ORONO – University of Maine junior left wing Mike Hamilton couldn’t have picked a better time to snap a 32-game goal-less drought.

Hamilton scored 1:13 into the third period to give the Black Bears a badly needed insurance goal and the Bears went on to collect a hard-fought 4-1 men’s hockey victory over a depleted but gritty University of New Hampshire Wildcat squad.

Hamilton’s first goal since a 6-0 win over Quinnipiac on Jan. 9, 2005, supplied the Bears with a 3-1 lead, and Josh Soares’ second goal of the game, an empty-netter with 1:56 remaining, secured the victory.

Maine’s fourth straight win improved the Bears’ record to 18-9 overall, 11-7 in Hockey East. UNH, playing without seven forwards serving a one-game suspension for violating team rules, fell to 13-10-4 and 9-6-3, respectively.

UNH will regain the services of the seven forwards, including six of its top 10 scorers, for today’s 7 p.m. rematch.

Maine is now 7-0-1 in its last eight games against UNH at Alfond Arena.

“It’s nice to get the monkey off my back. Hopefully, it will open the floodgates,” said Hamilton, whose goal was a third rebound after standout UNH sophomore goalie Kevin Regan had foiled Michel Leveille and Bret Tyler, who were returning to the lineup after five-game injury absences.

“Their defenseman was backing up with the puck and it got stuck in a wet spot,” said Hamilton. “I tried to pass it over to Michel, but the pass missed him. It came off the wall to him and he took a shot. [The rebound] came out to Tyler, he took a shot, and it came over to me. I had the open net.”

Regan said, “He did a good job crashing the net.”

Soares’ empty-netter was set up by Derek Damon, who reached the 100-point plateau for his career with the assist.

After a scoreless first period, Billy Ryan’s power-play goal staked Maine to a 1-0 lead 4:01 into the second period.

UNH senior center Andrew Leach tied it at the 11:41 mark, but Soares broke the tie with 5:03 left in the middle period.

It was his third game-winner of the season.

Ryan opened the scoring with his first goal in five games since returning from a shoulder injury.

He stickhandled in the UNH zone before firing a rising wrister from beyond the top of the right circle that beat the screened Regan over his glove shoulder to the short side.

The Wildcats knotted it up during a four-on-four.

Leach won a faceoff in the circle to freshman goalie Ben Bishop’s right and it went back to Brad Flaishans at the left point. Flaishans took a snap shot that Bishop kicked out.

Leach swept the rebound inside the far post.

Soares broke the tie off a breakaway at the 14:57 mark.

The Wildcats got caught in a line change and Mike Lundin’s long pass was tipped ahead by Greg Moore to Soares, who skated in alone and sailed a wrister over Regan’s glove.

“It was a great play by Lundin, and Greg straddled the blue line. I came over to support the puck,” said Soares. “I saw the glove side was open and I tried to get my shot off quickly.”

Regan said, “I dropped my glove and he made a good shot.”

Soares had a breakaway early in the game, but Regan was able to get his shoulder on the shot.

The Wildcats did an exceptional job defensively, limiting Maine’s odd-man rushes and protecting the front of their net effectively.

“The guys did an unbelievable job,” said Regan.

Hamilton concurred.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game no matter who was in their lineup,” said Hamilton. “They played well. But we stuck to the game plan and persevered at the end.”

UNH coach Dick Umile was “very pleased” with the play of his team but said bad line changes led to Maine’s second and third goals.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead said UNH “did a nice job getting numbers back and clogging up the neutral zone. And their goaltending was strong. But we didn’t get frustrated and were able to get some goals in the second and third periods.”

Maine outshot UNH 41-23.

Regan was outstanding, finishing with 37 saves, including 15 Grade-A (high-percentage) stops.

Bishop had 21 stops, five off Grade-A shots, and did an exceptional handling and shooting the puck up to his teammates.

BLACK BEARS 4, WILDCATS 1

New Hampshire (13-10-4) 0 1 0 – 1

Maine (18-9) 0 2 2 – 4

First period – No scoring. Penalties: UNH, Fortney, hooking, 3:33; Maine, Hamilton, obstruction-interference, 14:04

Second period – 1. Maine, Ryan 5 (Hamilton, J. Hopson), 4:01 (pp); 2. UNH, Leach 3 (Flaishans, Yandle), 11:41; 3. Maine, Soares 10 (Moore, Mi. Lundin), 14:57. Penalties: UNH, Vinz, hooking, 1:55; UNH, Leach, hooking, 3:17; UNH, Kapstad, roughing, 10:03; Maine, Damon, roughing, 10:03; UNH, Fritsch, holding, 10:49; Maine, Jankus, interference, 10:49; UNH, Yandle, hooking, 12:54; Maine, Mullin, obstruction-interference, 15:56; UNH, Micflikier, hitting after the whistle, 15:56; Maine, Johnson, obstruction-interference, 17:59

Third period – 4. Maine, Hamilton 1 (Leveille, Tyler), 1:13; 5. Maine, Soares 11 (Damon), 18:04 (en). Penalties: Maine, Clark, charging, 6:34; UNH, Regan, hitting after whistle, 6:34 (served by Thompson); Maine, Bellamy, 11:23, roughing; UNH, Hutchins, roughing, 11:23; Maine, Ryan, 10-minute misconduct, 14:12; Maine, J. Hopson, cross-checking, 18:13; UNH, Foley, 5-minute roughing and 10-minute misconduct, 18:13; Maine, Bellamy, roughing, 19:47; Maine, Bellamy, hitting after whistle, 19:47; UNH, Vinz, roughing, 19:47; UNH, Vinz, hitting after whistle, 19:47

Shots on goal: New Hampshire 5-11-7-23; Maine 11-19-11-41

Goaltenders: New Hampshire, Regan (40 shots-37 saves); Maine, Bishop (23-22)

Power-play opportunities: New Hampshire 0 of 2; Maine 1 of 4

High-percentage scoring chances: New Hampshire 5-2-2-9; Maine 9-11-2-22

Attendance: 5,641