ORONO, Maine --Joey Diamond (Long Beach, N.Y.) scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the weekend 3:59 into overtime to lift the University of Maine men's ice hockey team to a 4-3 win over #13 UMass Lowell on Sunday afternoon at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine. For Diamond, it was his team-leading 10th goal of the season.
Maine opened the scoring 9:50 into the first period when UMass Lowell went to clear the puck, but it was saved at the blueline by Brice O'Connor (Londonderry, N.H.). He passed to Diamond in the slot, who eluded his defender, held the puck and fired a shot past UMass Lowell goalie Doug Carr.
Lowell tied the game just 14 seconds later. Zach Kamrass skated the puck into the zone and found Terrence Wallin on the boards at the goal line. Wallin shot the puck towards the goal and Michael Fallon was able to deflect it into the back of the net.
The River Hawks took a 2-1 lead at 7:53 of the second period. Ryan McGrath had an initial shot that Maine goalie Martin Ouellette (St.-Hippolyte, Quebec) was able to save. Joseph Pendenza deflected the puck to Riley Wetmore, who fired it into the open net.
Ryan Lomberg tied the game at 2-2 on the power play. Devin Shore (Ajax, Ontario) passed to Jake Rutt (Scarborough, Maine) on the opposite blueline. Lomberg was able to redirect Rutt's shot past Carr for his fifth goal of the season.
Ryan McGrath gave the River Hawks a 3-2 lead at 16:08 of the second period. Kamrass had a shot that was blocked and the rebound went right to McGrath. Ouellette, who was in position to play the initial shot, was unable to recover.
Maine answered back just 40 seconds later. Diamond collected the puck in the offensive zone and found Steve Swavely (Reading, Pa.) along the boards. Swavely hit Rutt with a pass just inside the blueline. Rutt fired a shot past Carr to tie the game at 3-3.
The game remained tied until Diamond won it for the Black Bears in overtime. He stole the puck from a UMass Lowell defender and skated in alone on a breakaway. He made an impressive move, before beating Carr the game overtime game-winner.
UMass Lowell outshot Maine 38-29 in the game. The Black Bears were 2-for-5 on the power play, while UMass Lowell finished the game 2-for-3.
Ouellette was again outstanding for the Black Bears, making a career-high 35 saves in the victory. He improves to 6-7-5 on the season. Carr made 25 saves and falls to 8-8-1.
Maine improves to 8-14-5 on the season and 4-9-5 in Hockey East play. UMass Lowell falls to 14-9-2 overall, 8-8-2 in conference play.
The Black Bears return to action on Saturday, Feb. 9 when they travel to Vermont for a 7 PM game with the Catamounts.