Overtime winner lifts Vermont past Maine

Blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period of an playoff elimination game at home is a pretty good recipe for disaster, and the University of Vermont men's ice hockey team certainly danced with that possibility Sunday evening at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

Yet as the Catamounts teetered on the brink of a season-ending disaster, junior forward Jon Turk skated to their rescue, ripping Anthony Petruzzelli's blind feed past Maine goalie Sean Romeo at 16:05 of overtime, dramatically delivering a 3-2 win that sends Vermont into a Hockey East quarterfinal series against Boston College.

Through 40 minutes, the Catamounts fought off penalties and a doggedly determined band of Black Bears, forging a 2-0 lead on goals by Brady Shaw and Kevin Irwin.

Twenty minutes later, the 2-0 was gone, courtesy of Maine's Ben Hutton and Devin Shore, and the season was down to one goal. Turk, who opened the season with a hat trick against Northeastern but had only three goals since, provided it.

"I saw just saw a loose puck at the point and tried to get a shot down low. I thought it would be an easy save but (Romeo) had trouble with it, Petruzzelli got it behind the net, kind of gave a no-look pass, it found me and I just tried to shoot it through the net as hard as I could," said Turk.

The puck flew high over Romeo's glove and, said Turk, "It was awesome, the biggest goal I've ever scored in my life."

In Game 2 Saturday, Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon pointedly expressed his disappointment in his team's effort while praising Maine. Sunday, he lauded both teams for their performances.

"Their backs against the wall (Saturday), I thought they played their hearts out and then they're down 2-0 going to the third period (Sunday)," said Sneddon of Maine. "Every student-athlete that participated tonight gave it absolutely everything they had … we were fortunate to have Jon Turk come down the slot and absolutely bury that one."

"(We) were resilient all weekend We got into them pretty good (Saturday) after we felt the effort was down but I don't think anybody watching (Sunday) could say that our guys didn't absolutely leave everything they possibly had out there," he said.

At times the Catamounts made it tough on themselves. They had to kill seven Maine power plays and early on it was the work of goalie Mike Santaguida (37 saves) that provided the backbone. The Black Bears launched nine shots on Santaguida during three first-period man-advantages. Thereafter, UVM's killers did a better job by limiting Maine to five shots on the other four power plays.

Shaw's deflection on a UVM power play gave the Catamounts a 1-0 lead at 11:25 of the first and Irwin's shot past Romeo (27 saves) produced a 2-0 lead through two periods. Hutton slashed the margin to one at 2:05 of the third and Shore, on a wicked turn-around shot at 15:19 tied the game and securely put all the momentum on the Black Bears' side going to OT.

"You just can't worry about it. You just have to keep playing the same way, just keep trying to forecheck. I thought we backed off a little bit (in the third) and we've got to keep going forward, put the pressure on them and not sit back," Turk said.

"Play to win," was Sneddon's command to the Catamounts going to overtime.

"I loved the way we battled back. We were real positive. It's tough giving up a lead that way but we found a way to win and that's what's important right now," Paliotta said.

The win was the sixth in seven meetings this season for Vermont (20-13-4) over Maine (14-22-3), securing the Catamounts' second straight 20-win season. UVM split its regular-season series at Boston College.

Correspondent Ted Ryan covers UVM hockey for The Burlington Free Press. Contact him at TedRyanVT@aol.com and follow him on Twitter at @TedRyanVT.