ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The University of Maine men’s hockey team had to sweat for a week wondering if it was going to earn a ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance after the Black Bears were swept out of the Hockey East quarterfinals by Massachusetts.

Now the Black Bears will have one more chance to beat the Minutemen, only this time it will be for a trip to the Frozen Four.

First-period goals by Brent Shepheard, Billy Ryan, and Michel Leveille erased a game-opening goal by Justin Fletcher and junior right wing Rob Bellamy scored his first goal of the season in the second period as third-seeded Maine upset No. 2 St. Cloud State 4-1 in the NCAA East Regional at Blue Cross Arena.

Maine snapped a four-game losing streak, all to UMass, and improved to 22-14-2 overall. Fourth seed UMass, 21-12-5, eliminated top seed Clarkson 1-0 in overtime on a Kevin Jarman goal.

Tonight’s East Regional final will be at 6.

St. Cloud finished 22-11-7 and the Huskies are 0-7 all-time in NCAA tourney play.

Maine has won nine of its last 11 NCAA tournament openers and the Bears are 9-for-9 on neutral ice. The only opening-round losses in their last 11 appearances came to Michigan 2-1 at the Wolverines’ Yost Arena in 2003 and to Minnesota 1-0 in overtime at the Gophers’ Mariucci Arena in 2005.

Fletcher opened the scoring with a wrist shot from the left circle that handcuffed Maine goalie Ben Bishop, who was returning to the lineup after missing four games with a groin pull.

Bishop dropped down and Fletcher’s low wrister trickled in off Bishop’s glove, which was about a foot off the ice.

But Bishop got better as the game went along and didn’t allow another goal while making 33 saves, including 14 of the Grade-A (high-percentage) variety.

The Bears did an exceptional job congesting the neutral zone and playing the body. They were able to slow down the swift-skating Huskies and limit their odd-man rushes. They also played in-your-face defense and didn’t allow St. Cloud much time with the puck.

“Everybody executed their jobs and we played a gritty game to capitalize on our size advantage,” said Shepheard, who answered Fletcher’s goal courtesy of a fortunate bounce on the power play.

Shepheard chased down the puck in the corner to the left of St. Cloud State goalie Bobby Goepfert, skated toward the net, and tried to pass it to Mike Hamilton. Hamilton was tied up by freshman defenseman Garrett Raboin.

“I tried to pass it to Hamilton, but it hit the goalie’s skate and went in,” said Shepheard.

“It hit my toe,” said Goepfert.

Ryan made it 2-1 just 50 seconds later from the edge of the crease.

Ryan accepted a Hamilton pass behind the net and came out to Goepfert’s left before lifting a backhander into the short side from point-blank range.

“He was hugging the post down low, so I put it up under the crossbar,” said Ryan, who extended his goal-scoring streak to four games.

“That went right under my ear,” said Goepfert.

The Huskies had a golden opportunity to equalize with a two-man advantage that spanned 1:18.

But the Bears did an exemplary job keeping St. Cloud State’s shots to the outside and Bishop made the few saves he needed to make.

St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko said that penalty kill and Leveille’s power-play goal 2:27 later represented the turning point in the game.

“We had a lot of life and that would have kept up if we had scored,” said Motzko. “After that, we never turned the corner again.”

Leveille extended the lead at the 14:08 mark as Maine converted on the power play for the 13th time in its last 41 chances over an eight-game span.

Leveille took a pass from Mike Lundin at the midpoint and, with Shepheard and Keith Johnson providing a screen, snapped a wrist shot that beat Goepfert.

“I knew he had the puck at the point and I slid over to my right [to try to see the puck],” said Goepfert. “It went through my pads.”

Goepfert, who finished with 17 saves including 10 Grade-As, said Maine was able to create a lot of traffic in front of him. He also shouldered the blame for the loss.

“I consider myself an elite goalie, but I wasn’t an elite goalie tonight. I let a lot of people down,” said Goepfert.

The Huskies had three consecutive power plays in the second period, but the Bears did an exceptional job pressuring the Huskies and protecting the netfront to clear rebounds after Bishop made the initial save.

The Black Bears killed all nine Huskies power plays while going 2-for-5 themselves.

“We’ve had trouble getting the puck into the [offensive] zone lately and when we did, Maine pressured us hard, so it was hard to keep possession,” said junior right wing Andrew Gordon, St. Cloud’s leading goal-scorer.

Bellamy expanded the lead with 2:52 remaining in the middle period. His goal came just a few minutes after Ryan had rifled a one-timer off the far post.

Shepheard carried the puck down the left wing in a three-on-two with Bellamy driving to the net. Shepheard took a wrist shot from the base of the left circle that Goepfert kicked out into the path of Bellamy, who split the Huskies’ defensemen and tapped it home.

It was his first goal since a 5-3 win over UMass on March 4, 2006.

“It’s about time. It felt good, especially in a game like this in the NCAA Tournament,” said Bellamy.

Teddy Purcell had three assists for the Bears, and Shepheard and Leveille had an assist each to go with their goals.

“We kept our defensemen in the middle of the ice so they couldn’t get second chances [rebounds],” said Maine senior defenseman and assistant captain Mike Lundin.

The Bear seniors improved their NCAA Tournament record to 6-3.

BLACK BEARS 4, HUSKIES 1

Maine (22-14-2) 3 1 0 – 4

St. Cloud (22-11-7) 1 0 0 – 1

First period – 1. SC, Fletcher 6 (Gordon), 3:39; 2. Maine, Shepheard 8 (Leveille, Purcell), 7:21 (pp); 3. Maine, Ryan 13 (Hamilton, Purcell), 8:11; 4. Maine, Leveille 19 (Lundin, Purcell), 14:08 (pp). Penalties: SC, Gordon, tripping, 6:23; Maine, Bellamy, hooking, 8:59; Maine, Soares, charging, 9:41; SC, Carlisle, interference, 12:20; Maine, Hamilton, high-sticking, 19:03.

Second period – 5. Maine, Bellamy 1 (Shepheard, de Kastrozza), 17:08. Penalties: Maine, Leveille, hooking, 6:20; Maine, Purcell, hooking, 13:58; Maine, Bellamy, contact-to-head roughing, 19:00.

Third period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Plaszcz, high-sticking, 4:07; SC, Kronick, holding, 12:56; Maine, Hahn, interference, 14:17; Maine, Shepheard, hooking, 16:47, Maine, Soares, cross-checking after whistle, 18:50; Maine, Leveille, roughing after whistle, 18:50; SC, Kronick, high-sticking, 18:50; SC, Raduns, cross-checking after whistle, 18:50; SC, Brockelhurst, slashing, 19:51.

Shots on goal: Maine 7-9-5-21; St. Cloud 9-9-16-34

Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (34 shots-33 saves); St. Cloud, Goepfert (21-17)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 2 of 5; St. Cloud 0 of 9

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 8-8-4-20; St. Cloud 9-4-7-20

Attendance: 3,887