ESTERO, Fla. – Smothering team defense has been a trademark of Shawn Walsh’s men’s hockey teams at the University of Maine and the Black Bears added an exclamation point to it Thursday evening.

The Black Bears limited Cornell’s Big Red to 12 shots on goal and senior defenseman A.J. Begg scored his first goal in more than 10 months to supply the Bears with a 2-1 triumph in the championship game of the Everblades College Hockey Classic.

Junior defenseman Peter Metcalf, who had missed eight games prior to the tournament with a knee injury, had the other Maine goal and was chosen the tourney’s Most Valuable Player. He had two assists in the 4-2 win over Clarkson on Wednesday night.

“This was the most thorough game we’ve played this year,” said Walsh, whose Bears outshot Cornell 33-12. “We were tremendous in all three zones. We had great jump. We were like bees on honey. To limit them to 12 shots is a tremendous performance.”

Maine is now 9-6-4 overall and has its first three-game winning streak of the season.

It is also the first time the Bears have been three games over .500.

Cornell fell to 6-4-2 in having its three-game winning streak snapped.

Begg, who scored his last goal in a 5-2 win over UMass on Feb. 12, notched the game-winner 3:05 into the third period off the rebound of a Marty Kariya shot.

“The goalie [Ian Burt] misplayed it and I pushed it underneath him. I pushed him and the puck into the net,” said Begg.

Mark McRae had opened the scoring for Cornell on the power play at the 3:54 mark of the first period, but Metcalf equalized later in the period by taking a Tom Reimann pass and one-timing a slap shot over Burt into the far corner. That came on a four-on-three power play.

Metcalf called his MVP award “quite an honor” but added that there were a bunch of his teammates who could have legitimately laid claim to the award.

“Like coach said, we played a great team game,” said Metcalf.

He added that his knee held up nicely.

“It feels great,” said Metcalf who was joined on the all-tourney team by Begg and goalie Matt Yeats.

Walsh benched Niko Dimitrakos, who leads the team in points per game, and said the team responded. Dimitrakos was benched for his lackluster effort, especially defensively, in the win over Clarkson.

“We sent a message that you have to play with total intensity at both ends of the ice,” said Walsh.

Black Bears 2, Big Red 1

Cornell (6-4-2) X 1 0 0 – 1

Maine (9-6-4) X 1 0 1 – 2

First period – 1. Cornell, Mark McRae 2 (Vesce), 3:54 (pp); 2. Maine, Metcalf 3 (Reimann), 10:07 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Clauson, interference, 3:48; Cornell, Wieckowski, holding the stick, 4:40; Cornell, Ladouceur, roughing, 9:14; Maine, Janik, roughing, 9:14; Cornell, Wieckowski, hooking, 9:34; Maine, Nault, tripping, 11:10; Cornell, Pierce, hooking, 16:03.

Second period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Metcalf, charging, 6:58; Cornell, Ladouceur, slashing, 8:11; Maine, Begg, slashing, 8:11; Cornell, Paolini, interference, 13:10; Cornell, bench minor for too many men on the ice, 20:00.

Third period -. 3. Maine, Begg 1 (Kariya, Trattnig), 3:05. Penalties: Cornell, Francis, holding the stick, 12:35; Maine, Schutte, elbowing, 13:57

Shots on goal: Cornell 3-4-5-12; Maine 11-10-12-33

Goaltenders: Cornell, Burt (33 shots-31 saves); Maine, Yeats (12-11)

Power-play Opportunities: Cornell 1 of 4; Maine 1 of 5