4th line adding punch

On The Ice

Its primary job is to run into people, stir things up, and create havoc.

But the University of Maine’s fourth line of Dave LaCouture between left wing Martin Mercier and right wing Steve Tepper has been doing much more than that lately.

Over the last three games, the LaCouture line has scored five even-strength goals, which is tops among the team’s four lines. They’ve scored one more goal than the high-powered line of Randy Olson, Patrice Tardif, and Jean-Yves Roy.

Mercier has three of those goals – he had a fourth goal on a line with Olson and Justin Tomberlin in Sunday’s 5-4 loss to Boston College – and the other two have a goal apiece.

“That line has been exceptional,” said Maine Coach Shawn Walsh. “They’ve been a real spark. They’ve been together for a while and they’ve developed a chemistry. That line has really improved.”

“We’ve been communicating better and that’s a big thing,” said LaCouture. “We’re getting more shots now. We’re not looking for cute plays. We’re just getting the puck to the net. We aren’t finesse players. We look for anything around the net like stuffs or rebounds and we do that pretty well.”

LaCouture said their increased familiarity with each other has been beneficial.

“We’ve been together since the Great Lakes Tournament (Dec. 28-29) and the longer you’re together, the better you know your linemates,” said LaCouture. “We feel comfortable now. We’re playing off each other pretty well. We know where each other is going to be.”

Their line has been very effective playing the body and LaCouture said, “That’s the key for our line. When you play the body, things happen. We do a pretty good job of it.”

Even though scoring goals is not the line’s primary objective, LaCouture said, “When your line isn’t scoring and the top two or three lines are, you don’t feel like you’re carrying your own. We know our job is to create havoc, but we want to score, too. We’d like to get a big goal or two to help the team.”

Walsh blamed himself for Sunday’s loss to BC.

He had decided to split the goaltending to keep the goalies fresh under an expected “avalanche” of BC pressure.

So Garth Snow played the first period (7 saves-0 goals) and Mike Dunham played the second and third periods (15 saves-5 goals).

“I should have played Garth in the third period,” said Walsh. “Mike played a great second period (9 saves on 11 shots, including 7 saves off Grade-A high-percentage shots) and was really drained. I should have taken him out. It was my mistake.”

Sophomore right wing Roy and sophomore center Jim Montgomery lead the Bears in multiple-point games this season with 18 apiece.

Roy has had 6 two-point games, 11 three-point games and 1 four-point game while Montgomery has had 10 twos, 7 threes, and 1 four-point game. Sophomore left wing Brian Downey has had 13 multiple-point games (7-twos, 4-threes and 2-fours), junior left wing Scott Pellerin has had 12 (7-2s, 5-3s), junior defenseman Keith Carney has had 11 (7-2s, 3-3s, 1-4), and junior center Martin Robitaille has had nine multiple-point games (6-2s, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5).

Maine’s leaders in power-play points have been Roy (13 goals, 12 assists), Carney (0 & 19), Montgomery (4 & 13), Pellerin (8 & 8), Robitaille (7 & 9), Downey (6 & 10), and Olson (5 & 8).

Maine’s leaders in game-winning points have been Downey (4 game-winning goals, 4 assists on game-winning goals), Roy (5 & 1), Pellerin (4 & 2), Montgomery (0 & 5), Olson (2 & 2), and senior defenseman Brian Straub (0 & 4).

Dunham has been chosen Hockey East Rookie of the Week for the third time (2-1 record, 5.09 goals-against average, .822 save percentage).