KALAMAZOO, Mich. – University of Maine interim hockey coach Tim Whitehead took some positives out of Saturday night’s 2-2 overtime tie at Western Michigan.

But he said there is a lot of work ahead.

“The effort was real good. We won a lot more loose pucks than we did on Friday,” said Whitehead, referring to Friday night’s 4-3 loss to the Broncos. “We hit more and took hits to make plays but nowhere near enough to be successful consistently. We have to be more physical, put our bodies on the line to make plays and have enough composure to stay out of the penalty box in key moments.”

Maine, now 2-3-1, plays host to UMass-Lowell Saturday night. Western Michigan is 3-2-1.

The Bears had a pair of one-goal leads but Western Michigan answered with a pair of strange goals to earn the tie.

Martin Kariya staked the Bears to their first lead with the only goal of the first period but Paul Davies tied it with the only score in the second period. Davies’ goal came on the power play.

Robert Liscak’s power-play goal broke the tie 4-:05 into the third period but Anthony Battaglia’s shorthanded goal tied it 3:17 later.

Kariya opened the scoring when he was positioned at the top of the crease to the left of Bronco goalie Jeff Reynaert and swept the puck behind Reynaert after Peter Metcalf’s deflected shot landed on his stick.

Davies’ goal was a shot from a difficult angle that squeezed over the goal line after Maine goalie Mike Morrision had sat down to cover it.

Liscak’s goal came about when Prestin Ryan’s slap shot from the point glanced off him and sailed between Reynaert’s pads.

But Battaglia tied it up when he broke in alone on Morrison and, after the Maine goalie stopped his shot, he slid into the net and forced Morrison and the puck across the goal line.

Just 1:03 later, Maine’s Michael Schutte was assessed a five-minute butt-ending major and a game disqualification, but the Bears killed off the first 2:18 of the disadvantage and then WMU’s Brent Rumble was assessed a slashing penalty.

Maine killed off the final 41 seconds after Rumble returned to the ice.

Maine dominated the overtime, outshooting Western Michigan 7-1 and generating 11 shot attempts to the Broncos’ one.

Western Michigan’s one shot was a 10-footer by WMU scoring leader Pat Dwyer and Morrison robbed him.

Maine was without two of its top offensive weapons, injured senior winger Niko Dimitrakos and sophomore defenseman Francis Nault, but the Broncos lost the NCAA’s 2000-2001 scoring leader Mike Bishai (1.85 points per game) with a shoulder injury in the second period.

“We had some real good chances at the end of the third period and overtime,” said Whitehead. “I liked how we competed down the stretch. We had the better quality chances at the end and that’s a good step for us.”

Western Michigan third-year coach Jim Culhane was pleased with the win and tie against Maine.

“Friday night’s game was very good and tonight’s was even better,” said Culhane. “Reynaert had a tremendous performance. He made key saves and gave us a chance to win the game.”

Senior Reynaert, who appeared in 73 games over the previous two seasons, allowed four goals on seven shots in his first game this season and hadn’t played since.

Reynaert finished with 29 saves including 10 Grade-A’s. Morrison wound up with 33 stops including 10 Grade-A’s.

BLACK BEARS 2, BRONCOS 2 (OT)

Maine (2-3-1) 1 0 1 0 ? 2

Western Michigan (3-2-1) 0 1 1 0 ? 2

First period ? 1. Maine, Kariya 2 (Metcalf, Jackson), 8:38. Penalties: Maine, Heisten, slashing, 3:25; Maine, Liscak, hooking, 4:33; WMU, Gagnon, hooking, 12:54

Second period ? 2. WMU, Davies 2 (Battaglia, Cousineau), 16:09 (pp). Penalties: WMU, Dwyer, slashing, :46; Maine, Shields, slashing, :46; Maine, Lyall, interference, 8:00; Maine, Metcalf, slashing, 14:13

Third period ? 3. Maine, Liscak 3 (Ryan, Jackson), 4:05 (pp); 4. WMU, Battaglia 2 (Dwyer, Miller), 7:22 (sh). Penalties: WMU, Dwyer, interference, 2:30; WMU, Drake, roughing, 6:26; Maine, Shields, roughing, 6:26; WMU, Cheyne, cross checking, 6:26; Maine, Schutte, five-minute major for butt-ending and game disqualification, 8:25; WMU, Rumble, slashing, 10:44; WMU, Lattery, roughing, 15:55; Maine, Jankus, slashing, 15:55

Overtime ? No scoring. Penalties: WMU, Drake, roughing, 5:00; Maine, Metcalf, roughing, 5:00

Shots on goal: Maine 6-10-8-7?31; Western Michigan 8-17-9-1?35

Goaltenders: Maine, Morrison (35 shots-33 saves); Western Michigan, Reynaert (31-29)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 1 of 6; Western Michigan 1 of 6

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 2-5-4-3 ?16; Western Michigan 4-4-4-1 ?13

Attendance: 2,693