott won a faceoff in Northeastern's zone back to Antonacci, whose shot deflected off Whitehead and into the net to tie the game.

It was Maine native Andy Moore, a Greely high graduate, who gave the Huskies a 3-2 lead at 4:29 of the third period, scoring on a rebound. A sophomore and Northeastern's fourth-line center, it was the first goal of Moore's career, and capped a rally that saw the Huskies overcome a 2-0 deficit.

"Andy's one of the most well-respected guys in that room. He's a gamer. He works and comes to work every day. He's a leader on our team," Keefe said. "I thought that gave our team such a boost, too. I know guys were excited for him. He earned it."

While Keefe felt Moore's goal was a spark, Maine coach Ben Barr felt the same, noting that he saw the Black Bears take control of play after falling behind.

"I thought as soon as we went down 3-2, the game changed. Now, why do we go down 3-2 after being (ahead) 2-0? That's a problem," Barr said.

Barr said he felt good in the intermissions between the third period and overtime, and the first and second overtime, when he saw his team leaders, captains Lynden Breen and David Breazeale, as well as Renwick, Scott, and Brandon Holt, take control of the locker room. Goalie Albin Boija even yelled at his teammates in Swedish, Barr said.

"They were telling me to stop yelling at them, so that was a good sign they had it under control. They know what we have to do to play well," Barr said.

Maine took a 1-0 lead at 14:02 of the first period. Fresh out of the penalty box after serving two minutes for elbowing, Owen Fowler took a pass from Scott and broke in alone on Whitehead, shooting low for the first goal of the game.

Fowler scored again, his 10th goal of the season, at 2:03 of the second period to give the Black Bears a 2-0 lead. This time, Fowler jumped on a rebound of a Breen shot.

"(Fowler) finds a way to score big goals. He's done that a lot this year for us," Barr said.

The Huskies cut Maine's lead in half soon after with a power play goal at 4:01. Dylan Hryckowian was able to jam home a loose puck while Boija was tied up with a teammate in the crease.

Northeastern (14-20-3) tied the game at 19:11 of the second period, seconds after killing a penalty. Fresh out of the box, Jackson Dorrington fed a pass to Cam Lund, who snuck in behind the Maine defense, sending his shot low to the right corner of the net, out of reach of Boija's glove, to knot things at 2-2.

Boija made 33 saves for the Black Bears.

"There was a pile of shots and multiple times in overtime where I think we could've scored. It would have been easy to get frustrated," Renwick said. "You've got to give credit to (Whitehead). He played a heck of a game."

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