ORONO, Maine — It was a record-setting performance for Massachusetts Lowell goaltender Kevin Boyle as he stopped all 38 pucks that came his way as the No. 5 River Hawks scored a 6-0 shutout at Alfond Arena.
Boyle becomes the first visiting goaltender in history to record shutouts in consecutive games in Orono.
The day started with promise for the Black Bears, after beginning the season 0-7-3 away from Alfond Arena. Almost 1,000 students lined up in the bitter cold, buttressed by free chili and hot chocolate, to see their new hero finally play a home game. Freshman goaltender Rob McGovern has been one of the few bright spots for a winless Maine team with a sparkling 1.98 GAA and a .938 save percentage.
Those numbers are not so shiny anymore after Lowell lit him up for four goals on eight shots in 15:15 and forced Maine coach Red Gendron to pull his goalie.
The key moment in the game came with Maine already trailing 2-0 and killing a penalty when the puck deflected off Rob Michel and suddenly, Maine had a 2-on-0 breakaway. Cam Brown was unable to handle the pass across, however, and the River Hawks broke the other way and C.J. Smith notched his fourth of the year to make it 3-0 just 12:21 into the game.
“If it weren’t for bad luck, they’d have no luck,” Lowell coach Norm Bazin said after the game.
Of the 38 shots Maine fired on goal, 18 came on the power play and the Black Bears attempted 71 shots total.
“Any time you can come into a building like this and get an early lead is a bonus,” Bazin said.
The initial shot was blocked by Maine defender Keith Muehlbauer but the puck rested atop his pants. When it finally came loose, it was right on the stick of Ryan Dmowski, who shot it on McGovern and it trickled over the line.
Michael Louria and Gage Hough scored their first goals of the campaign and Ryan McGrath chipped in two assists. Smith now has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a career-best five straight games.
Maine is left wondering what might have been as Boyle played remarkable in the early going to keep Lowell in the driver’s seat. Among his game-high nine shots on goal, Steven Swavely had a couple of open looks, but was unable to solve the senior netminder.
“At the end of the day only one statistic matters,” said Gendron. “We lost 6-0.”
He then read off a litany of Maine chances, but came back to the scoreboard.
Swavely said the offensive effort was there, but defensively there was a definite letdown from Friday’s effort: “The guys know this is unacceptable.”
“I believe in this team,” Gendron added. “We’ve had a million chances [to score], so the effort is there. If I didn’t see the effort, I would get discouraged.”
