ORONO, Maine -- Rookie Joey Diamond (Long Beach, N.Y.) scored a pair of goal, but it was not enough as the University of Maine men's ice hockey team fell to Boston College 4-3 on Friday night at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine. The Black Bears fall to 4-7-0 on the season and 3-4-0 in Hockey East play, while Boston College improves to 5-3-1 overall and 4-3-1 in conference play.
After playing the first period nearly scoreless, the Eagles took a 1-0 lead at 19:11 when Pat Mullane (Wallingford, Conn.) received a pass from Cam Atkinson (Greenwich, Conn.) in the slot and beat Maine goalie Scott Darling (Lemont, Ill.). Brian Dumoulin (Biddeford, Maine) also assisted on the play for the Eagles.
Jimmy Hayes (Dorchester, Mass.) put the Eagles up 2-0 7:29 into the second period. His shot from the left face-off circle beat Darling. Steven Whitney (Reading, Mass.) and Carl Sneep (Nisswa, Minn.) assisted on the goal. The Eagles took the 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
It did not take the Black Bears long to get the Maine crowd back into the game in the third period. Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) scored his sixth goal of the season just 18 seconds into the period. Will O'Neill (Salem, Mass.) and Tanner House (Cochrane, Alberta) assisted on the goal which cut the deficit to just one goal.
Rookie Joey Diamond tied the game just over two minutes later. Goalie Scott Darling began the play with a long pass up the ice to Kevin Swallow (Stanwood, Mich.). Swallow found Diamond who skated along the right boards, cutting in on the goal line and beating Boston College goalie Parker Milner (Pittsburgh, Pa.) for his first collegiate goal.
The Eagles regained the lead just 12 seconds later. Pat Mullane won a face-off back to Patrick Wey (Pittsburgh, Pa.) Wey fed Atkinson who skated down the right side of the ice and beat Darling with a shot near the edge of the face-off circle. For Atkinson, it was his third goal of the season.
Matt Price (Milton, Ontario) scored what would turn out to be the game-winning goal at 9:05. Barry Almeida (Springfield, Mass.) assisted on the goal which came on a shot just in front of Darling.
Diamond pulled the Black Bears to within a goal at 12:40 when he received a pass from Swallow and rifled a shot past Milner from the left face-off circle. Kyle Solomon (Southampton, N.Y.) also assisted on the goal.
Maine, however, would get no closer and the Eagles skated away with the 4-3 victory. Boston College finished the game with a 35-26 edge in shots. The Black Bears were 0-for-6 on the power play, the first game all season that Maine was held scoreless on the power play. The Eagles were 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
Darling made 31 saves in goal for the Black Bears. He falls to 4-3-0 on the season. Milner made 23 saves for Boston College. He improves to 2-0-0.
The two teams return to action on Saturday, Nov. 21. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 PM and tickets can be purchased at the door.