Black Bear skaters blow out Warriors

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ORONO – The University of Maine Black Bears unveiled their new dark blue helmets against Merrimack College in a Hockey East game here Friday night. The dark helmets were appropriate for Friday the 13th and they certainly had some offense in them.

Just 1:53 into the game, several of those helmets had congregated at center ice to celebrate a pair of goals and the Bears went on to thump the Warriors 14-1.

It was the most goals Maine has ever scored in a Hockey East regular season game. It is the most Merrimack has ever allowed in a Hockey East game and is the second-most allowed by the Warriors in their history.

Maine is now 5-0-1 overall, 3-0-1 in Hockey East. Merrimack fell to 4-2-1, 0-1. The two teams will play again on Saturday night at 7.

Senior center Eric Fenton had his first career hat trick and added an assist, and senior left wing Kent Salfi had his second career hat trick.

“I think this was the first multiple-goal game of my career,” said South Portland’s Fenton. “I was in the right place at the right time and my linemates set me up well.”

Paul Kariya and Mike Latendresse had a goal and three assists apiece with the Ferraro twins, Chris (2 goals, 1 assists) and Peter (3 assists), Jim Montgomery (1 & 2), and Patrice Tardif (1 & 2) chipping in with three points each. Fifteen Bears had at least one point.

“Everything went in tonight,” said junior right wing Cal Ingraham, who had a goal and an assist. “We played great defense. We must have scored 10 goals off plays created by our defensive play.”

“We executed defensively,” said Maine Coach Shawn Walsh. “We were sloppy defensively last Saturday night (6-2 win over Providence), so we worked on it this week. And we’ve got some guys who are getting better, like Latendresse and the Ferraro twins. They’re getting their feet wet.”

“When we score early, things usually go really well for us,” said Salfi.

“Maine has a great team and played a great game and we didn’t do anything to stop them,” said Merrimack Coach Ron Anderson. “It’s plain and simple.”

Latendresse, a sophomore playing his second game for the Bears, had a goal and two assists in the first period as Maine built a 4-0 lead.

“I felt more comfortable tonight,” said Latendresse. “I thought about how I had to play. I was more ready for the game.”

The Bears added six more in the second period to extend the lead to 10-0.

Ingraham opened the scoring 45 seconds into the game after being set up by Kariya.

Kariya circled the net, waited for Ingraham to get into position at the far post, and fed him the puck. Ingraham kicked it onto his stick and slid the 8-footer into the short side.

“I just had to touch it in,” said Ingraham.

Fenton made it 2-0 at the 1:53 mark off a Latendresse pass. Latendresse was to the left of freshman goalie Dan Millar and he slipped the puck across to the far post where Fenton one-timed a 12-footer into the short side corner.

“Mike got the defenseman to go to him and I was wide open,” said Fenton.

Chris Ferraro’s shorthanded goal built the lead to 3-0 as he converted a 3-on-2 with Latendresse and Matt Martin. Latendresse held onto the puck until the last second, leaving Chris Ferrarao an open net. It was Maine’s eighth shorthanded goal of the year and first of two in the game.

“I just went to the net,” said Ferraro. “I thought Mike had gone too deep to make a pass, but he made a great pass, and I just had to touch it in.”

Latendresse got his first career goal at the 11:23 mark when he tipped in Andy Silverman’s shot from the left point.

The Bears put the game away at the expense of senior goalie Mike Doneghey with three goals in the first 6:14 of the middle period as Fenton backhanded home the rebound of a Matt Martin point shot on the power play, Montgomery converted a 12-footer off a great rush and pass by Kariya, and Salfi knocked home a 7-footer off a Jason Weinrich pass.

Kariya, Salfi, and Tardif added the final three goals of the period in span of 2:34.

Dave LaCouture, Chris Ferraro, Fenton, and Salfi scored third-period goals, and Bryan Miller scored for Merrimack.

Mike Dunham finished with 13 saves on 14 shots before being replaced by Greg Hirsch in the third period. Maine outshot Merrimack 45-20.

Bears 14, Warriors 1

Maine 4 6 4 – 14 Merrimack 0 0 1 – 1

First period – 1. Maine, Ingraham 8 (Kariya, Montgomery) :45; 2. Maine, Fenton 3 (Latendresse, Tardif) 1:53; 3. Maine, C. Ferraro 5 (Latendresse, Weinrich) 7:12; 4. Maine, Latendresse 1 (Silverman) 11:23; Penalties: Merrimack, Gibson, cross checking, 3:21; Maine, Silverman, slashing, 5:40; Maine, C. Ferraro, cross checking, 9:05; Merrimack, Favreau, high sticking (5 minute major), 11:27; Maine, C. Ferraro, slashing, 11:27; Maine, Ingraham, hooking, 14:25; Merrimack, Barron, high sticking, 16:16

Second period – 5. Maine, Fenton 4 (Martin, Kariya) 2:12; 6. Maine, Montgomery 3 (Kariya, Imes) 5:36; 7. Maine, Salfi 2 (P. Ferraro, Weinrich) 6:14; 8. Maine, Kariya 6 (Montgomery, Ingraham) 13:55; 9. Maine, Salfi 3 (P. Ferraro, C. Ferraro) 14:58; 10. Maine, Tardif 1 (Imes, Fenton) 16:29; Penalties – Merrimack, Barron, hooking, 0:35; Maine, Fenton, tripping, 7:14; Maine, P. Ferraro, hitting from behind, 17:35; Merrimack, Barron, boarding, 18:48; Maine, Fenton, holding, 19:39

Third period – 11. Maine, LaCouture 1 (Mercier) 4:26; 12. Merrimack, Miller 1 (Naylor, Barron) 5:25; 13. Maine, C. Ferraro 6 (Marden) 8:59; 14. Maine, Fenton 5 (Letendresse, Tardif) 10:52; 15. Maine, Salfi 4 (P. Ferraro) 18:27; Penalties – Merrimack, MacLeod, slashing, 0:51; Maine, Fenton, hooking, 14:44; Maine, Kariya, slashing, 6:02; Merrimack, McMillan, hitting from behind, 7:48; Maine, Tardif, unsportsmanlike conduct, 8:44; Merrimack, MacLeod, holding, 10:40; Merrimack, Miller, holding, 11:43; Maine, Weinrich, tripping, 17:30; Merrimack, Costa, boarding, 19:51

Goaltenders: Maine, Mike Dunham and Greg Hirsch; Merrimack, Dan Miller and Mike Doneghy

Shots on goal – Maine 17-15-13 – 45, Merrimack 3-4-13 – 20