ORONO – The University of Maine hockey team has played the first half of its season with absolutely no comfort zone.

Friday night, the Black Bears won with relative ease.

Maine jumped on St. Cloud State for three second-period goals, building a five-goal lead that paved the way for a 6-1 victory at Alfond Arena in Orono. A non-sellout crowd of 4,982 witnessed the efficient performance by the Bears.

Coach Shawn Walsh’s squad took the Huskies, of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, out of contention early and never gave St. Cloud any real hope of making a game of it.

Top-ranked Maine improved its record to 13-0-5, while injury-plagued St. Cloud fell to 8-9. The two teams meet again Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Walsh credited Maine’s defense, and the goaltending of Blair Allison, with making the victory a convincing one.

“I thought we recognized what they do well and I thought we nullified it,” Walsh said. “We counterattacked extremely well against them.”

Maine did not allow Coach Craig Dahl’s Huskies to create problems with their forte, a strong forechecking effort.

“Our game has really been get in the (offensive) zone and beat the hell out of teams,” said St. Cloud’s P.J. Lepler. “They broke out on us like we didn’t have anybody in the zone. We didn’t really establish a forecheck.”

The Bears’ effort was so complete that backup goalie Blair Marsh finally saw his first action of the season with 7:43 left.

Allison made 20 of Maine’s 23 saves to throw a shutout for 45:07. He credited his teammates with limiting St. Cloud’s quality scoring chances.

“They guys were real focused tonight and I thought we worked real hard,” Allison said. “It’s nice to play those games, even though it’s tough to stay in it when you’re not getting shots. But it’s nice when the shots you get aren’t of real good quality.”

Maine started slowly, but came alive on a heady play by defensemen Jacque Rodrigue. Shawn Wansborough got the Bears started, digging the puck out behind the net and feeding it to Rodrigue inside the right point.

Rodrigue patiently moved into the circle, staying wide, and zipped a pass across toward the far post, where a wide-open Wansborough beat Brian Leitza with a quick six-footer to the goaltender’s right.

“Jacque showed some good patience and made a heads-up play to find the open guy on the back side,” said Maine’s Jeff Tory. “It was an easy goal.”

That tally ignited a prolonged flurry by the Bears, who didn’t cash in. Two penalties slowed their momentum, but St. Cloud came up empty, even with a 5-on-3 advantage for 29 seconds.

Maine made it 2-0 on the power play with 20 seconds left in the period. Wansborough started a rush into the Huskies’ zone, then dropped it back to Tory, who moved into the slot only to find Brad Purdie all alone for a one-timer from low in the circle to Leitza’s right.

“I saw a big crowd there (in front) and all of a sudden Purdie just kind of backed out and was wide-open on the side,” Tory said. “I don’t think the goalie even saw the pass because there was a big screen in front of the net.”

“Our defensemen made two great plays early which got us a two-goal cushion and early we played real well defensively,” Walsh said. “In the second period when we had breakdowns, Allison came up big.”

“We were ready for them. We played great defensive hockey and we showed a lot of respect for them,” Wansborough said. “I think our defensemen are naturally skilled, but we wanted to play defense a little more and let the offense take care of itself.”

The Bears exhibited a hint of killer instinct, rattling off three second-period goals. Jamie Thompson made it 3-0 at the 3:32 mark when he pounced on the rebound of a Trevor Roenick shot and snapped a shot over Leitza’s left shoulder.

Dan Shermerhorn pushed the lead to 4-0 when he scored off a Barry Clukey rebound on the power play at 6:54. The Bears kept the pressure on and extended their advantage to 5-0 when Red Cardinal was sent down right wing and slid a pass into the middle, where Tony Frenette one-timed a 20-footer high over Leitza with 4:57 remaining in the period.

The Huskies mounted a few minutes of intensity and had a couple of chances, but Allison remained alert and helped Maine keep it scoreless in the last five minutes.

St. Cloud finally got on the scoreboard at 5:07 of the third period. Kelly Rieder took the puck away from Maine defenseman Dave MacIsaac in the Bears’ zone and zipped a quick shot that found the lower lefthand corner.

However, the Bears got it back with 12:28 gone when Clukey took a Brad Mahoney pass from behind the net and fired a low shot from 12 feet that got through Leitza’s legs and into the far corner.

Black Bears 6, Huskies 1

St. Cloud 0 0 1 – 1 Maine 2 3 1 – 6

First Period – 1. Maine, Wansborough 6 (Rodrigue), 4:09; 2. Maine, Purdie 8 (Tory, Wansborough), 19:40; Penalties: Maine, Wansborough, tripping, 14:49; Maine, Mansoff, interference, 16:20; St. Cloud, Reimann, interference, 18:55

Second Period – 3. Maine, Thompson 4 (Roenick), 3:32; 4. Maine, Shermerhorn 11 (Clukey, Rodrigue), 6:56; 5. Maine, Frenette 5 (Cardinal, Dekker), 15:03; Penalties: St. Cloud, Melson, interference, 5:37; St. Cloud, Lepler, holding, 6:40; St. Cloud, Santerre, tripping, 11:44

Third Period – 6. St. Cloud, Rieder 4 (una), 5:07; 7. Maine, Clukey 5 (Mahoney), 12:28; Penalties: Maine, Parmentier, high-sticking, 1:17; St. Cloud, Paradise, slashing, 6:45; Maine, Tory, slashing, 6:45;

Shots on goal: St. Cloud 7-7-10-24; Maine 11-14-3-28

Goaltenders: St. Cloud, Brian Leitza; Maine, Blair Allison; Blair Marsh