GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Mike Morrison has never suffered from a lack of confidence even though he has been a backup goalie for virtually his entire career at the University of Maine. He also enjoys playing road games.

In front of a packed house at the new Engelstad Arena, Morrison made 46 saves and his teammates scored four goals in the first 12:22 as the Black Bears won for the first time ever in Grand Forks, 5-1.

Maine is 2-2 while North Dakota fell to 3-2, all at home.

Maine had lost five games at the old Winter Sports Center between 1983-88 and had an overall winless skein against the Fighting Sioux of four games (0-3-1) over the past three seasons, including Friday night’s 3-2 loss.

Morrison made 16 Grade-A (high-percentage) saves and kicked out 22 of 23 Fighting Sioux shots in the second period.

“Mike was fantastic,” said Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead. “He was sharp all week in practice. He was definitely focused and ready to play. I was really impressed with his composure and how he played within himself. He didn’t try to do too much.”

Morrison said, “I’ve always had confidence I could play with these guys. I had a good week of practice and playing in this atmosphere was an absolute blast. It’s so much fun playing in this atmosphere against such a great team. I couldn’t get to sleep Friday night knowing how much fun it would be playing against them.

“We had a close game the previous night that we felt we should have won. We wanted to get back out there and show them they were lucky Friday night,” added Morrison, who improved his career record to 13-5-5. “I just stayed at the top of my crease and covered up as much net as possible.”

The Bears provided Morrison with a nice cushion as they scored twice within 12 seconds just 3:13 into the game.

Sophomores Colin Shields and Prestin Ryan, who were redshirts a year ago, gave Maine a lead it would never relinquish.

Left winger Shields converted a Todd Jackson pass from the left circle and defenseman Ryan, making his Black Bear debut, scored from the right point off a Marty Kariya pass.

Jackson was moved up to the line with Kariya and Shields because Michael Schutte suffered a separated shoulder Friday night.

Maine scored its second shorthanded goal in as many nights -the Bears scored two shorthanded goals all of last season – when Robert Liscak took a pass from Tommy Reimann and beat goalie Andy Kollar from the top of the crease.

Sophomore defenseman Francis Nault made it 4-0 from the left circle after being set up by Niko Dimitrakos and Lucas Lawson 12:22 into the period.

Kollar was lifted at that point by UND coach Dean Blais after allowing four goals on nine shots.

“Our guys were ready for the first period,” said Whitehead. “I was real pleased with how focused and determined we were in the first period.”

Jason Notermann cut into the lead at the 7:42 mark of the second period with his second goal in as many nights. He scored from the right circle off a Chad Mazurak pass.

But Shields’ fifth goal of the season, a slap shot from the blue line 6:50 later, regained the four-goal bulge. It was an unassisted power-play goal and came at the expense of freshman goalie Jake Brandt, who got a piece of it.

“That goal took the wind out of their sails. That squashed their comeback,” said Whitehead.

Nault suffered a knee injury in the first period and didn’t play the rest of the game. Whitehead said the injury doesn’t appear serious at this time.

Maine, which killed off all seven Fighting Sioux power plays, will travel for a two-game set at Western Michigan next weekend.

BLACK BEARS 5, FIGHTING SIOUX 1

Maine (2-2) 4 1 0 ? 5

North Dakota (3-2) 0 1 0 ? 1

First period ? 1. Maine, Shields 4 (Jackson), 3:01; 2. Maine, Ryan 1 (Kariya), 3:13; 3. Maine, Liscak 2 (Reimann), 7:17, (sh); 4. Maine, Nault 3 (Dimitrakos, Lawson), 12:22. Penalties: Maine, bench minor for too many men on the ice, 6:20; UND, Bayda, cross checking, 14:56; Maine, Loya, holding, 17:35.

Second period ? 5. UND, Notermann 2 (Mazurak), 7:42; 6. Maine, Shields 5 (unassisted), 14:32, (pp). Penalties: Maine, Deschamps, slashing, 2:12; Maine, Metcalf, holding, 8:34; UND, Spiewak, cross checking, 13:17; Maine, Shields, goalie interference, 16:54; Maine, bench minor for too many men on the ice, 19:59.

Third period ? No scoring. Penalties: UND, Bochenski, roughing, 5:32: Maine, Heisten, slashing, 13:29; Maine, Loya, slashing, 15:09; UND, Notermann, slashing, 15:35; UND, Jones, cross checking, 18:11; Maine, Ryan, roughing, 18:11.

Shots on goal: Maine 14-4-1?19; North Dakota 12-23-12?47

Goaltenders: Maine, Morrison (47 shots-46 saves); North Dakota, Kollar (9-5), Brandt (12:22 of 1st, 9-8), Sofie (1-1, 9:15 of 3rd)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 1-4; North Dakota 0-7

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 6-5-4?15; North Dakota 5-11-7?23

Attendance: 11,500