ORONO – Freshman defenseman Tom Zabkowicz was just hoping his University of Maine men’s hockey teammates would kill off his contact-to-the-head minor and preserve a one-goal lead over the University of Massachusetts Friday night.

They did that, and then he came out of the box and scored 12 seconds later to give the Black Bears some breathing room en route to a 3-0 victory at Alfond Arena.

Freshman left wing Mike Hamilton’s first-period goal had staked Maine to a 1-0 lead and Michel Leveille added a five-on-three power-play goal later in the second period.

Maine’s fourth straight win improved its record to 16-4-1 and its Hockey East mark to 8-2-1. UMass fell to 10-7-5 and 6-5-2, respectively. The two teams will play again tonight at 7.

Maine is 8-0 at Alfond Arena this season.

Senior goalie Frank Doyle made 17 saves to set the single-season record for shutouts with four. It was his second consecutive shutout. He has tied the career mark with six shutouts.

Doyle, who has allowed only three goals in his last five games, said he had plenty of help.

“These guys make my job so much easier,” said Doyle, who extended his scoreless streak to 159 minutes and four seconds. “Again tonight, I saw every shot, and we’re limiting teams to minimal scoring opportunities. Definitely the credit goes out to the guys in front of me.”

His most important save came in the second period when he made a stick stop on Mike Warner’s breakaway with the score 2-0.

“Our defenseman was kind of catching up to him, so I thought he’d probably shoot, and that’s what he did,” said Doyle. “I made a pad save.”

A few minutes earlier, Zabkowicz had emerged from the penalty box and flattened unsuspecting UMass defenseman Thomas Pock at the blue line, prying the puck free.

His pass to Colin Shields sent the right winger in on a breakaway with Zabkowicz following. UMass goalie Gabe Winer made the initial save, but the unchecked Zabkowicz flipped the rebound over the helpless goalie.

“I was in the box shaking, ready to get yelled at by the coaches for the dumb penalty,” said Zabkowicz. “I came out of the box real hard. I hit him [Pock] full speed. The puck was in my skates and Colin skated by and yelled for the puck. I followed the play. I thought he was going to put it away. But there’s always that chance and I got real lucky. The puck was right there, two inches away from him [Winer]. I didn’t have to do anything. I could have poked it in.”

“He has a real knack for jumping into the play, and he’s really gifted offensively. That was a great play by him. It gave us a huge boost,” said Doyle, whose most important save came shortly after Zabkowicz’s goal as he stopped Mike Warner’s breakaway.

“Our defenseman was kind of catching up to him, so I thought he’d probably shoot, and that’s what he did,” said Doyle. “I made a pad save.”

Leveille then extended the lead in a midst of a five-on-three that would have spanned 1:37 if Maine hadn’t scored.

Todd Jackson came out of the corner to Winer’s right and, using Greg Moore as a decoy at the top of the crease, he pinpointed a pass to the far post where Leveille simply had to tap it into the vacant net.

“With three men down low, one has to go to Moore and one has to go to Jackson. That’s why I was open,” said Leveille.

Hamilton had opened the scoring off a faceoff won by Jon Jankus in the circle to Winer’s right. Hamilton’s one-timer sailed over Winer’s blocker into the far corner.

“I was just trying to get it through because there were a couple of their guys in the lane. So I was just trying to make sure I got it on net,” said Hamilton.

Maine, swept at home by UMass in the Hockey East quarterfinals a year ago, outshot UMass 27-17.

Doyle was sharp in the early going as the Minutemen had the first four shots on goal. The line of Chris Capraro-Warner and Stephen Werner posed a lot of problems for the Bears.

But Doyle made some solid stops and Maine started playing the body effectively, which helped limit UMass’ scoring opportunities.

“Maine played real well,” said UMass coach Don Cahoon. “They played very hard. They did what they needed to do to disrupt us and they were allowed to do so. Doyle was definitely a factor. He made the saves he needed to make early.”

Maine was awarded a penalty shot in the second period when All-Hockey East second teamer and UMass leading scorer Pock hauled down Dustin Penner.

But Maine had the option to take the penalty instead and UMass was already shorthanded, so Maine coach Tim Whitehead took the penalty, giving his team a two-man advantage and sending Pock to the box for two minutes.

“We had a 2-0 lead and their top player was on his way into the penalty box,” explained Whitehead. “I have no regrets. We had two others and we were 1-for-2 earlier this season. And we didn’t score against Winer [with Shields taking the shot]. We wanted that extra control of the game at that point. If we didn’t score on the penalty shot, we would have had a very short five-on-four and Pock would have still been on the ice.”

BLACK BEARS 3, MINUTEMEN 0

Massachusetts(10-7-5) 0 0 0 ? 0

Maine (16-4-1) 1 2 0 ? 3

First period ? 1. Maine, Hamilton 2 (Jankus), 17:01. Penalties: Maine, Leveille, charging, 14:16; UMass, Toffey, hitting after whistle, 14:16; Maine, Moore, hitting after whistle, 14:16; UMass, Winer (served by Capraro), tripping, 17:25

Second period ? 2. Maine, Zabkowicz 3 (Shields), 11:40; 3. Maine, Leveille 2 (Jackson, Moore), 18:44; Penalties: Maine, Moore, hitting after whistle, 4:59; UMass, Trovato, hitting after whistle, 4:59; Maine, Zabkowicz, contact to head, 9:28; Maine, Penner, obstruction tripping, 12:18; UMass, Kuiper, slashing, 13:00; UMass, Pock, hooking, 14:26; UMass, Regan, roughing-contact to head, 17:42; UMass, Pock, cross-checking, 18:05

Third period ? No scoring; Penalties: Maine, Jackson, tripping, 0:11; UMass, Regan, obstruction-interference, 7:01; UMass, Pock, contact to head, 9:22; Maine, Ryan, roughing, 18:30; UMass, Hanson, roughing, 18:38

Shots on goal: UMass 5-7-5?17; Maine 8-10-9?27

Goaltenders: UMass, Winer (27 shots-24 saves); Maine, Doyle (17-17)

Power-play opportunities: UMass 0 of 4; Maine 1 of 7

High-percentage scoring chances: UMass 4-3-2?9; Maine 4-11-5?20

Attendance: 5,641