ORONO – The University of Maine Black Bears and the Western Michigan University Broncos could look at their 4-4 men’s hockey overtime tie two ways Sunday night.

The Black Bears will probably be the more satisfied of the two teams since they needed goals from Todd Jackson and Chris Heisten in the final 4:58 to erase a pair of one-goal deficits.

But the Bears also had a golden opportunity to win it in overtime when Troy Barnes fed Colin Shields, a 29-goal scorer a year ago who notched his fifth of this season in the first period, for a breakaway in overtime. Freshman goalie Scott Foster preserved the tie by making the save on Shields’ wrister.

“I had the five-hole but I didn’t get the puck off the ice enough and it hit his stick and glanced up into his pads. He made a good save and I made a bad shot,” said Shields. “That’s the type of situation you wish for: a breakaway in overtime. I’ve got to bury those.”

Foster said, “He came in from a long distance. He must have gotten the puck at the blue line or beyond. That gave me time to get set. I waited for him to shoot and I think I got both my stick and pad on it.”

Heisten had tied it from behind the net with 1:05 remaining.

Maine had pulled first-year goalie Frank Doyle in favor of the extra attacker and defenseman Prestin Ryan did a good job keeping the puck in the offensive zone and snapping the puck to the front of the net.

“I was behind the net and I pulled the puck out of [a scramble]. I saw a defenseman’s shin pads and I banked it in off them,” said Heisten.

His goal capped a four-goal flurry in the span of 6:51 late in the third period.

Junior center Paul Davies started the flurry when Dave Cousineau’s shot from the point hit Doyle in the chest and dropped down..

“It was between his feet so I poked it in,” said Davies, whose goal was his second of the game.

Todd Jackson equalized with just 4:58 remaining when he took a Cliff Loya pass, accelerated down the left wing and used a pick by linemate Gray Shaneberger to burst around a Western Michigan defenseman before cutting across the crease from left to right and beating Foster inside the post to the goalie’s left.

“I faked a shot, he went down and I took it wide [and went around him],” said Jackson.

But the Broncos answered when captain Dana Lattery scored off a two-on-one with Davies 1:03 later. It was his second goal of the game.

Davies held it until the last second before sliding it across to Lattery for a tap-in.

But Heisten forced the overtime with his third goal of the season.

Davies’ power-play goal opened the scoring 2:53 into the game as he swept home a Brent Walton pass off a 2-on-1 that developed below the dots.

Shields tied it 2:31 later by one-timing a Martin Kariya pass between Foster’s pads.

Nault gave Maine a deserved lead as the Bears outshot WMU 15-6 in the first period, when he blasted a slap shot through the legs of the leaping Kariya and past Foster’s glove with 42 seconds left in the first period.

Maine had a chance to add to the lead with a 4-on-3 power play and an brief two-man advantage that carried into the second period but Robert Liscak was called for slashing the stick out of a Western Michigan’s defenseman’s hands to even the sides up.

Lattery tied it on the power play in the second period when his shot from the outer edge of the right circle beat the screened Doyle to the near post with 3:14 left.

Western Michigan outplayed Maine in the third period, outshooting the Bears 11-5, but the Bears rallied.

Liscak had a breakaway with 46 seconds left in regulation but got slashed by Josh Akright and Foster got a piece of his glove on the shot.

Maine went on the power play but couldn’t convert in the last 46 seconds and the overtime as Foster’s heroics earned the tie.

Maine outshot Western Michigan 32-31. The Bears killed off a two-man advantage that lasted 1:44 in the second period.

“We know how to overcome adversity. We never give up,” said Kariya.

BLACK BEARS 4, BRONCOS 4 (OT)

Western Michigan (2-3-1) 1 1 2 ? 4

Maine (3-1-1) 2 0 2 ? 4

First period ? 1. WMU, Davies 2 (Dwyer, Walton), 2:53 (pp); 2. Maine, Shields 5 (Kariya, Jackson), 5:24 (pp); 3. Maine, Nault 1 (Kariya), 19:18. Penalties: Maine, Damon, holding, 2:42; WMU, Walton, tripping, 3:46; WMU, Davies, hooking, 13:21; Maine, Mullin, obstruction-hooking, 18:57; WMU, Cousineau, slashing, 19:15; WMU, Davies, holding, 19:45.

Second period ? 4. WMU, Lattery 3 (unassisted), 16:46 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Liscak, obstruction-slashing, :48; WMU, Lattery, hooking, 3:05; Maine, Lawson, interference, 7:02; Maine, Jackson, hooking, 11:33; Maine, Nault, slashing, 11:49; WMU, Cheyne, slashing, 13:56; Maine, Barnes, tripping, 14:58.

Third period ? 5. WMU, Davies 3 (Cousineau) 12:04; 6. Maine, Jackson 2 (Loya) 15:02; 7. WMU, Lattery 4 (Davies, Drake) 16:05; 8. Maine, Heisten 3 (Ryan) 18:55. Penalties: WMU, Yantzi, holding, 6:09; WMU, Akright, slashing, 19:14

Overtime ? no scoring. Penalties: none

Shots on goal: Western Michigan 6-12-11-2?31; Maine 15-9-5-3?32

Goaltenders: Western Michigan, Foster (32 shots-28 saves); Maine, Doyle (31-27)

Power-play opportunities: Western Michigan 2 of 7; Maine 1 of 8

High-percentage scoring chances: Western Michigan 1-7-5-0?13; Maine 7-7-7-2?23

Attendance: 4,677