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http://www.pressherald.com/sports/college/hockey/040111mainehockey.shtml

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                     Sunday, January 11, 2004

                                            Black Bears taking care of business


                        By  ERIC RUSSELL, Special to Maine Sunday Telegram

                      Copyright  2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.





 ORONO  --  Even with three consecutive weekends of grueling Hockey East play looming, the University of Maine men's hockey team had no intention of taking Saturday night's opponent lightly.

   The Black Bears (15-4-1) posted a convincing 6-0 victory over Sacred Heart at Alfond Arena, their third in a row after two losses at the Everblades Classic in Florida Dec. 27-28.

   "There were obviously areas we wanted to improve on from Florida," senior Colin Shields said. "I think we have definitely done that. This game was good for our confidence."

   To be fair, Sacred Heart (4-11-2) has gone seven games without a win, but Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said maintaining a high intensity level was important.

   "Coming into this game, we were worried because we knew they had good goaltending," Whitehead said. "I thought we were very physical tonight, and defensively we didn't give them a ton of chances."

   Sophomore Michel Leveille was Maine's catalyst, tying a career high with three assists, and the Black Bears erupted for four second-period goals to turn a relatively close game into a rout. Leveille has just one goal this season but leads the team with 19 assists.

   Maine's first goal came 1:01 into the first period on a turnover in the Sacred Heart zone. Leveille stole the puck and turned to find sophomore defenseman Jeff Mushaluk hustling alone toward the net. Mushaluk one-timed the shot past Kevin LaPointe (27 saves) for a 1-0 lead.

   After peppering LaPointe and coming up mostly empty in the first period, the Black Bears did most of their damage in the second. Senior Todd Jackson got things started with his team-leading 11th goal of the season 11 seconds into a power play at 5:13.

   Less than four minutes later, Leveille won a faceoff to LaPointe's right and dropped  the puck to Shields, who scored his 10th goal of the season.

   "We didn't get to the net as much in the first period, but all our shots in the second seemed to be on target and we finished them," Shields said.

   Senior Cameron Lyall scored his first of the season at 10:06, and freshman Keith Johnson added one at 14:00 to give Maine a 5-0 lead after two.

   "In the second period, we really drove the net better and finished our shots," Whitehead said. "You want to play consistently for 60 minutes."

   Junior Dustin Penner, who has scored a goal in four of the last five games, completed the scoring for the Black Bears with a wraparound past LaPointe at 2:21 of the third.

   Penner and Shields each had a goal and an assist, and senior Frank Doyle made 11 saves to record his third shutout of the season.

   Maine returns to Hockey East play next weekend at home with games Friday and Saturday against Massachusetts. The Black Bears played to a 1-1 tie at UMass on Nov. 21, 2003.

   "We're definitely going to use that game as motivation," Doyle said.