ORONO – A year ago, the University of Maine Black Bears killed off 81 percent of their opponents’ power plays.

That’s not bad but could be better. And Maine surrendered two power-play goals, including the game-winner, in the 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota in the NCAA championship game.

Improving the penalty kill has been a point of emphasis for Maine coach Tim Whitehead from day one and it is paying off.

The Bears are currently second in the nation in penalty-killing with a 91.9 percent success rate.

Only the University of Michigan Wolverines have been better (95.1 percent).

Maine has given up five power-play goals in 62 chances and has scored four shorthanded goals.

And the Bears have killed off all nine 5-on-3 disadvantages they have faced.

Over the last seven games, Maine has killed off 32 of 33 power-play disadvantages.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on it. We’ve put a big priority on it. We want it to be our biggest area of improvement throughout the season. We’ve obviously had excellent goaltending and we have players who take a lot of pride in penalty-killing,” said Whitehead.

Maine senior left winger and captain Chris Heisten said, “We’ve had established [forward] pairs this year and people have gotten used to each other and what their tendencies are. That has helped out a lot. There was a lot of changing around last year due to injuries.”

Some guys have killed penalties together for years like Marty [Kariya] and Lucas [Lawson]. They’ve been together the last three years,” added Heisten.

Senior defenseman Cliff Loya agreed, saying, “We didn’t lose too many guys who played on the penalty-killing units last year. We only lost a couple. So everybody has been on the same page and we’ve executed well.”

According to Heisten, Loya has been the catalyst in killing off the 5-on-3s.

“He has been the leader. He has done a remarkable job. He gets his stick in the [passing] lanes and gets himself in the shooting lanes. He has blocked a lot of shots,” said Heisten.

“We just try to play our system and not give up many Grade-A [high-percentage] chances,” said Loya. “We try to prevent them from making seam passes [across the slot to the far post] and clear away any rebounds. We need to keep ourselves loose in front of the net and not get tied up. We want the point men to take the shots. They’re obviously going to get shots in a 5-on-3 but we try to make sure it’s not a Grade-A shot.”

“We try to stay tight together on the 5-on-3s and not get too exposed,” said junior left wing Todd Jackson.

The Bears pressure the puck all over the ice and Loya said that is a sound strategy.

“If you pressure college players, they’re probably going to cough the puck up. You don’t find too many college players who have the poise to burn you,” said Loya.

Kariya said “The goalie has to be the best player on the ice on the penalty kill and right now they’re both playing real solid.”

Indeed, freshman Jimmy Howard and junior Frank Doyle are ranked third and fifth nationally in goals-against average at 1.33 and 1.59, respectively.

Maine is second in the country in team defense, allowing 1.42 goals per game. Cornell is first at 1.33 and the two will meet on Dec. 28 in the first round of the Everblades Classic in Estero, Fla.

The 10-1-1 Bears have a tall task this weekend as they visit 9-2-1 Boston College for a pair.