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PORTLAND – On Halloween night, the University of Maine’s Black Bears received a huge scare. It took the smallest Bear to quell the fright.
Five-foot-four right winger Cal Ingraham’s goal at the 1:16 mark of overtime enabled the Black Bears to survive a determined Kent State team, 5-4, in a season-opening contest played before 1,981 at the Cumberland County Civic Center here Thursday.
Kent State is now 1-3. The two teams will play at the Central Maine Civic Center in Lewiston on Friday night at 7.
On the winning goal, Martin Robitaille got a deflected pass from Scott Pellerin and broke into the offensive zone.
“I cut from left to right and was going to take a shot, but I saw Cal open and I chipped it to him,” said Robitaille.
“The puck was rolling and I just flipped it up over the goalie’s pad,” said Ingraham.
Kent State goalie Paul Dixon said, “I didn’t think he could get to it. I was back in my crease getting ready to cover it up. He did a heckuva job. He put it between my pad and glove.”
Jean-Yves Roy had a pair of first-period goals, but Lane Gunderson and Tim Evans answered for the Golden Flashes.
Dave LaCouture recaptured the lead for Maine in the second period, but Evans got the equalizer with 43 seconds left in the period.
Freshman defenseman Jim Burcar put Maine ahead at the 3:10 mark of the third period, snapping a 25-foot wrist shot past Dixon off a Jim Montgomery pass.
But, a double minor assessed to Maine’s Steve Widmeyer opened the door for Barry Cummins’ tying goal with 4:11 left. Dean Sylvester beat a Bear defenseman down the left wing and his centering pass deflected to Cummins, who put it in the open net.
Maine killed off another penalty later in the period.
“You’ve got to give them credit,” said Maine Coach Shawn Walsh. “They played really hard and Dixon is a very good goalie. We dominated the game territorially and had chances to put them away, but we didn’t. It was an exciting game.”
“We stood around watching Maine for the first 10 minutes, but then we got a goal and settled down,” said Kent State Coach Bill Switaj. “We worked hard and this could be a (confidence) builder for us. If we can skate with Maine, we can skate with anybody.”
“They played really well,” said Robitaille. “They have good forwards, good defensemen and an unbelievable goalie. They were very opportunistic. All we wanted was a win and we got it.” Roy staked Maine to a 2-0 lead with goals at the 42-second and 8:12 mark of the first period.
On the first goal, Montgomery gave the puck to Brian Downey in the low slot to the left of Dixon and he threaded it across to Roy. Roy’s 10-footer broke through the pads of Dixon.
The second goal came about when Pellerin got the puck over to Montgomery, who stickhandled around Roger Mischke and passed it to Roy, who deposited it in the open net.
Kent State tied it on goals 3:51 apart by Gunderson and Evans.
The line of Claude Morin between Ken Eddy and Steve McLean created a few opportunities in front of the Maine net and Gunderson picked up the puck behind the net, wheeled around and stuffed it past Maine goalie Garth Snow, who was prone on the ice.
Evans’ goal came off a giveaway by Maine defenseman Tony Link. Evans got the puck along the right wing boards, took a few strides and fired a snap shot that glanced off Maine defenseman Jim Burcar’s stick and into the short side corner.
Dixon came up with several fine stops later in the period to keep the game tied and Maine’s Patrice Tardif hit the post from eight feet out.
Maine held a 15-5 shot advantage.
In the second period, the Golden Flashes did a better job bottling up the Bears and both teams finished with 10 shots on goal.
LaCouture put Maine ahead when he deflected a Chris Imes wrist past Dixon at the 3:09 mark.
Both goalies were tested and came up with some good stops.
The Golden Flashes knotted things up with a fluke goal.
Gunderson took a shot that was saved by Garth Snow and deflected towards the corner. Link wheeled around and tried to clear the puck, but it glanced off Evans’ skate and into the net.
Garth Snow finished with 16 saves while Dixon had 34.
Maine lost junior left wing Martin Mercier in the first period. Mercier injured his right wrist and was taken to the Maine Medical Center for X-rays.
Black Bears 5, Flashes 4(OT)
Maine 2 1 1 1 – 5 Kent State 2 1 1 0 – 4
First Period – 1., Maine, Roy 1 (Downey, Montgomery) :42; 2. Maine, Roy 2 (Pellerin, Montgomery), 8:12; 3. Kent State, Gunderson 1 (Eddy, McLean), 9:25; 4. Kent State, Evans 1 (una); Penalties – Kent St., Mulcahy, hitting from behind, 1:10; Maine, Link, slashing, 4:47; Kent St., Neal, hitting from behind, 6:20; Kent St., Fesette, slashing, 16:36
Second Period – 5. Maine, LaCouture 1 (Imes, Tepper) 3:09; 6. Kent, Evans 2 (unassisted) 19:17; Penalties – Kent St., Cummins, holding, 4:23; Maine, Montgomery, interference, 7:32; Maine, Roy, slashing, 18:53; Kent State, Fesette, slashing, 18:53
Third Period – 7. Maine, Burcar 1 (Montgomery) 3:10; 8. Kent State, Cummins 1 (Sylvester) 15:11; Penalties – Kent State, Eddy, tripping, 1:05; Maine, Murphy, holding, 10:46; Maine, Widmeyer, hitting from behind and unsportsmanlike conduct (double minor), 13:48; Maine, too many men on ice (served by Ingraham), 16:49
Overtime – 9. Maine, Ingraham 1 (Pellerin, Robitaille) 1:16
Goaltenders: Maine, Garth Snow; Kent State, Paul Dixon
Shots: Maine 15-10-13-1 – 39; Kent 5-10-5-0 – 20
Attendance: 1,981
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