UMaine’s Harrison Scott takes a shot with Quinnipiac’s Charlie Leddy and Cooper Moore closing in Friday night at Alfond Arena in Orono. Photo by Tony DelMonaco courtesy the University of Maine

ORONO — For the University of Maine men’s hockey team, Friday night’s 2-1 win over Quinnipiac was a fall victory that could have big implications come spring.

If the Black Bears play out the season as well as they think they can, and Quinnipiac does the same, Friday’s victory in front of 5,043 fans at Alfond Arena will be a quality win that helps Maine in the Pairwise rankings, the system used by the NCAA tournament selection committee to determine bids and seeds. Maine entered the game ranked No. 9 in the USCHO.com poll, while Quinnipiac was ranked No. 7.

“I thought our third (period) was our best. We started to get a little (offensive) zone time, which we didn’t have a ton of in the first. We had a lot of penalties in the first,” said Maine Coach Ben Barr. “I thought we got better as it went along, and that was a good sign. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t a masterpiece by any means.”

Maine (2-0) will host Quinnipiac (1-1) again Saturday night.

“Playoff hockey in October. That’s what you want out of college hockey, and we’re excited to go again (Saturday),” said Maine senior defenseman and captain David Breazeale.

Maine preserved the win by killing a Quinnipiac power play in the final minutes. Black Bear defenseman Frank Djurasevic was whistled for tripping at 17:28, and with the ensuing faceoff in Maine’s defensive zone, the Bobcats were able to pull goalie Dylan Silverstein for a 6-on-4 advantage. It didn’t matter. Maine’s defense held, and the Bobcats were unable to generate any scoring chances on Maine goalie Albin Boija, who finished with 19 saves and faced just five shots in the third period.

“It’s third period. You know they’re going to pull their goalie with a penalty in the last three minutes of the game. The good thing about our team is there’s no panic,” Breazeale said. “Everybody out there, they’re going to keep it calm. They’re going to stack in front of the net, and if shots get through, Albin is going to be back there to save it.”

University of Maine goalie Albin Boija makes a save with Quinnipiac’s Jack Ricketts and Maine’s Brandon Holt watching for rebound Friday at Alfond Arena in Orono. Photo by Tony DelMonaco courtesy the University of Maine

Boija was at his best midway through the second period when he turned away the Bobcats on a 2-on-0 breakaway, making the stop on Tyler Borgula’s shot.

“Super calm,” Barr said of Boija. “Did what he had to do.”

Quinnipiac Coach Rand Pecknold said he’ll have to watch tape of the final power play to determine what went wrong.

“I watched it live. It wasn’t very good. We’ve got guys who can make plays. They didn’t make any plays tonight. That’s to Maine. They worked hard. They competed,” Pecknold said. “I thought Maine was really good tonight.”

Despite taking 10 minutes of penalties in the first period, the Black Bears went into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. First, Nolan Renwick scored at 6:42. Leading a 2-on-1 break, Renwick fired a shot from the left circle that beat Silverstein (27 saves) to the glove side, into the right corner of the net. It was the third goal of the season for Renwick.

In the final minute of the period, at 19:15, Charlie Russell, a transfer from Clarkson, scored his first Maine goal, potting the rebound of a Harrison Scott shot.

“Scotty made a great play, got it to the net. I knew I had to get it up quick, and I’m lucky it went in,” said Russell. “You always hear things, when you’re talking to guys, how awesome it is to play at the University of Maine, but it’s something you don’t really know until you go here and see a game in person.”

The Bobcats cut Maine’s lead to 2-1 at 18:40 of the second when Borgula scored on a one-timer from the left circle off a faceoff win. It was the first goal allowed this season by Boija, who earned a shutout in a season-opening 6-0 win over American International and played almost two scoreless periods in last week’s 5-0 exhibition win over Army.

Maine lost defenseman Grayson Arnott for the game just over six minutes into the first period when he suffered a cut on his forehead during a check into the boards behind the Quinnipiac net. Barr said other than needing stitches, Arnott was fine.

“It’s one of those things that probably looked worse than it is,” Barr said.