ST. PAUL, Minn. – The better team won. Period.

Northern Michigan deserved its 5-3 win over Maine in its NCAA Hockey Tournament semifinal here Wednesday. It’s as simple as that.

When it came to crunch time, the Wildcats put the crunch on Maine. Jean-Yves Roy’s third goal of the game tied it 3-3 with 9:22 left and the game would be decided in that last 9 minutes and 22 seconds.

Those last 9:22 were spent almost exclusively in the Maine end.

The early first period shoulder injury to sophomore center Dave LaCoutoure was very significant.

Maine could have weathered his loss against Boston University or Clarkson. BU uses its fourth line sparingly and Clarkson doesn’t have much scoring depth beyond its top two lines. But NM had somebody with at least 39 points on each of its four lines. And all four lines were used regularly by the Wildcats.

Maine had to double-shift several forwards to compensate for LaCoture’s loss. And, with the exception of the Roy-Jim Montgomery-Brian Downey line, the Bears’ other lines did very little offensively.

Roy had seven shots on goal, which is three more than the total mustered by any other Maine line. Roy and Maine’s defensemen combined for 15 of the team’s 27 shots on goal.

In that third period, only the goaltending of freshman Mike Dunham kept Maine in position to win the game until Dallas Drake broke the 3-3 tie with just 3:13 remaining. NMU had 25 shot attempts in the final 20 minutes to Maine’s 12 and had 15 shots on goal to Maine’s 8. The ‘Cats also hit goalposts three times in the period.

NMU was much more effective on the forecheck throughout the game. Its defensemen had a much easier time breaking the puck out of the defensive zone than Maine did.

Maine couldn’t get its third forward in on the forecheck in time to pin the NMU defensemen in their own end. The Wildcats were able to get their third forward into the offensive zone, resulting in sustained pressure. NMU also didn’t turn the puck over nearly as much.

NMU’s edge in experience was noticeable. NMU had seven seniors and five juniors in the lineup compared with Maine’s one senior and seven juniors. NMU was stronger on the puck and won a majority of the one-on-one battles. This would have been another area where LaCouture would have been beneficial. His line, which included Steve Tepper and Martin Mercier, had a couple of effective offensive shifts before LaCouture sustained the injury.

Maine Coach Shawn Walsh said, “Northern Michigan used the large area behind the net much more constructively than we did.”

The game was a microcosm of Maine’s playoff performance.

Roy (6), defenseman Keith Carney (5), and Montgomery (3) had 14 of Maine’s 24 playoff goals. Martin Robitaille was the only other forward with more than one goal in the playoffs as he had two in the six (NCAA and Hockey East) games.

To some, Maine is the team that can’t win the big game. Maine is 0-for-3 in semifinals over the last four years. But the Bears are getting closer.

Maine did not play one of its best games of the year, but was still a shinpad away from overtime. Downey’s shot off a rebound of a Carney shot glanced off NMU defensemen Brad Werenka’s shinpads with 35 seconds left.

If Maine had tied the game and gone on to win it in overtime, it would have been a steal.

Maine Coach Shawn Walsh called this team his “most consistent ever.” Not only did Maine go 32-9-2, but seven of its nine losses were by one goal if you exclude empty-net goals. He also said the goaltending of Dunham and Garth Snow was the best he has ever had.

I agree.

As good a tandem as Scott King and Matt DelGuidice was, Dunham and Snow performed better in big games away from the Alfond Arena. Dunham’s performance against Northern Michigan was the best ever turned in by a Maine goalie in an NCAA semifinal.

However, as Walsh pointed out, both have areas to improve upon for next season. Dunham has a tendency to stay back in his crease and that cost him on the winning goal. If he had come out and challenged Kevin Scott the puck would not have laid at the top of the crease where Drake had an easy rebound goal. Maine also had some critical defensive breakdowns on the play. Snow, meanwhile, needs to improve a little on his agility.

Maine has a major hurdle to overcome.

The Bears are 1-8 away from the Alfond Arena in NCAA tournament play. The only win came in a meaningless consolation game.

All in all, this team overachieved (“We were picked to finish third in Hockey East and we finished third in the country,” said Walsh).

Maine will lose defenseman Brian Straub to graduation and could also lose Roy (Canadian Olympic team or the NHL), Scott Pellerin (Canadian Olympic team), and Carney (U.S. Olympic team). Even if they lose the latter three, they still should be very good and in the thick of the chase for next year’s national title.

Walsh puts things into perspective by saying that if his team can continue getting to the Final Four, it’s just a matter of time before it wins a national title.

He is right.

Maine has one of the finest hockey programs in the country. It is a program that others try to pattern themselves after.

The only thing now left for Maine to accomplish is the to hoist an NCAA championship banner. —

Northern Michigan now has a 25-game unbeaten streak (23-0-2) and look for their superior goaltending and depth upfront should enable them to beat BU in Saturday night’s 8 p.m. final.