Bears find game> UM rallies in second

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ORONO – After a listless first- period against defending NCAA Division II national champion Alabama-Huntsville, University of Maine hockey fans were probably wondering where the Maine team that beat Lake Superior State 7-4 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., on Oct. 20 had gone.

The Black Bears finally surfaced in the second period, solving the gritty Chargers’ neutral zone trap and scoring four unanswered goals en route to a 7-2 victory at the Alfond Arena.

Maine is now 3-1 while Alabama-Huntsville was playing its opener. The Chargers had their 34-game unbeaten streak snapped. UAH had been 31-0-3 during the streak.

Maine’s Jason Vitorino sprained his right knee in the second period and will miss Saturday’s game 7 p.m. against the Chargers.

Freshman center Cory Larose’s first collegiate goal started UMaine’s flurry 2:09 into the period and senior defenseman Jason Mansoff put Maine ahead to stay 2:27 later.

Junior right winger Shawn Wansborough made it 3-1 at the 12:18 mark and sophomore transfer Bobby Stewart closed out the scoring with his first goal in a Maine uniform at the 18:21 mark.

Charger sophomore right wing Mike Hamlin scored the only goal of the first period on a break-in off a neutral zone faceoff.

Dan Shermerhorn, Steve Kariya (power play) and Shawn Mansoff added third-period goals for the Bears while Paul Schloss scored for UAH.

“They were sitting back in the trap and we [the forwards] weren’t coming back far enough in the first period,” said center Shermerhorn. “So we weren’t able to generate any speed. We started dumping it into the offensive zone in the second period and we were able to get in on the forecheck.”

The Maine players also began playing the body more in the second period and that disrupted the Charger trap.

“And once we got ahead, they had to come out of it and come after us. That opened up the game for us,” said Jason Mansoff.

Maine’s defensemen were also able to get more involved in the offense and the result was a goal and three assists for Mansoff and three assists for White.

Maine’s first goal came about when Jason Mansoff broke into the zone and slid the puck to Wansborough, who had one shot blocked and had his second shot saved by goalie Mike Zeller .

But Larose, cruising down the middle of the slot, roofed the rebound.

“I just chipped it over him. He had gone down,” said Larose.

Moments later, Brian White slid a point-to-point pass to Jason Mansoff, whose one-timer trickled through the pads of Zeller.

Wansborough finished off a pretty passing play involving Ben Guite and White. Guite slipped it to White in the middle of the high slot and White tapped it over to Wansborough, who swept a 20-foot wrist shot over Zeller’s glove into the short-side corner.

“I had just come off the bench and nobody picked me up. I had all kinds of time. I tried to get the puck up,” said Wansborough.

Stewart made it 4-1 when he one-timed a Shermerhorn pass over Zeller’s glove from the top of the faceoff circle to Zeller’s right.

The Bears, meanwhile, limited the Chargers to just one high-percentage scoring chance in the entire second period.

Shermerhorn scored off a steal and break-in in the third period and after Schloss answered, Kariya scored with a 25-foot slap shot through Zeller’s pads and Shawn Mansoff picked up a loose puck mishandled by Zeller and swatted it into the empty net.

Black Bears 7, Chargers 2 Maine 0 4 3 – 7 Alabama-Huntsville 1 0 1 – 2

First period – 1. UAH, Hamlin 1 (Sh. Stewart, Baby), 6:48. Penalties: none.

Second period – 2. Maine, Larose 1 (Wansborough, J. Mansoff), 2:09; 3. Maine, J. Mansoff 2 (B. Stewart, White), 4:36; 4. Maine, Wansborough 1 (Guite, White), 12:18; 5. Maine, B. Stewart 1 (Cardinal, Shermerhorn), 18:21. Penalties: Maine, Wansborough, hooking, 5:04; UAH, Lalonde, interference, 13:55; Maine, Wansborough, interference, 14:30.

Third period – 6. Maine, Shermerhorn 4 (una), 5:16; 7. UAH, Schloss 1 (Woodcroft, Alauria), 9:26; 8. Maine, Kariya 2 (Libby, J. Mansoff), 10:19; 9. Maine, S. Mansoff 1 (White, J. Mansoff), 12:33. Penalties: Maine, Stewart, holding the stick, 6:55; UAH, Schneider, high sticking, 6:55; UAH, Lalonde, interference, 10:13; Maine, Larose, hitting after the whistle, 11:15; UAH, Parker, hitting after the whistle, 11:15; UAH, Lalonde, five-minute major for hitting from behind and game misconduct, 16:24; Maine, Roenick, interference, 17:58; Maine, Oliver, holding, 19:35.

Shots on goal: Maine 7-15-17-39; UAH 3-6-11-20.

Goaltenders: Maine, Alfie Michaud; UAH, Mike Zeller.

Attendance: 4,925