ORONO – It was a memorable night focusing on the courage and determination of a sophomore goalie knowing he was probably playing his last game of the season.

It also featured a team that has strung together exceptional third periods in recent weeks after early-season struggles.

The result was a 2-2 overtime tie between the University of Maine Black Bears and the University of New Hampshire Wildcats at a soldout Alfond Arena Saturday night.

UNH goalie Michael Ayers suffered a torn tendon in his left arm off the skate of teammate and roommate Mick Mounsey in Friday night’s 6-3 loss to Maine. Third-stringer Tim Collins finished up and would have had to play Saturday because senior Matt Carney (concussion) is out.

Ayers asked doctors at Bangor’s Eastern Maine Medical Center if there was anyway he could play on Saturday and he was given the OK to try after being fitted with a soft cast on his catching hand.

“They told me the tendon was torn and I couldn’t do any more damage to it. They put a splint on it. I tried it in warmups and it felt good,” said Ayers, who will have surgery early this week and will be sidelined for four to eight weeks.

He wound up making 33 saves to help his team remain in first place in Hockey East. UNH is 11-3-3 in league play, 19-5-3 overall.

Maine is two points behind UNH at 10-3-3 but has played one fewer game. Maine is 16-7-5 overall and extended its unbeaten streak to seven games (5-0-2).

Maine is 8-0-3 in its last 11 home games.

New Hampshire built a 2-0 lead on David Busch’s first-period power-play goal and Patrick Foley’s second-period score.

Tommy Reimann’s goal with 15 seconds left in the second period gave the Bears badly needed momentum and Peter Metcalf equalized 6:38 into the third period.

“I was happy with the way I played,” said Ayers. “The hand bothered me a lot. The guys did a great job playing defense in front of me. They’ve done that all year.”

Maine senior goalie Mike Morrison preserved the tie by stopping Jim Abbott’s breakaway in overtime.

“I wanted to go low blocker side and I was hoping to get it past him before he flashed out his pad,” said Abbott.

“With the speed he had coming in on me, I knew he wasn’t going to be able to deke [fake] me. He was coming too fast. And since it was overtime, I thought he’d try to get off a quick shot. It looked like he was trying to go blocker side. His stick was facing that way. I was able to get my leg out in time,” said Morrison.

Morrison added that he was happy Ayers was able to play and play well.

“It was nice to see him bounce back,” said Morrison, who finished with 23 stops..

New Hampshire played a near- flawless game through two periods.

Busch opened the scoring when Tim Horst’s slap shot from the left point deflected off Dimitrakos’ stick and then his stick into the short side.

Foley scored 11:25 into the second period when Kevin Truelson’s shot from the left point deflected to him at the far post and he swept home a 12-footer into the short side.

Reimann capitalized off assists from linemates Dimitrakos and Matt Greyeyes.

UNH’s Colin Hemingway fanned on an attempted clearing pass and Greyeyes shoveled the loose puck a few feet ahead to Dimitrakos, who pushed it to Reimann cutting from right to left across the top of the crease.

“I was in tight so I couldn’t make much of a move. He [Ayers] made the initial move. He went down. And I was able to put it in,” said Reimann who lifted it over Ayers.

“That was a huge goal,” said UNH coach Dick Umile.

Maine came out flying in the third period, outshooting UNH 17-6, and Metcalf tied it up off a faceoff draw to him by Ben Murphy.

“[Paul] Falco cut in front of the net and I took a little off my shot to make sure I got it on net. It snuck by his blocker [into the short side],” said Metcalf.

“I didn’t see it until the last second,” said Ayers, who was screened by Falco.

Maine has allowed just two third-period goals in its last nine games, scoring eight themselves.

UNH’s Sean Collins hit the crossbar with seven minutes left.

“We got stronger as the game went along,” said Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead who felt both goalies were outstanding.

BLACK BERARS 2, WILDCATS 2 (OT)

New Hampshire (19-5-3) 1 1 0 0 ? 2

Maine (16-7-5) 0 1 1 0 ? 2

First period ? 1. UNH, Busch 14 (Horst, Truelson), 9:21 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Liscak, high sticking, 7:27; Maine, Reimann, interference, 17:03.

Second period ? 2. UNH, Foley 6 (Truelson, Saviano), 11:25; 3. Maine, Reimann 10 (Dimitrakos, Greyeyes), 19:45. Penalties: UNH, Truelson, holding, 4:33; Maine, Kariya, slashing, 4:47; UNH, Haydar, tripping, 14:04; Maine, Ryan, roughing, 14:04

Third period ? 4. Maine, Metcalf 4 (Murphy), 6:18. Penalties: Maine, Ryan, roughing, 8:00; UNH, Gare, roughing, 8:00

Overtime ? No scoring. Penalties: none

Shots on goal: UNH 10-7-6-2 – 25; Maine 8-8-17-2- 35

Goaltenders: UNH, Ayers (35 shots-33 saves); Maine, Morrison (25-23)

Power-play opportunities: UNH 1-3; Maine 0-1

High-percentage scoring chances: UNH 5-7-2-1?15; Maine 1-4-9-3? 17

Attendance: 5,641 (sellout)