Box Score posted to INFO-HOCKEY-L
 
The Maine Black Bears, led by freshman Tuomo Jaaskelainen, rolled over the
Riverhawks of Lowell with a 7-3 victory last night in Lowell. Jaaskelainen had
three goals and an assist while teammates David Cullen  and Shawn Wansborough
each added three assists. Maine goalie Alfie Michaud turned away 31 of Lowell s
34 shots, backstopping the Black Bears and closing out a 3 game Maine losing
streak. The victory vaulted Maine over Lowell and into a tie with Providence for
fifth place in HockeyEast, although the Friars have two games in hand. Maine is
now one game over .500 with an 8-7-1 overall record and 5-5 in HockeyEast.
 
Lowell s loss was their fifth in a row and leaves them 1-6-1 in their last
eight, 1-4-1 in their last 6 HockeyEast games. For the third straight game, they
played without senior captain defenseman Mike Nicholishen and his presence has
been sorely missed. Met with inconsistent goal-tending, the Riverhawk defense
has needed to be exceptionally strong against the likes of UNH and Maine. Lowell
hopes to stop this skid with a return match against the Black Bears tonight,
once again without Nicholishen. Maine also will likely be without freshman
Matthias Trattnig due to an injury.
 
The first shift saw a huge hit by Lowell freshman Kyle Kidney on Maine
defenseman Robert Ek. It also saw a Maine breakaway by Steve Kariya which Lowell
goalie Martin Fillion made a pad save on. It was apparent early on that Maine
was going to get some fast odd-man breaks. It didn t take long for them to net
their first goal.  Dan Kerluke brought the puck about 6 feet inside the Lowell
blue line and let go a slapper. Fillion was caught deep in his net and leaned to
his right to make the glove save on a shot headed for his shoulder. He only got
a little of it however and it deflected high into the Lowell net.
 
A couple of early Lowell power-plays kept Maine at bay somewhat. They did get a
three-on-two break where the leading Maine forward took Lowell defenseman
Cappelletti back into the crease and the trailing Maine attacker received a pass
and buried a shot into the pile of bodies out front. The second of the two
power-plays came on a play in the Maine end where a Lowell player fell onto
Matthias Trattnig s leg, bending it sideways at the knee. Trattnig was barely
able to make it off the ice. On the play, Maine s Ek was called for holding at
6:49. Lowell kept the play inside the Maine end and on a faceoff, Brad Rooney
won the draw back to Shannon Basaraba, who then fed Rooney in the corner. Rooney
found Greg Koehler all alone in front and Maine goalie Alfie Michaud made the
first stop. But, Koehler roofed the rebound which tied the game at 7:16.
 
Maine wasn t going to let Lowell enjoy a tie much longer as Tuomo Jaaskelainen
led a two-on-one break. The Black Bear forward brought the puck in deep and made
use of a lot of net that Fillion showed him. He beat him just below Fillion s
stickhand for a 2-1 Black Bear lead.
 
Lowell coach Tim Whitehead pulled the senior Fillion in favor of junior Scott
Fankhouser at 9:44. It wouldn t take long for the Black Bears to get one by
Fankhouser either. On a three-on-two break, defenseman David Cullen lofted a
pass through the slot and senior forward Scott Parmentier picked it out of the
air and buried the puck in the empty net before Fankhouser could get over.
 
The fourth Maine goal of the first period came on a play where the Black Bears
crashed the net. Fankhouser made several quick saves but couldn t tie up the
puck and it slid toward the crease. A Lowell player grabbed the puck and cleared
it into the corner but the referee Mike Noeth called it a goal and Maine had a
4-1 lead. Jaaskelainen was credited with his second goal of the game. The goal
judge, who arrived late and delayed the start of the game, didn t signal a goal
and it appeared that the puck never crossed the line.
 
The period was to end with no further scoring and Maine enjoying an 11-9 shot
advantage.
 
