Photo Credit: Brian Jenkins
FINAL SCORE: Maine 4, #10 Vermont 1 | Box Score

ORONO, Maine - Maine scored three times on the power play, added a shorthanded goal and sophomore Scott Darling made 31 saves as the Black Bears defeated No. 10 Vermont 4-1 in front of 4,289 at Alfond Sports Arena in Hockey East action on Friday night. Sophomore Matt Marshall (Hingham, Mass.) scored his first goal of the season in the loss for the Catamounts who dropped to 2-3-0 (1-2-0 HEA).

Maine (2-5-0, 1-2-0 HEA) went 3-for-10 on the power play and generated 25 of its 35 shots on the man advantage. The Black Bears have scored a power-play goal in all seven of their games this season. The Catamounts were held scoreless on their five power-play chances.

Maine freshman Adam Shemansky scored two power-play goals and junior Jeff Dimmen also scored on the man advantage. Senior Kevin Swallow notched a shorthanded goal 5:23 into the opening period.

“Obviously the big difference in the game tonight was special teams and Maine played three periods and we played one,” Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. “I thought they did a nice job jumping out to the lead. We played a very unemotional first period and it cost us.”

Leading 1-0 after Swallow’s shorthanded tally, the Black Bears extended the lead to a pair of goals on a power-play tally by Shemansky at 9:11 of the first.

Out shot 14-9 in the opening period and trailing 2-0, the Catamounts cut the deficit in half at 5:58 of the second period on a slap shot by Marshall from the right circle. Senior Brayden Irwin (Toronto, Ont.) and sophomore Drew MacKenzie (New Canaan, Conn.) each setup the goal in transition.

Senior Colin Vock (Plymouth, Mich.) had a chance to tie the game less than three minutes later when he skated in alone shorthanded on Darling. Vock went to the backhand but Darling made the save to preserve the lead.

The Catamounts went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill while creating 12 shots in the second and seemed to have momentum going to the final period. However, Dimmen scored just 18 seconds into the third on the power play to extend the lead to 3-1. Dimmen beat Rob Madore (Pittsburgh, Pa.) (35 saves) with a hard low shot from the left circle.

Junior Jack Downing (New Canaan, Conn.) had an opportunity to pull the Catamounts within a goal with another breakaway chance midway through the final period. But Downing had his shot from inside the right circle turned away by Darling who stacked his pads to make the save.

“He played great,” Sneddon said of Darling. “Let’s make sure we give him a lot of credit. He stopped what had to be three or four breakaways and some odd man rushes. He made some great saves; some brilliant saves.”

Maine extended the lead to 4-1 on Shemansky’s second power-play goal at 13:12. It was his team leading fifth goal of the season.

Vermont returns home for a pair of games next weekend at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts host UMass-Lowell on Friday (Nov. 6) at 7:05 p.m. and Providence on Sunday (Nov. 8) at 4 p.m.

“There’s going to be a yard sale of changes,” Sneddon said. “I promised the team that. There will be a lot of line changes, guys in the stands. I just don’t like how unemotional we were. We’re a team that plays on positive emotion and we had blank stares in the first period. So we’ll go with the guys we think that can turn it around for us.”

NOTES: Brayden Irwin has a five-game point streak to begin the season … Matt Marshall’s goal was his first since Nov. 2 at Dartmouth last season … Maine leads the all-time series against Vermont 14-13-2 … The Catamounts are 6-5-2 against the Black Bears since joining Hockey East … Tonight’s game was televised on WABI-TV throughout Maine.