OMAHA, Neb. – Four members of Alfie Michaud’s family made the 12-hour trip from Selkirk, Manitoba to watch the University of Maine junior goalie play. They left with the game puck from Saturday night’s 3-0 Black Bear win over the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Michaud made 29 saves, including 13 high-percentage stops, and helped the Bears kill off 11 Maverick power plays en route to his fourth career shutout.

He gave credit to his mates.

“The guys did a real good job,” said Michaud, whose parents [Alfie Sr. and Joann], brother Ian and sister Diane were in attendance.

“Basically, I saw everything and when you see everything, that makes life a lot easier. And I never saw a second shot. The guys kept them to the outside and really came to play,” he added.

Maine coach Shawn Walsh said Michaud was “outstanding. He played like he did in the Hockey East playoffs last year.”

Michaud, who had 26 saves in Maine’s 7-2 Friday night triumph, was selected the Hockey East All-Tournament goalie last spring.

Another Black Bear junior, center Cory Larose, had a pair of goals and senior defenseman David Cullen had the other for the Bears.

“Our team defense and penalty killing were terrific,” said Walsh. “The key was getting the lead. They played a much more conservative game to try to slow us down and they played smart. We had to be patient which is tough to do early in the season. Once we got the 3-0 lead, we played a conservative game.”

Larose said “this was the most physical series I’ve ever played in at Maine.”

Larose opened the scoring with a power-play goal just 5:13 into the game.

“[Cullen] took a wrister from the point and Tuomo [Jaaskelainen] did a great job banging away at the rebound. The puck squirted loose and I was in the right place at the right time,” said Larose.

Larose again converted on the power play 4:41 later.

He said Cullen made a “great move” to maneuver around a UNO defenseman and draw the attention of the other UNO penalty-killers before finding him at the far post.

“I had the open net,” said Larose.

Cullen scored his goal 4:17 into the second period after being set up by Jaaskelainen.

“I came into the play late,” said Cullen who took Jaaskelainen’s pass, had some time to pick his spot and beat UNO goalie Kendall Sidoruk to the blocker side.

Maine senior right wing Steve Kariya had a pair of assists.

Sidoruk finished with 38 saves for UNO, including 19 high-percentage stops.

Maine will play its home opener on Friday night in the J.C. Penney Hockey Classic. The Bears will face the University of Moncton (New Brunswick) at 8 p.m. Union College (N.Y.) and Niagara University (N.Y.) open the tournament at 5 p.m.

Niagara is coming off a split of a weekend series against defending national champion the University of Michigan, losing 6-5 in overtime on Friday and winning 2-1 on Saturday.

Black Bears 3, Mavericks 0 Maine(2-0) 2 1 0 – 3 Nebraska-Omaha(0-2) 0 0 0 – 0

First period – 1. Maine, Larose 2 (Leger, Metcalf), 5:13, pp; 2. Maine, Larose 3 (Cullen, Kariya), 9:54, pp. Penalties: Maine, Ek, roughing, 2:05; UNO, Reynolds, elbowing, 3:19; Maine, Tate, hooking, 5:32; Maine, Ek, holding the stick, 5:57; UNO, Lampman, elbowing, 8:48; UNO, Reynolds, slashing, 11:12; UNO, Yurecko, hooking, 17:59.

Second period – 3. Maine, Cullen 1 (Jaaskelainen, Kariya), 4:17. Penalties: Maine, Vitorino, interference, 5:14; UNO, Cupp, tripping, 6:49; Maine, Janik, interference, 7:08; Maine, Larose, interference, 10:34; UNO, Reynolds, elbowing, 10:36; Maine, Ek, holding, 10:54; UNO, Edwards, elbowing, 13:52; UNO, Graham, roughing, 14:09; Maine, Larose, roughing, 14:09; Maine, Kerluke, interference, 16:28; Maine, Gustafsson, high sticking, 19:32.

Third period – No scoring. Penalties: UNO, Bradley, elbowing, 9:21; UNO, Graham, roughing, 12:50; Maine, Vitorino, slashing, 15:16.

Shots on goal: Maine 18-7-16 – 41; UNO 8-12-9 – 29

Goaltenders: Maine, Alfie Michaud (29 shots-29 saves); UNO, Kendall Sidoruk (41-38)

High-percentage scoring attempts: Maine 11-8-12 – 31; UNO 6-6-12 – 24

Power-play opportunitiess: Maine 2-8; UNO 0-11

Attendance: 8,314 (sellout)