The second period was Lowell s. The crisp Maine passing that marked the first
period was now an indication of Lowell s play. Also, the Lowell forecheck was
getting to Maine, especially in the Black Bear end.  Lowell forwards were
getting free of their defenders and the Riverhawks were enjoying extended
pressure in the offensive zone. However, Lowell s opportunities were not
generating goals. Maine s Michaud was coming up with save after save. Maine was
also getting a few of their own fast-break opportunities which Fankhouser was
stopping without too much flair. The key was that Lowell s defense wasn t
allowing the second shot and kept Maine s forwards tied up long off to create a
Lowell break-out in short time.
 
The strongest Lowell attack came during their third power-play. With Maine s Ben
Guite off for holding at 11:03, Lowell applied heavy pressure but couldn t get
the puck past Michaud. On one shot from the point, forward Chris Bell put a
tipped the puck which just missed the right post. Several close chances added to
Lowell s frustration. A tired Michaud was granted permission to make a bench
visit after the power-play was up. It appeared he might have lost an edge on his
skate due to the net being off the posts during one of the scrambles by Lowell.
 
Libett got called for hitting from behind while trying to keep the puck in the
Maine zone and the Black Bears got their first power-play at 14:01. Maine
generated a lot of pressure, getting several of their ten shots for the period
during this power-play. Once again, Fankhouser was able to stop all threats and
Lowell s defense was able to limit shots off rebounds. Fankhouser looked
fortunate at times, as several pucks broke off his equipment and flew harmlessly
wide of the net. At one point, a replay of Maine s fourth goal happened again
and this time Noeth ruled it was no goal. The goal judge had signaled a goal and
once again the uselessness of the goal judge s decision comes to the surface.
The goal would have indeed been a heartbreaker for the hustling Riverhawks.
 
Lowell finally got a reward for their hard work. During a typical play where
Maine stood the Lowell attack up on the blueline, Riverhawk forward Bell
gathered a loose puck just inside the line and walked in. His first shot was
saved by Michaud and Lowell forward Mike Mulligan put a shot back on net from a
bad angle. Bell was there to grab a loose rebound and put it home for his 7th
goal of the year, cutting Maine s lead to 4-2 at the 19:06 mark. Lowell had
outshot Maine 14-10 in the period.
 
Maine was to blow the game open in the early stages of the third period. Eleven
seconds into their second power-play, Jaaskelainen was to complete his hat trick
with a quick break up the middle. He walked inside of Lowell defenseman Kevin
Bertram and buried a high wrist shot past Fankhouser for a 5-2 Maine lead at
1:55. Maine made it 6-2 at 7:25 as Shawn Wansborough led the Black Bear rush. He
pulled up short and made a nice centering pass to a teammate. The resulting shot
was saved but junior Bobby Stewart slid the puck to the right of Fankhouser for
the score.
 
Maine s final goal came on a three-on-one against forward-turned-defenseman Doug
Nolan, who was caught without a stick. Fankhouser made two quick saves before
Cory Larose put home a rebound just after Lowell help had arrived.
 
Lowell forward Chris Bell was able to create a short-handed bid when he rushed
down the left side. He went wide and then cut to the middle ... and cut back
again. The move left him in tight on Michaud but with the puck in his skates and
he wasn t able to get a shot off. Michaud came out to jump on the puck and
Lowell sophomore forward Craig Brown grabbed it first and put it in the vacated
net. It was Brown s first goal of the year.
 
The shorthanded goal came during a span in which Maine enjoyed a man advantage
for most of the last 6 minutes of the game, during which Maine also had a
two-man advantage for 0:12 seconds. The three Maine power-plays would leave them
1-for-6 on the night. Lowell was 1-for-6 also with a short-handed goal.. That
left Maine with a 6-1 advantage during even man situations, nearly a complete
reversal of the 6-2 October Maine victory in Maine, where Lowell was victimized
by Maine s power-play all night.
 
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