Mar. 29—ALLENTOWN, Pa. — At times this season, the University of Maine men's hockey team looked unstoppable. The Black Bears averaged five goals per game in the Hockey East tournament to claim their first conference title in 21 years. Albin Boija made highlight reel saves from October to March, earning himself a spot as a finalist for the Mike Richter Award as college hockey's top netminder.
On Friday night at the PPL Center, though, the Black Bears were very stoppable.
After taking an early lead against Penn State, Maine couldn't keep pace with the Nittany Lions, suffering a 5-1 loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The final score matched a 5-1 loss at UMass on March 7 as the most lopsided defeat of the season for the fourth-ranked Black Bears (24-8-6), who were eliminated in the first round for the second year in a row.
Penn State (21-13-4) will play UConn on Sunday for a spot in the Frozen Four in St. Louis.
"A tough way to end our season. We got beat in every aspect of the game. For whatever reason, we just couldn't get any traction tonight," said Maine coach Ben Barr. "I think they won every aspect of the game. I think they did everything better than we did."
The loss came one week after Maine beat UConn for its first Hockey East title since 2004.
"We didn't have the juice that we had last week. It really hurts to go out playing like that," Barr said. "The way our team is built, we have to be absolutely locked in, every single guy ... That's not on the guys. I didn't prepare well enough."
Maine scored the first goal of the game, at 4:08, when a Bodie Nobes shot from the top of right circle was tipped by a Penn State defender over the shoulder of goalie Arsenii Sergeev. It was the first collegiate goal for Nobes, but the rest of the first period belonged to the Nittany Lions.
Penn State tied the game 56 seconds later, just eight seconds into a power play. With Thomas Freel barely getting situated in the penalty box for boarding, JJ Wiebusch, who was near the right post, took a crossing pass from Charlie Cerrato and buried the puck into a wide-open net. Aiden Fink, Penn State's Hobey Baker semifinalist, also assisted on the goal.
Cerrato finished with three assists, while his linemates, Matt DiMarsico (two goals) and Wiebusch (one goal, one assists), also had big games.
"I feel like we've been playing together for a while now, ever since the beginning of the year. We compliment each other well," Cerrato said.
The Nittany Lions took a 2-1 lead at 14:26, as DiMarsico scored from the slot on a pin-point shot above Boija's glove. Then, Penn State got its second power-play goal at 18:08, this time from Dane Dowiak. The power play was the result of a hooking penalty on Freel. The goal was reviewed for a possible offsides but was upheld.
"They moved pucks fast. They played fast up the ice, quick in transition. We weren't as aggressive as we usually were," said Maine center Nolan Renwick. "We allowed them to skate freely throughout the ice, and it ended up costing us in the end."
Penn State pushed its lead to 4-1 at 5:41 of the second period on DiMarisco's second goal of the game.
At 16:37 of the third, Dowiak's empty-net goal capped the scoring.
The Black Bears outshot Penn State over the last two periods, 19-18, but couldn't slip another puck past Sergeev, who finished with 26 saves. Playing for UConn last season, Sergeev recorded a 2-0 shutout against Maine, making 27 saves.
"We knew it from the get-go. He was going to be a game changer for us," Cerrato said of Sergeev.
Boija stopped 29 shots.
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