The University of Maine Black Bears returned to their winning ways with a solid 5-2 win over the University of New Hampshire Wildcats at Alfond Arena on the UMaine campus. Mike Latendresse led the way for the Black Bears with one goal and two assists. Dan Shermerhorn chipped in with a goal and an assist also. After the game Maine head coach Shawn Walsh told reporters the Wildcats, ranked as high as fourth in the nation, shouldn't be belittled for being outscored in the series by a 2-1 margin. He said Maine just happened to catch the Wildcats on a downswing. He likened this weekend's series for UNH to being like Maine's series against Northeastern last weekend - frustrating. Walsh said he believes UNH is a strong contender to win the Hockey East championship. A noticeably relaxed Walsh then talked about the impending for- feitures for using ineligible player Jeff Tory. "Coaches aren't supposed to lose games," he said. "It was my fault, and I've told the players that. I've apologized." "If you're going to have a bad streak, have it in January and February," Walsh said he told his players, "because March is not the time to have one." BLACK BEARS 5, WILDCATS 2 New Hampshire 0 2 0 - 2 Maine 1 3 1 - 5 FIRST PERIOD - 1. Maine, Tardif (Latendresse, Shermerhorn), 3:31 SECOND PERIOD - 2. Maine, Pineau, 2:50; 3. Maine, Latendresse, 3:12; 4. UNH, Flinton (?); 5. Maine, Shermerhorn (Latendresse), 14:28; 6. UNH, Stewart (Nolan, ?) THIRD PERIOD - 7. Maine, Ingraham (?), 1:39 Sorry for the incomplete box :-( Ryan Robbins Stodder Hall University of Maine [log in to unmask]