One of the cornerstones of the University of Maine hockey program’s success has been its goaltending.

Maine All-American senior goalie Blair Allison had struggled out of the gate but Sunday night’s 31-save performance in a 3-2 win over Colgate and Blair Marsh’s 34-save gem in a 4-1 win over Union College, were two of the bright spots on the trip for Maine coach Shawn Walsh.

Allison had entered the game with an uncharacteristic 5.02 goals-against average and .803 save percentage. Marsh was making his first start since March 12, 1994.

“We got great goaltending in both games,” said Walsh. “You could tell from the very first shot that Blair Allison was right on his game. His concentration and focus were there. That’s the name of his game.”

Walsh said Allison is his number one goalie but added that Marsh will see some playing time.

“He’s a very capable backup,” said Walsh. “I won’t hesitate to use him if it helps the situation on the team.”

“I had a much better game [than I had been having] Saturday night,” said Allison. “I didn’t do anything special. I just tried to concentrate and focus for the whole game. I didn’t have lapses which might have been happening earlier this season.”

He said he tried to work harder in practice to overcome his slump.

“When things aren’t going just right, you have to fight through it,” said Allison. “You just keep working hard.”

“Blair really shut the door in the third period,” said Marsh, referring to Allison’s 15 saves on 15 shots in the third period.

Marsh said he was satisfied with his own performance.

“I felt pretty good. I stood up fairly well. I played the angles. The guys played great in front of me. They kept them shooting from the side and as long as you stand up, anybody can make the save,” said Marsh. “It was a good first game. I hope sometime I’ll get another chance [to start]. I’m glad I didn’t mess it up for the guys. I didn’t want to let them down.”

As for his team’s play to date, Walsh said “we need to score some goals. We aren’t scoring in five-on-fives.”

Four of Maine’s seven goals came on the power play against Union and Colgate. On the season, Maine has scored 20 goals but only seven have come in even-strength situations.

“We need practice time. I’m happy with our record but not our execution. We’ve done a lot of little things right but we have to do all of the little things right to be a quality team,” said Walsh.

Walsh will keep the line of Brad Purdie between Scott Parmentier and Shawn Wansborough together but he intends to tinker with the other lines to try to find productive combinations for this weekend’s Hockey East series against New Hampshire at the Alfond Arena. They will play Friday and Saturday nights.

The Thomas College men’s soccer team and the University of Maine-Presque Isle women, the newly crowned Maine Athletic Conference soccer champions, won’t know their postseason destinations for NAIA Northeast Regional play until later this week.

Thomas will play in a six-team tournament and the UMPI women will play in a four-team affair. The women’s tournament will be held at the home field of the Mayflower Conference tournament that will be decided on Thursday. The conference includes teams from Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.