DURHAM, N.H. - Sam Faber (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) and Micaela Long (South Boston, Mass.) both recorded a goal and an assist to lift the seventh-ranked University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team to Friday night's 3-0 victory against the University of Maine in Hockey East action at the Whittemore Center.
UNH vaulted into a first-place tie in the Hockey East standings by improving to 7-2-3 in the league. The Wildcats have won three consecutive games and are 12-5-5 overall. They are also 8-0-3 at home this season and extended their home unbeaten streak to 24 games (20-0-4). Maine, which has lost 10 straight in the series vs. UNH, is now 4-18-2 overall and 1-10-1 in Hockey East.
UNH goaltender Kayley Herman (Weyburn, Saskatchewan) made 15 saves to record her second shutout of the season and 11th of her career. Jenn Wakefield (Pickering, Ontario) scored UNH's other tally and she now has a goal in six of the last seven games.
Maine netminder Genevieve Turgeon stopped 34 shots, including 12 in the first period and 14 in the third.
Faber gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 13:02 of the first period. Herman initiated the sequence with a pass to Long, who in turn gave the puck to Raylen Dziengelewski (Southwick, Mass.) at the left point. Dziengelewski slid a pass across the slot to Faber, whose knuckle-shot from the right point floated into the net.
The 'Cats took that 1-0 lead into the first intermission and Wakefield's power-play goal - her team-leading eighth power-play tally of the season - extended the advantage to two goals at 11:08 of the second stanza. Courtney Birchard (Mississauga, Ontario) moved the puck from the right circle to Bellamy in the high slot. Bellamy quickly found Wakefield alone deep in the left circle and the sophomore forward deposited the puck into the open left side of the cage.
New Hampshire led 2-0 at the end of two and, already at 2-for-2 on the power play, gained a two-skater advantage for 79 seconds at 2:39 of the third period. The Black Bears limited UNH to just one shot in that span, however, in a successful penalty kill.
In the sixth minute, Bellamy's pass from deep the in the defensive zone sprung Faber at the opposite blue line. Faber skated down the slot, deked to the left and shifted to the right, but her backhander was thwarted by Turgeon's left leg pad.
With UNH on is fifth power play of the night, Angela Taylor (Paisley, Scotland) blasted a shot from the right circle that ricocheted off the left post.
At 10:38 -- four seconds after that power play opportunity expired -- Long potted her seventh goal of the season to give the 'Cats a 3-0 lead. Paton, from the left side of the high slot, slid the puck across to Faber. She snapped a pass to the right post and Long redirected the puck into the near side.
UNH and Maine conclude the two-game series Jan. 24 (2 p.m.) at the Whittemore Center.