ORONO, Maine - Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) scored a power play goal at 18:21 of the third period to break a 3-3 tie and the University of Maine men's ice hockey team defeated Michigan State 5-3 on Saturday night at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine. Kevin Swallow (Stanwood, Mich.) iced the game with an empty-net goal seconds later to ensure the victory for the Black Bears.
Michigan State opened the scoring at 9:23 when Corey Tropp hit the back of the net while the Spartans were skating on the power play. Derek Grant threw a shot from the right circle on Maine goaltender Scott Darling (Lemont, Ill.) that bounced off a skate in front to the left circle where Tropp cleaned up the deflection for his fifth goal of the season. Nick Sucharski also assisted on the goal.
The Black Bears evened the score at a goal a piece while skating a man down when David deKastrozza (Toms River, N.J.) scored his second goal of the season. deKastrozza took a pass from Kevin Swallow (Stanwood, Mich.) and beat Spartan goaltender Drew Palmisano from the left circle for the short handed goal. Mike Banwell (Scarborough, Ontario) began the play when he threw a pass up the ice that bounced off the boards and two Swallow.
Maine opened up the second period with an early goal from Spencer Abbott (Hamilton, Ontario). Adam Shemansky (Robbinsville, N.J.) found Abbott on the right circle who wristed a shot by Palmisano for his first goal of the season. Rookie Matt Mangene (Manorville, N.Y.) also assisted on the play for the Black Bears.
Michigan State countered Maine's goal just minutes later with a rush that ended with Mike Merrifield's first goal of the season. Jeff Petry skated into the Maine zone and fed the puck through the middle to a streaking Merrifield who deposited the puck into the back of the net to tie the game at two. Corey Tropp also notched an assist on the play.
The Black Bears would take the lead 3-2 when Brian Flynn (Lynnfield, Mass.) tallied his first goal of the season 15:03 into the second period. Shemansky skated into the Spartan zone and dishes the puck off to Matt Mangene. Mangene took the puck deep into the zone to the right of Palmisano and dished a back hand pass to Flynn who fired a shot into the back of the Spartan net.
Michigan State opened the third period by tying the game just 45 seconds in. Dustin Gazley skated into the Maine zone and had the puck broken up in front of the Black Bear net. Junior Andrew Rowe gathered the puck behind the Maine endline and put a shot on net that hit off Darling and ricochet into the net.
The game remained tied at 3-3 until Nyquist gave Maine the victory at 18:21. On the power play, Will O'Neill (Salem, Mass.) got the puck to Robby Dee (Plymouth, Minn.). Dee passed the puck to Nyquist who held it for a long time, before beating Palmisano was an impressive shot from the top of the face-off circle. For Nyquist, it was his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
Maine closed out the scoring when Swallow notched an empty-net goal at 18:44. Banwell got the puck to Theo Andersson (Gothenburg, Sweden) who found Swallow. Swallow was able to deposit the puck into the open net for his first goal of the season.
Michigan State held a slim 27-25 edge in shots on goal. Maine was 2-for-8 on the power play, while holding the Spartans to just 1-of-6.
Darling made 24 saves in goal for the Black Bears and improves to 1-1-0 on the season. Palmisano stopped 20 shots for the Spartans.
The Black Bears return to action Friday, Oct. 23 when they travel to UMass for a 7 pm game against the Minutemen.