ORONO – Dave Wilson has gone from obscure backup to weekend folk hero.

The University of Maine’s freshman goalie, filling in for the injured Ben Bishop, made 31 saves and junior center Wes Clark scored his first goal in nine games as the Black Bears nipped Vermont 1-0 in a Saturday night men’s hockey thriller that had all the atmosphere of an NCAA Tournament game.

Vermont backup freshman netminder Mike Spillane was equally stellar as he finished with 30 saves. Spillane was playing in place of junior Joe Fallon, who had allowed nine goals in his last two starts.

Wilson made 13 Grade-A (high-percentage) stops while Spillane had seven.

“I felt pretty much unbeatable tonight,” said Wilson, who had made 32 saves in Maine’s 5-1 victory over the Catamounts on Friday night. “And the defense was incredible.”

“We played amazing team defense. A lot of guys cleared some key opportunities for me,” added Wilson, who made 14 saves in the third period as the desperate Catamounts stormed the net looking for the equalizer.

“We’ve worked on boxing out and clearing the front of our net,” said Maine senior defenseman and assistant captain Mike Lundin, who added that Wilson bailed them out at times.

“He’s rising to the occasion,” said Lundin, who felt Wilson silenced the skeptics who doubted that he could play two strong games back-to-back.

“He proved everyone wrong. He played unbelievable,” said Lundin.

Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon added, “Wilson played great as did our young goalie. It was a story in itself: two back-up goalies going head-to-head and it was a goaltender’s duel.”

Maine’s sweep was its first since it took a pair from UMass Lowell on Jan. 5-6.

The Bears have now won four of their last five to improve to 19-8-2 overall and 12-8-1 in Hockey East. They have elevated themselves into a third-place tie with Boston College.

Maine will visit BC on Thursday and Friday evenings.

Vermont, one point behind Maine and BC, fell to 15-11-4 and 10-7-4, respectively. The Catamounts have lost three in a row.

“We played well, but it’s tough to run into a good goalie like that,” said UVM senior defenseman Ryan Gunderson. “We got a lot of pucks to the net in the third period looking for rebounds. He held a lot of them. He didn’t leave too many rebounds out there.”

The game’s only goal came at the 12:22 mark of the first period.

A pass from Clark to Vince Laise failed to connect, but the puck wound up going to Lundin at the left point and he sent it across to Travis Ramsey at the right point.

“The first shot I had taken was high, so I wanted to make sure that one was low. It went low and I got it off quick. We’ve been working on quick releases all year,” said Ramsey.

“It went off one of their guys’ shinpads. I saw the loose puck and then it was an open net,” said Clark, who was positioned just outside the crease to the left of Spillane.

Clark centers the fourth line between Chris Hahn and Laise, and Maine coach Tim Whitehead said the fact his fourth line produced the goal “is a great statement for our team.”

“We had a very strong team effort from [Wilson] against a very good team,” added Whitehead, whose Bears have now allowed just six goals in their last five games.

Maine had a glittering opportunity to add to its lead 2:12 into the second period, but Keenan Hopson steered a perfect feed from Bret Tyler wide of a wide- open net.

UVM’s dynamic top line of Dean Strong between Peter Lenes and Torrey Mitchell created all kinds of opportunities, including a few wild scrambles in the third period.

But Wilson held his ground and his mates protected him efficiently.

One of Vermont’s best chances came in the first few minutes when Colin Vock fed an unattended Brian Roloff between the faceoff circles. But Wilson flashed out his left pad to rob Roloff.

Midway through the second period, an open Mark Lutz cruised down the middle of the slot and fired a 25-foot one-timer labeled for the corner to Wilson’s left.

But the Bear goalie exploded out of his net to reduce the angle and gloved the thigh-high shot.

And Ramsey had a couple of goal-saving clears with the puck facing a vacant net after a Wilson save or deflection.

BLACK BEARS 1, CATAMOUNTS 0

Vermont (15-11-4) 0 0 0 – 0

Maine (19-8-2) 1 0 0 – 1

First period – 1. Maine, Clark 7 (Ramsey, Lundin), 12:22. Penalties: none.

Second period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Leveille, tripping, 3:19; UVM, Stalberg, tripping, 6:53.

Third period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Duffy, five-minute major for grabbing the facemask, 19:42; UVM, Lutz, five-minute major for grabbing the facemask, 19:42; Maine, Soares, roughing, hitting after the whistle and unsportsmanlike conduct, 19:42; UVM, Mitchell, roughing, hitting after the whistle, unsportsmanlike conduct, 19:42; Maine, Leveille, roughing, hitting after the whistle, unsportsmanlike conduct, 19:42; UVM, Stalberg, roughing, hitting after the whistle, unsportsmanlike conduct, 19:42.

Shots on goal: Vermont 7-10-14-31; Maine 16-9-6-31

Goaltenders: Vermont, Spillane (31 shots-30 saves); Maine, Wilson (31-31)

Power-play opportunities: Vermont 0 for 1, Maine 0 for 1

High-percentage scoring chances: UVM 5-10-5-20; Maine 6-7-4-17

Attendance: 5,445