I just have to start by saying that it was good to see that hard work
does sometimes pay off because Maine definitely earned this victory!
They outplayed UNH in every facet of the game and came away with a very
deserving win at the Whittemore Center yesterday afternoon.
 
First Period
------------
 
I thought Maine came out of the blocks looking great -- they were
skating well, moving the puck and just frustrating the high-powered UNH
offense at every turn.  They got the early power-play goal from
Gustafsson and seemed to be playing with a high level of confidence at
every turn.  Even though, Nolan got the equalizer a few minutes later,
Maine continued to dominate the play.  Wansborough's goal was a biggie
(I don't think many would have thought that would be the GWG at the
time) on an unsuspecting rush.  Shawn carried the puck thru center ice
and just continued on down through the center of the zone and let the
shot go at Matile.  It seemed to catch Matile moving a little slow thru
the crease and it "clink"ed off the post and in!!! (All Right!)
The rest of the period was controlled mostly by Maine with UNH getting a
few good chances - one notable one off the stick of Fillipowicz in tight
off a rebound but Michaud and the Maine D stood tall as they would do
all night.
 
Second Period
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It started out good for Maine as they first had to kill off 1:50 of a
carry over power-play from the 1st.  They did this with relative ease
and seemed to be ready to get back on the offensive.  They were still
skating well but they started to play a little more conservatively -- I
guess because they had the one goal lead.  The big highlight for Maine
here was an absolutely scintillating (and I do mean scintillating!!!)
save by Alfie on a wide open shot at the net (I think by Nolan but I'm
not sure...) on a power play situation.  Alfie somehow managed to knock
the shot out with an unbelievable cat-like reflex and thus preserving
the Maine lead!  This was probably the most boring period after this
power play because Maine just clogged up the neutral zone and continued
the frustration for the UNH forwards.
 
Third Period
------------
 
Maine was in control again until White took a stupid penalty for
slashing right in front of the Maine bench.  This didn't prove to be too
costly but it could have been.  One thing I've learned from seeing UNH
on numerous occasions this year -- don't let them back into a game when
they're down as they have been adept at taking advantage of those kind
opportunities.  It was a pretty see-saw period until Maine's Wansborough
got the gate with about 7 minutes to play.  This was a tough hit on
Enders against the boards and deserved a penalty but it was not a major
penalty as a lot of UNH faithful were hoping for.  Another thing to
mention here, Wansborough and Enders had been going at it all afternoon
so it was not surprising to see it finally erupt...  This is when the
UNH crowd got into the act.  Much like the crowd for the Maine women's
hoop team, the UNH faitful got on their feat and place was a rockin' for
the last few minutes of the game.  However, the one who finally came a
knockin' was the Maine team -- ending up the nice ENG by Steve Kariya
with just under a minute to play.  This sent a lot of people to the
Exits and was a little "icing" on the cake for a well deserved win for
the Black Bears.
 
Notes in general...  The entire Maine team played great "D" all day and
really kept the high-scoring UNH forwards in check.  No other team in
the country has limited UNH to just 17 shots for the entire game.  They
bottled up Krog, Mowers, Bekar and Nolan with a lot of outstanding and
tough efforts.  My hat is certainly off to the Bears!  Go BLUE!!!!
 
Let's hope this is just what Maine needed to get over the hump in the
remaining drive to the playoffs....
 
- Kevin
 
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  Kevin C. Tompkins                  Comverse Network Systems
  phone/vmx = 1-800-866-2678(x8740)  [log in to unmask]
  "Ya do....  what ya gotta do...  so... JUST DO IT!!!!!"