Rodrigue helps Maine skate by Merrimack

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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – It wasn’t until 10 minutes before practice Thursday that University of Maine junior defenseman Jacque Rodrigue knew he was going to be in the lineup for Friday night’s Hockey East game against Merrimack College.

An injury to Jason Weinrich and a question about Jeff Tory’s eligibility gave him his opportunity.

Rodrigue made the most of his chance, scoring the game-winner with 11:58 remaining to give the Bears a 5-2 win over the Warriors. It was Maine’s 19th consecutive win over Merrimack.

Maine put the game away with goals from Reg Cardinal and Paul Kariya 32 seconds apart later in the third period.

Rodrigue’s game-winner came on a power play.

Mike Latendresse sent Patrice Tardif in down the right wing and Tardif got off a backhander that was saved by Merrimack goalie Martin Legault, who got his right skate on it.

The rebound came out to Rodrigue who flipped the backhander over Legault.

“I had the open net. But I was lucky because I just barely got enough on it,” said Rodrigue.

Rodrigue added that he was pleased with the way things worked out.

“I’m sorry about Weinrich’s injury but it gave me a chance to prove myself and I thought I played a real solid game,” said Rodrigue.

“Jacque had been playing really well. He stepped it up tonight and got the big goal of the game,” said Maine junior defenseman Andy Silverman. “He proved he’s a legitimate Division I player.”

Minutes later, Kariya worked the puck around behind the net and rolled it through traffic to the slot. “I touched the puck and their defenseman whacked my stick and it went in,” said Cardinal whose goal was the first of his career. “It was lucky. I’m just glad I finally broke the ice.”

Cardinal returned the favor to Kariya by sending him in alone on Legault and Kariya slid the puck behind the young goalie.

Maine is now 4-0 overall and in Hockey East while Merrimack fell to 4-2 and 0-1. The two teams will play again on Satutday night.

Blair Allison, playing in place of the ailing Blair Marsh (viral infection), made 31 saves while Legault finished with 27.

Matt Adams had staked Merrimack to a 1-0 lead 5:28 into the game and he tied it in the second period with his second of the game.

The Bears’ Brad Mahoney tied the game at 4:17 after Adams’ first goal and Latendresse’s shorthanded goal at the 14:13 mark of the first period gave Maine a 2-1 lead.

The upstart Warriors blitzed the sluggish Bears in the opening minutes of the game and Adams’ goal came on their 11th shot on goal. Maine had not been credited with a shot on goal at that point.

Adams was on the left wing on a three-on-two with Dan Hodge and Cooper Naylor and he pounced on the rebound of Naylor’s shot and flipped a rising 12-footer into the far corner as Allison swiped at it.

Maine didn’t get its first shot until there was 11:41 remaining in the period and, moments later, Mahoney knotted things up as he and linemates Barry Clukey and Trevor Roenick effectively buzzed the Warrior net.

Jason Mansoff took a shot from the point and a wild flurry ensued with Mahoney wheeling around just to the right of Legault and sweeping the puck behind the besieged goalie.

Latendresse scored after being sent in on a partial breakaway by Kariya. Latendresse skated down the middle of the ice and, with Merrimack defenseman Dean Capuano draped all over him, he pushed a shot inside the left post.

Merrimack outshot Maine 19-7 in the first period and had more than eight minutes in power-play time including a five-minute high sticking major on Maine freshman defenseman Leo Wlasow.

Allison was superb in the first period as nine of his 18 saves came high-percentage shots.

The Bears played a much better second period but Merrimack scored the only goal as Adams capitalized off a two-on-one with Naylor on the power play.

That ended Maine’s string of 17 consecutive penalty kills.

Naylor and Adams picked up a loose puck just outside the Maine blue line and worked a pretty passing play that resulted in an Adams tap-in from point-blank range.

Allison kept the game deadlocked when he held his ground on Rob Beck’s breakaway and got his right skate on Beck’s little wrist shot. Beck had stolen the puck from Lee Saunders, who had made a soft point-to-point pass on a Maine power play.

“After the first period, we made an adjustment and began blocking out in the second and third periods,” said Tardif. “We gave them less skating room.”

“We had our chances. But they capitalized and we didn,t,” said Merrimack Coach Ron Anderson.

Bears 5, Warriors 2

Maine 2 0 3 – 5 Merrimack 1 1 0 – 2

First period – 1. Merrimack, Adams 5 (Naylor, Hodge), 5:28; 2. Maine, Mahoney 2 (Clukey, Mansoff), 9:45; 3. Maine, Latendresse 3 (Kariya), 14:13; Penalties – Maine, Mansoff, hooking, 2:11; Merrimack, Ross, holding, 7:11; Maine, Clukey, hooking, 12:14; Maine, Wlasow, five-minute major for high sticking, 14:32; Merrimack, Naylor, hooking, 18:47

Second period – 4. Merrimack, Adams 6 (Naylor, Capuano), 2:54; Penalties – Maine, Saunders, hooking, 1:17; Merrimack, Beck, hooking, 6:20; Merrimack, Jakopin, holding, 12:44; Merrimack, McKenna, interference, 16:10; Maine, Rodrigue, tripping, 17:58

Third period – 5. Maine, Rodrigue 1 (Latendresse, Tardif), 8:02; 6. Maine, Cardinal 1 (Kariya, Shermerhorn), 12:53; 7. Maine, Kariya 3 (Cardinal, Shermerhorn), 13:25. Penalties – Merrimack, Cornforth, elbowing, 6:06; Maine, Purdie, holding, 9:40; Maine, Rodrigue, cross checking, 14:38; Maine, Kariya, slashing, 15:18

Shots on goal: Maine 7-14-11 – 32; Merrimack 19-7-7 – 33

Goalies: Maine, Blair Allison; Merrimack, Martin Legault

Attendance: 2,950