AMHERST – Ben Barr still wasn’t quite used to calling the UMass hockey team “them” in his postgame news conference.
He slipped once and said Maine tied “us” last year when discussing the Black Bears’ struggles on the road following a 3-2 overtime win Friday at the Mullins Center. The former UMass associate head coach and recruiting coordinator called the building home for five years with Greg Carvel and the Minutemen.
“We didn’t talk about it very much. I didn’t really even think about it. I did when I got here (Thursday). It brought a lot of memories back obviously good memories,” Barr said. “I think they could probably tell that it was like it was a little different for me so they’re really good kids. We haven’t gotten the results that we wanted every night, but they’re they’re great kids, and they’re high character kids and they showed it (Friday).”
The last-place Black Bears won for just the second time on the road all season when first-line winger Donavan Houle burst through the UMass zone on a breakaway and beat Matt Murray for the winner 63 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime. Jakub Sirota picked up the assist.
Their previous victory was in a shootout at Boston College in November.
Donny Hockey, Donny Hockey, Donny Hockey.@JonShieldsME on the call – down goes #9!#BlackBearNation | #HockeyEast | @Buccigross pic.twitter.com/eSUrCAAAEV
— Maine Men’s Ice Hockey (@MaineIceHockey) February 12, 2022
“When that puck went in, it was a really different feeling. It’s been different for me since we got here last night because it’s been such a special place for me,” Barr said.
He’d never stayed so long at his previous coaching stops. It was two or three years at RPI, Union, Providence and Western Michigan before he landed in Amherst.
“I didn’t think I’d be emotional. I’m not a super emotional person, but it’s been emotional since we got here (Thursday) and and obviously (Friday). You know, it meant a lot,” Barr said.
UMass captain Bobby Trivigno nearly put the Minutemen (15-9-2, 10-5-2 Hockey East) ahead 7 minutes into the third period. Linemate Garrett Wait almost picked a corner from long range but hit the pipe. The puck kicked out to a charging Trigino on the opposite side and he slammed a one-time shot into what looked like an open net.
Maine goalie Victor Ost man pushed hard to his glove side and sna tched it out of the air to preserve a 2-2 game. He finished with 25 saves.
“Ridiculous. That was a highlight reel save. When you play that team, we needed save lives that,” Barr said. “They were pressing there the second half of that game pretty hard, and he made the saves he needed to make.”
The score stayed there at the end of the third to send No. 9 UMass to overtime for the seventh time this season. The Minutemen are 2-3, and two of those games went to shootouts.
Trivigno gave the Minutemen their first lead 22 seconds into the second period. He picked off a Maine pass at the blue line then waited. And waited. And waited some more for Ostman to commit and slid the puck in behind him for a 2-1 advantage.
The Black Bears (5-16-4, 3-12-2) responded with a quick strike at 7:01. Ben Poisson won a race to the puck after a long stretch pass form Lynden Breen and beat UMass goalie Matt Murray to tie the game at 2.
Phenomenal individual effort by @BobbyTrivigno to start the second period with his 15th of the season 👀@HobeyBakerAward #NewMass x #Flagship 🚩#NewMass x #Flagship 🚩 pic.twitter.com/8JiRkGCnlg
— UMass Hockey (@UMassHockey) February 12, 2022
“Their second and third goals are inexcusable,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “We had chances to be above them, and we decided to hope and make a stick check and they get a break away and it’s in the back of the net.”
Maine received the first power play opportunity of the game when UMass’ Taylor Makar was whistled for tripping 8:46 in. The Black Bears capitalized on it 10 seconds later. David Breazeale found Breen near the left circle with enough room for a slap shot.
The puck hit the crossbar then flipped back into the net for a 1-0 lead at 8:56 of the first period.
UMass returned the favor in short order. Sirota was whistled for interference at 11:03. Then in five short seconds, Josh Lopina won the face off to Trivigno, who hit Garrett Wait for a tying goal 1-1.
“These games scare me. You get a team that hasn’t won a lot and you think it’s going to be easier,” Carvel said. “I’m glad we played LIU last weekend because we hopefully learned that you’ve got to show up and play hard, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. Maine showed up ready to play. We weren’t.”
The teams will do it again at 7 p.m. Saturday back at the Mullins Center.
“To me it’s very simple, a very simple equation. Show up ready to compete, do the right things without the puck,” Carvel said. “Coaching’s not that hard. You get your kids ready to play hard and do the right things without the puck and you look like a good coach. Benny was a very good coach (Friday).”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.