Bears bounce back> Latendresse helps Maine roll past BU

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ORONO – University of Maine hockey coach Shawn Walsh has repeatedly told Mike Latendresse not to go to his backhand on breakaways.

“That’s because I try them in practice and they never work,” explained Latendresse.

Disregarding his coach’s wishes, Latendresse found the back of the net with a breakaway backhander that broke a 1-1 tie and sent Maine on its way to a 5-1 win over Boston University on Saturday night.

The Bears came back for the win after BU beat them 5-3 Friday night.

Latendresse’s goal off a Dave MacIsaac pass came 4:38 into the third period. Freshman center Dan Shermerhorn’s first college goal gave the Bears some important breathing room with 5:33 remaining and the Bears added late goals by Brad Purdie (empty-netter) and Justin Tomberlin.

The teams had swapped early first-period goals as Mike Pomichter’s power-play goal staked BU to a short-lived 1-0 lead at the 3:27 mark of the first period. Freshman Tim Lovell’s first college goal tied it 43 seconds later.

MacIsaac set up the game-winner when he picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone, skated a couple of strides and banked the puck off the right boards to Latendresse.

“He was flying,” said MacIsaac.

Latendresse picked up the puck and broke in alone on BU goalie Derek Herlofsky.

“I don’t think he (Herlofsky) knew where the post was,” said Latendresse. “He was over near the right post and he gave me a lot of the glove side. I probably should have shot it right away. But I brought it to my backhand and I lifted it over his glove.”

“He gave the goalie a good forehand fake which is something he normally doesn’t do,” said Walsh.

“Mike has emerged as one of the real blue chip forwards in the league,” added Walsh.

“Great players make great plays and that’s what he did,” said BU junior right winger Mike Prendergast.

Shermerhorn took the advice of some teammates on his goal, a blistering 40-foot drive from the middle of the high slot that beat Herlofsky to the low glove side. Maine had a three-on-two with Chuck Texeira heading to the net and Lovell positioned behind Shermerhorn.

“A couple of upperclassmen told me if I had an opportunity like that, I should take the shot,” said Shermerhorn, who had noted that he almost scored with a similar type of long shot on Friday night. “I think it fooled the goalie. I didn’t get all of it but it felt good. I never saw it go in. A couple of guys told me it fluttered.”

“We can’t let shots like that go in,” said BU coach Jack Parker.

“That was the key goal of the game,” said Walsh. “BU was very much in the game up until that point.”

Purdie iced it by tipping a Latendresse shot into the vacant net and Tomberlin scored by roofing a 12-footer off a Lee Saunders pass.

The game was a defensive struggle as skating room was at a premium due to the tight checking.

“We checked the way we did against the U.S. Olympic Team,” said Walsh. “And we finished our checks on their defensemen. We had 90 hits compared with 55 on Friday night. That made a big difference.”

Maine’s forwards also did a much better job blocking out BU’s forwards to prevent them from getting in on Maine’s defensemen quickly and setting up their effective forechecking game.

The 6-1 Bears received another solid performance from freshman goalie Blair Allison, who made 24 saves in running his record to 5-0. He lowered his goals-against average to 2.00 and raised his save percentage to .924.

“I played all right. But I didn’t have to make a rebound save and that made things easier,” said Allison. “Everybody played well defensively.”

BU, now 4-3 (2-2 in Hockey East), had opened the scoring when Steve Thornton threaded a perfect cross-ice pass to Pomichter, who one-timed a 14-footer into the open short side.

But Lovell tied it when he swept a 10-footer between Herlofsky’s pads off a MacIsaac pass from the point.

“This was one of the better wins we’ve ever had,” said Walsh, whose Bears employed an aggressive deep offensive zone forecheck that enabled them to kill off BU’s last five power play attempts.

Parker said “Maine played harder than we did.”

BU outshot Maine 25-19.

Black Bears 5, Terriers 1

Maine 1 0 4 – 5 Boston University 1 0 0 – 1

First period – 1. BU, Pomichter 6 (Prendergast, Thornton), 3:27; 2. Maine, Lovell 1 (MacIsaac, Mahoney), 4:10. Penalties – Maine, Tomberlin, roughing, 1:38; BU, Grier, roughing, 7:06; Maine, Mahoney, roughing, 7:06; Maine, Tardif, holding, 16:22; Maine, Shermerhorn, tripping, 19:02.

Second period – No scoring. Penalties – BU, Thornton, holding, 3:44; Maine, Saunders, holding, 7:06; BU, Donato, hooking, 10:12; Maine, Roenick, tripping, 12:10; BU, Grier, late hit, 14:21; Maine, Mansoff, late hit, 14:21; BU, Coleman, holding, 15:36.

Third period – 3. Maine, Latendresse 5 (MacIsaac), 4:38; 4. Maine, Shermerhorn 1 (unassisted), 14:27; 5. Maine, Purdie 1 (Latendresse, Kariya), 18:49; 6. Maine, Tomberlin 2 (Saunders), 19:03. Penalties – Maine, Silverman, tripping, 5:39; BU, Brennan, cross checking and 10-minute misconduct, 19:20; BU, Joubert, roughing, 10-minute misconduct, game misconduct, 19:20; Maine, Texeira, interference, 10-minute misconduct, 19:20; BU, Donato, bench minor for delay of game, 19:20.

Shots on goal: Maine 4-7-8 – 19; BU 9-7-9 – 25.

Goalies: Maine, Blair Allison; BU, Derek Herlofsky.