ORONO – University of Maine sophomore goalie Ben Bishop won’t dwell on Sunday’s 8-2 loss to New Hampshire, in which he allowed a career-high six goals on just 19 shots.

It was the first time in nine games this season he had allowed more than three goals. He has had six one-goal outings.

“I’ve watched the videotape a couple of times and I’m not too upset with how I played. Three of their goals went off our players. One of them was banked in off me. One was a miscommunication between me and Matt Duffy. On another, a guy made a pretty good shot,” assessed Bishop. “I know there weren’t many shots. The bounces didn’t go our way.”

He intends to use the game as a learning tool.

“I’m not going to think about it in a bad way. I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, I gave up six goals.’ I’m going to look at what I need to improve on and work on it,” said Bishop. “I dropped my right shoulder on the [Mike Radja] breakaway goal. I’ve got to stay big.”

His mates aren’t worried about him.

“He’s been playing well for us all season long,” said senior left wing Brent Shepheard. “You can’t expect him to shut the door every game. They did score a lot of goals, but we kind of hung him out to dry on a few of them. They had a breakaway and a two-on-one and you can’t blame him for those. Those were mental lapses on our part.”

Maine senior right winger Keith Johnson, currently sidelined by a knee injury, said “Ben has been, arguably, our best player this year. He has carried us a few times. You can’t place the blame on him. He knows more than anyone that it wasn’t his best game.

“It happens. We’re all human. He’s going to bounce back against BC.”

“You can’t put it on him. It was a team thing. None of us really played our game,” said sophomore defenseman Simon Danis-Pepin. “He’ll be right back [on top of his] game. He’s been unbelievable for us.”

University of New Hampshire goalie Kevin Regan, who made 33 saves in the win, also expects Bishop to rebound.

“He’s obviously an outstanding goalie. You’re going to have fluky nights like that. He’ll be back [strong],” said Regan.

Bishop, whose goals-against average jumped from 1.37 to 1.86, said he likes the fact he and his mates have a stern challenge next instead of a weak team.

He said BC will force him and his mates to play their best.

“They’re one of the best teams in the country. We’ll get a lot more hyped for it,” said Bishop. “If you played a bad team, you might play down to their level.”

Maine senior left wing and assistant captain Josh Soares said, “We want to prove Sunday was a fluke.”

BISHOP’S STATISTICS

Games played/started: 10/10

Goals against: 18

Goals-against average: 1.86

Saves, percentage: 213, .922

Record: 8-1-1

Power-play goals: 10

Shorthanded goals: 0