University of Maine 16-year hockey coach Shawn Walsh said he is satisfied with the first half of the season.

“At the start of the year, I don’t think we could have expected anything better than this,” said Walsh, referring to his team’s 11-2-2 record and third-place ranking in the two major Division I college hockey polls.

Ten players have made their UMaine debuts and have responded by producing 31 points and five goalie wins.

They have endured their share of injuries. But they now have only two players sidelined and one of them, right wing Tommy Reimann (post-concussion syndrome) could be back when Maine faces Colorado College in the Denver Cup Tournament on New Year’s Eve.

Center-right wing Magnus Lundback is still out with an irregular heartbeat.

In addition, the Bears will gain the services of 6-foot-4, 220-pound defenseman Kevin Clauson, who transferred from Western Michigan and has sat out the past year.

Walsh said Clauson will be used initially as a forward.

“He’s a bull,” said Maine senior center and co-captain Cory Larose. “He goes 100 miles an hour and he has really good wheels for a big guy. He controls the puck well and will add some intensity and feistiness up front.”

Larose said he and his mates would like to start putting more pucks in the net – Maine has been held to three goals or less eight times over its last 12 games – but they learned that they can’t force the offense like they did while getting swept at Northeastern two weekends ago.

“Northeastern really exposed our weaknesses. When we get away from what makes us good, which is having the forwards coming back to support the defense, we aren’t going to be very successful,” said Larose. “If we start pushing the issue [of goal scoring], it’s going to backfire on us. But if we’re patient, we support our defense and we counterattack, the goals will come.”

That patience paid off in a four-goal third period Sunday that rallied the Bears past Quinnipiac College (Conn.) 7-4.

“Grant [assistant coach Grant Standbrook] told us between periods that if we can’t put our forecheck on, call it off and go into the trap,” said Larose. “In some games, we’ve worked real hard but we weren’t working smart. There’s a big difference there.”

Maine has received scoring balance with 13 players registering six or more points, led by LW Barrett Heisten’s 19 and Larose’s 17, and eight notching four or more goals. Sophomores Doug Janik (4 goals, 5 assists) and Peter Metcalf (2 & 5) have led the defense corps.

The goaltending tandem of Matt Yeats and Mike Morrison had been working nicely until Morrison got yanked for sub-par play in his last two outings.

“Mike beat Boston College and Minnesota so I’m not ready to put him out to pasture yet,” said Walsh. “But he has to become more consistent. He has been going down too much lately. He’s a big goalie (6-3, 194) and he has to play big in net.”

Redshirt freshman Yeats, who is 5-1-2 with a 2.27 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage, will start against CC. Morrison is 6-1, 2.77, .893.

Maine’s power play (18.9 percent) and penalty killing (86.5 percent) have been inconsistent.

Walsh said he may put Clauson in front as a screen man on one power-play unit.

Maine is in its last week of classes for this semester with final exams set for next week.

The Bears will return to the practice ice on Dec. 26 and will begin a grueling stretch that includes six January games against New Hampshire, Boston University and Boston College.

Bears on break

Record: 11-2-2, 4-2-2 (Hockey East)

Points leaders: LW Barrett Heisten (8 goals, 11 assists), C Cory Larose (7 & 10), RW Martin Kariya (5 & 8), LW Dan Kerluke (5 & 8)

Defense points leaders: Doug Janik (4 & 5), Peter Metcalf (2 & 5)

Goalie stats: Matt Yeats (5-1-2, 2.27 GAA, .914 save percentage), Mike Morrison (6-1-0, 2.77, .893)

Next game: Dec. 31, at Denver Cup, vs. Colorado College