Cal Kiefiuk scored two goals in the first period, and the UMass hockey team defeated Maine 4-3 on Saturday to sweep the Black Bears in Alford Arena for the first time since 2010.

The Minutemen hadn’t swept a Hockey East series all season, and it was their first series sweep since Oct. 21-22 against Union.

They will be the No. 9 seed in the Hockey East tournament and travel to No. 8 Boston College on Wednesday in the preliminary round (7 p.m. NESN-Plus).

Kiefiuk tucked in the opening goal just 6 minutes, 13 seconds into the contest and doubled his tally 7½ minutes later. Reed Lebster assisted both goals.

“It was important that we scored first again,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said in a release. "And then we scored second. It was a lot of having to defend (Saturday), not surprisingly. Maine plays really tough in this building and I thought the team checked hard and the goaltender was huge. I thought the team did a good job keeping shots to the outside, opportunistic scoring, good goaltending. It was enough to get us the win.”

Cole Brady stopped 35 shots in his fifth consecutive start for the Minutemen.

Scott Morrow gave UMass (13-16-5, 7-14-3 Hockey East) a 3-0 lead 4:35 into the second period on the power play. Lebster and Ryan Ufko assisted that goal.

Maine (15-15-5, 9-11-4) then scored two goals in a row to narrow the lead back to one goal, but UMass forward Lucas Mercuri added a fourth with 11:07 left that proved a game-winner from Aaron Bohlinger and Morrow.

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>