Dutchmen blank Black Bears, 3-0

Box Score

by Ryan Fay

Senior goaltender Colin Stevens made 29 saves to lift second-ranked Union to a 3-0 shutout of Maine in a non-conference game Friday at Alfond Arena.

Union improved to 3-0 while Maine fell to 0-3.

A strange play led to Union taking a 1-0 lead at 6:26 of the opening period. Sophomore forward Mike Vecchione fired a shot from center ice, but it tipped off the glove of Maine goalie Matt Morris and into the back of the net.

The score stayed that way until 5:31 of the third. Junior forward Matt Wilkins was crashing the cage when he banged home a centering feed from freshman forward Kevin Shier to push Union's edge to 2-0. The assist was Shier's first collegiate point.

Union gave Maine back-to-back power-play opportunities midway through the third, but the Black Bears couldn't capitalize. Freshman forward Spencer Foo iced the win with an empty-netter at 18:49 of the third.

Vecchione, the reigning ECAC Hockey Player of the Week, added an assist on Foo's empty-netter and paced the Dutchmen with 17 faceoff wins. He has a goal and an assist in each of Union's first three regular season games.

Junior defenseman Sebastien Gingras, who originally committed to Maine, assisted on Vecchione's goal and registered team-best plus-3 rating.

Union will go for the weekend sweep of Maine at 7 p.m. Saturday.

End Notes...  The shutout was the 10th of Stevens' career ... Union has won nine straight contests against Hockey East opponents dating to Dec. 2012.

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