Maine rolls past Sioux Bears score 5 goals in 2nd

loading...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of Maine Black Bear hockey team received second-period goals from five different players and went on to stun the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux 6-2 at the Engelstad Arena Friday night.

The Bears, ranked fourth in the country, improved to 4-0 overall while the third-ranked Fighting Sioux fell to 3-2. The teams will conclude their series tonight at 8.

Maine’s five-goal second period represented the Bears’ largest one-period outburst since they scored five times in the first period of a 9-2 road win over UMass-Lowell on Nov. 11, 2005.

Maine freshman right wing Teddy Purcell started the five-goal outburst on the power play early in the middle period and senior left wing Josh Soares broke the 1-1 tie with another power-play goal 3:56 later.

Keith Johnson made it 3-1 at the 11:07 mark, prompting a UND timeout.

However, just 24 seconds later, Michel Leveille expanded the lead to 4-1 and Mike Lundin closed out the period with a power-play goal at the 18:43 mark.

Maine outshot the Fighting Sioux 14-2 in the middle period.

Leveille set up Purcell’s fourth goal of the season with a nice diagonal backhand pass to the faceoff dot to the right of UND goalie Philippe Lamoureux.

Purcell fired a one-timer into the short-side corner before Lamoureux could scramble across.

Soares scored his second of the year off the deflection of a Leveille snap shot from the right point on which Leveille broke his stick.

Soares, with his back to Lamoureux, reached out and re-directed the shot inside the post to the right of Lamoureux.

Johnson capitalized on a pinpoint pass from Billy Ryan.

Ryan stickhandled neatly in the slot before slipping a backhand pass across to Johnson for a one-timer from the left circle.

“We cycled the puck down low and kept them pinned in their own end,” said Johnson. “Billy has great vision, he made a nice backhand pass and I squeezed it through [Lamoureux’s] pads.”

Leveille made it 4-1 after gaining position at the top of the crease and tapping home a Soares pass.

“Josh and Teddy did a real good job cycling the puck down low and I put Josh’s pass five-hole,” said senior center Leveille.

Lundin supplied Maine with its third power-play goal in six attempts up to that point.

Purcell was stickhandling in the slot and the puck hit a loose stick. A weak UND clearing attempt wound up on Lundin’s stick and he wristed a screened drive inside the near post.

“We played as well in that second period as I’ve seen us play in a long, long time,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “Those two power-play goals in the first 10 minutes gave us momentum and we seized the momentum. We worked hard and earned some bounces.”

Maine captain Leveille, who had two assists to go with his goal, said, “We were a little shaky in the first period. We didn’t want to make mistakes so we were back on our heels.

“But we came out hitting in the second period and forced them to cough up the puck. We kept the puck in their zone the entire period. And we got pucks through to the front of the net on the power play,” Leveille added.

UND’s Ryan Duncan scored the lone goal of the first period with a one-timer off a precise cross-ice pass from T.J. Oshie. However, Maine sophomore goalie Ben Bishop made eight saves to keep it at 1-0.

“Ben set the tone in the first period. He made some big stops to keep them from going up 2-0,” said Whitehead.

Bishop wound up with 15 saves on 16 shots before freshman Dave Wilson came on to finish up with 9:22 left. He made two stops on three shots.

Whitehead also said he liked “how our defense played. The forwards helped them out by coming back but our defense got the job done.”

UND’s Matt Watkins cut the lead to 5-2 with 4:51 left but Brent Shepheard answered off a Wes Clark rebound.

Lamoureux wound up with 25 saves for the Fighting Sioux.

BLACK BEARS 6, FIGHTING SIOUX 2

Maine (4-0-0) 0 5 1 – 6

Home (3-2-0) 1 0 1 – 2

First period – 1. UND, Duncan 1 (Oshie, Lee), 14:39. Penalties: UND, Porter, cross-checking, 1:04; Maine, Johnson, slashing, 2:06; Maine, Leveille, roughing, 3:56; UND, Toews, roughing, 3:56; UND, Porter, elbowing, 7:23; Maine, Leveille, obstruction-hooking, 12:33; UND, Lee, high sticking, 16:26

Second period – 2. Maine, Purcell 4 (Leveille), 3:37 (pp); 3. Maine, Soares 5 (Lundin, Leveille), 7:33; 4. Maine, Johnson 2 (Ryan), 11:07; 5. Maine, Leveille 2 (Soares, Purcell), 11:31; 6. Maine, Lundin 1 (unassisted), 18:43. Penalties: UND, Toews, hooking, 3:27; Maine, Shepheard, double minor-roughing, 4:47; UND, Radke, double minor-roughing, 4:47; Maine, de Kastrozza, roughing, 4:58; UND, Finley, roughing, 4:58; UND, Toews, interference, 6:56; UND, Kaip, hooking, 17:32

Third period – 7. UND, Watkins 2 (Porter, Bishop), 15:09; 8. Maine, Shepheard 2 (Clark, Johnson), 19:22. Penalties: UND, Watkins, roughing, :32; Maine, Leveille, holding the stick, :32; Maine, Bellamy, interference, 1:55; UND, Finley, roughing, 10:00; Maine, Shepheard, roughing, 10:00; UND, VandeVelde, 5-minute major (checking from behind), 10:00; UND, VandeVelde, game misconduct, 10:00; Maine, Johnson, interference, 10:38; Maine, Hopson, slashing, 11:29; Maine, de Kastrozza, roughing, 19:42; UND, Radke, slashing, 19:42; Maine, Hamilton, 5-minute major (slashing), 19:58; UND, Kaip, roughing, 19:58

Shots on goal: Maine 9-14-8-31; UND 9-2-8-19

Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (16 shots-15 saves), Wilson (3-1); UND, Lamoureux (31-25)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 3 of 6; UND 0 of 5

Attendance: 11,603