2008 Woodie Awards
Soares turns hat trick in rout
Matthew Conyers
Issue date: 12/11/06 Section: Maine Sports
| |
|
Saturday against Hockey East foe Northeastern, the team changed that.
Anchored by assistant captain Josh Soares' hat trick, the Black Bears demolished the Huskies, 7-1, at Matthews Arena. With netminder Ben Bishop once again playing in fine form, UMaine used the trappings of a potent offense to register their biggest offensive explosion since last November. The three-goal night by Soares was the first since Michel Leveille recorded a hat trick against Providence in 2004.
"I'm happy for Soares," Keith Johnson said. "He was getting a little frustrated this past month but we all knew he would bounce back. He's a pure goal scorer and it's good that he is back on track."
Soares currently has seven goals and 11 assists placing him second in points on the team.
Along with the goals by Soares, the Black Bears garnered tallies from Johnson, Mike Hamilton, Billy Ryan and Leveille.
"I thought offensively we played a great game, we scored on the power play, we scored shorthanded, we scored five-on-five, so that was huge for us," Johnson said.
With the victory, UMaine closes out the first half of its Hockey East schedule with a mark of 5-3-1. The record is good enough for fifth in hockey east play and keeps them above UMass-Amherst. Overall, the team, which is ranked No. 3 in the land, is an impressive 10-3-1.
"This game was huge for us being that it was the last league game before Christmas break," Johnson said. "Being 5-3-1 at the break is pretty good, not awesome, but I feel we're in a position to make a run at the league title in the second half."
While the Black Bears offensive onslaught on netminder Brad Thiessen is likely to attract the most headlines, the play of the special teams deserves notice. UMaine finished the contest with three pivotal shorthanded goals, two of which came from the accurate blade of Soares.
"Coach Whitehead always encourages us to make plays when we are killing penalties, it is such a back-breaker for a team when the opponent scores shorthanded," Johnson said.
At the end of the game, the Black Bears were also 1-for-7.
Although the special teams effort was extremely commendable, the Black Bears were most encouraged by the goal sheet.
"We're so talented upfront that it was only a matter of time before we got on track," Johnson said. "We have too much depth and experience to be held off the scoreboard."
The Black Bears shined early on, as Johnson sparked the outburst. Barely a minute into the contest, the senior winger broke free and sent a shot top-shelf on Thiessen. On the play, Soares and Keenan Hopson delivered assists.
"Soares made a great cross-ice pass to me and I timed it perfectly," Johnson said. "I had great speed through the neutral zone when I caught the pass, and beat their defenseman wide. I then waited and saw that the goalie went down so I put it over his shoulder. It was good that it happened so early in the game, their student section was going crazy so it was nice to quiet them down."
Leveille continued the scoring 10 minutes later on a four-on-four. The tally featured a relaxed Leveille threading a beautiful shot over the blocker-side shoulder of Thiessen. With a two-goal advantage, the Black Bears remained tight on Theissen looking for the back-breaker. At 12:39 Soares delivered it with a power play score.
After closing out the first period with a 3-0 lead, the Black Bears burst out strong in the second. Throwing five early shots on Theissen within the first five minutes, the Black Bears finally pilfered the net when Soares smacked home a shorthanded goal at 6:17. He was followed five minutes later by Mike Hamilton, who has scored three goals in the Black Bears' last four games.
"I waited for the goalie to make the first move and he did, so I put it upstairs, where my mother hides the cookie jar," Hamilton said.
Hamilton's four goals this year equal his total from the last two seasons combined.
"Everyone knows that Hamilton can put the puck in the net," Johnson said. "He's got a great shot, we see it all the time in practice. I knew it was only a matter of time before he started scoring again. Now that he has some confidence I can see him being scary in the second half of the year."
In the third period, the Black Bears closed out their scoring with Soares grabbing his hat trick and Billy Ryan tallying his third score of the year on the penalty kill.
With just 2:05 left to go, Bishop was denied his second straight shutout after Joe Vitale rocketed home a shorthanded goal. The score snapped a 160-minute shutout streak for Bishop.
The Black Bears will now wait to close out the first half of the year Saturday against Mercyhurst in Portland.
"I feel we are moving in the right direction," Johnson said. "Hopefully we can put together another solid performance next Saturday. That would leave us on a four-game winning streak headed into the Florida tournament and I think we will say that is a pretty successful first half of the season."
Be the first to comment on this story