Maine finds offense Black Bears pound BU

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BOSTON – Go figure.

In a game that would have been better served on Halloween night, the University of Maine Black Bears and Boston University Terriers engaged in a free-wheeling shootout that featured three goals and two assists from Bear senior right winger Colin Shields including two of three shorthanded goals.

Maine came away with an 8-4 triumph in a contest between teams that have had occasional problems scoring goals. Both had scored just three goals in two-game series last weekend against UMass (Maine) and Boston College (BU).

Freshman center Michel Leveille had a shorthanded goal and three assists and freshman left wing Luciano Aquino celebrated his return to the lineup after a four-game absence with an important third-period goal, his first since he had two in a 5-2 win over Northeastern on Nov. 14.

Maine is now 17-5-1 overall, 9-3-1 in Hockey East. Boston University fell to 6-9-6 and 3-8-2, respectively. The two teams will play again tonight at Walter Brown Arena.

Maine was without sophomore center Derek Damon for most of the game as he received a hitting from behind major and game misconduct with 15:39 left in the second period. But because he received a misconduct and not a game disqualification, he can play Saturday night.

Maine’s three shorthanded goals tied a school record set during the 1991-92 season against Army.

Greg Moore, Jon Jankus and Dustin Penner had the other goals for Maine while David Van der Gulik, David Klema, Bryan Miller and Brad Zancanaro scored for the Terriers, who had scored two goals or less in 11 of their previous 20 games.

Shields hadn’t registered more than two points in a game this season.

“It seems like everybody broke out tonight,” said Aquino.

“We scored some timely goals and we competed hard. Colin has been playing fantastic lately. He played hard,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead whose team took a 2-0 lead on shorthanded goals 32 seconds apart in the first period by Leveille and Shields and were never headed.

“We weren’t thorough enough,” said BU junior defenseman and leading scorer Ryan Whitney. “We have a goaltender [Sean Fields] trying to get his confidence back and we left him out to dry.

“It was a bizarre game,” added Whitney.

Maine hadn’t scored a shorthanded goal since a 6-2 win over Merrimack on Oct. 30.

But Leveille and Shields ended that.

Leveille poked the puck free from Frantisek Skladany and broke in alone on Fields 7:10 into the game.

“I made a fake and he gave me the left side,” said Leveille, who beat Fields to the blocker side.

Thirty-two seconds later, the Terriers turned the puck over at the offensive blue line and Leveille and Shields broke in on a two-on-one.

“I was able to pull away from my guy and their defenseman went over to Michel. He passed it over,” said Shields who slipped a 10-footer past Fields.

Van der Gulik got one back with a tap-in off a cross-crease pass from Miller but Moore answered by converting a Leveille rebound from his knees. That ended Maine goalie Frank Doyle’s shutout sequence at 170:35, second longest in school history.

Klema answered with 1:29 left in the period when he jabbed home a loose puck in the crease after Dan Spang’s shot hit Doyle, popped in the air and fell behind him.

BU stormed the net in the first period and was able to sustain its forecheck with its speed, tenacity and willingness to drive the Maine net.

Maine played more physical in the second period and matched BU’s intensity while also doing a better job driving the net.

Shields scored his second and third goals 1:40 apart to extend the lead to 5-2 by driving the net.

On his first one, the Bears had several in-close attempts before Shields pounced on his own rebound.

“I got the puck, put it to my backhand and put it in,” said Shields.

Moments later, Leveille knocked a Terrier defenseman off the puck behind the net and spotted the open Shields in the right circle.

“I one-timed it,” said Shields whose shot glanced in off Fields’ body.

BLACK BEARS 8, TERRIERS 4

Maine (17-5-1) 3 2 3 ? 8

Boston U. (6-9-6) 2 1 1 ? 4

First period ? 1. Maine, Leveille 3 (una.), 7:10 (sh); 2. Maine, Shields 11 (Leveille), 7:42 (sh); 3. BU, Van der Gulik 7 (Miller, Whitney), 11:31 (pp); 4. Maine, Moore 9 (Leveille, Shields), 12:47; 5. BU, Klema 4 (Spang), 18:31. Penalties: Maine, Mushaluk, hitting from behind, 2:23; Maine, Damon, holding, 6:27; Maine, Mushaluk, hooking, 9:51; BU, Roche, obstruction holding, 13:18.

Second period ? 6. Maine, Shields 12 (una.), 11:02; 7. Maine, Shields 13 (Leveille), 12:42 (sh); 8. BU, Miller 3 (Van der Gulik), 15:25. Penalties: BU, Sullivan, tripping, 4:12; Maine, Damon, 5-min. major, hitting from behind, game misconduct, 4:21; Maine, Lundin, tripping, 11:57

Third period ?. 9. Maine, Jankus 4 (una.) :43; 10. BU, Zancanaro 2 (Frantisek, Sklada) 3:45 (pp); 11. Maine, Aquino 4 (Shields, Jankus) 8:59; 12. BU, Maine, Penner 7 (Jankus, Johnson) 14:59; Penalties: Maine, Zabkowicz, holding, 2:13; BU, Whitney, contact to head, 11:13; BU, Van der Gulik, contact to head, 16:27; Maine, Johnson, instigator, 19:29; BU, Zancanaro, roughing, 19:29; Maine, Aquino, roughing, 19:29

Shots on goal: Maine 14-11-10?35; BU 15-10-10?35

Goaltenders: Maine, Doyle (35 shots-31 saves); BU, Fields (35-27)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 4; BU 2 of 7

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 9-8-6?23; BU 11-6-9?26

Attendance: 3,163