Maine 5, Mass Lowell 4 (OT) UML 4 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 4 Maine 1 - 1 - 2 - 1 -- 5 ORONO, Maine -- Cory Larose scored with 1:00 left in overtime to lift the UMaine Black Bears to a 5-4, come from behind victory, over the visiting Riverhawks. PREGAME: Jason Mansoff, Scott Parmentier, and Jason Vitorino all returned to the lineup tonight. Maine did not play Reg Cardinal because of the flu, and Nils Satterstrom is still nursing an injury. Tonight marked the first of three straight games Maine will play against UML (Friday, Saturday and next Friday first-round of Governor's Cup) FIRST PERIOD: The first period of Friday night's game started right where the series at New Hampshire left off. Maine came out flat, did not play the body well, and generally played very sloppy. Anthony Cappelletti got the Riverhawks on the board first with a power play goal at 4:22. Doug Nolan broke up the play at his own blue line, and got the puck to Greg Koehler. Koehler caught the Maine defense up ice and came in 2-on-1 with Cappelletti. It looked like once again Maine would suffer from odd man rushes that Alfie Michaud would not be able to contain. Many I'm sure were hoping that Alfie Michaud might make an incredible save or two to start the game and show he hasn't lost his confidence, or at least work on it. It didn't happen, and it would get plenty worse before it would get better. Minutes after the first UML goal, Ben Guite would be whistled for a five-minute major for hitting from behind. There is also a game misconduct with that, so Guite was gone for the game. Maine was down Cardinal to begin with, now Guite. UML would make Guite, and his teammates pay dearly for the penalty. They'd score twice on the advantage to push their lead to 3-0 by just over the halfway mark of the period. Ryan Sandholm was the first to score. After Maine failed to clear the zone, UML had a 3-on-1 down low. Mike Nicholishen flipped a sweet pass to Sandholm who had an empty net to shoot at. That made it 2-0 Lowell at the 8:31 mark. Just under three minutes later Lowell would get the next goal. This time it was Cappelletti with the good pass to Koehler at the post who just redirected the puck into the open side of the net. This goal was clearly attributed to the defense. Koehler was all alone at the post, and Cappelletti sold the play by making it look like a shot freezing Michaud. 3-0 Lowell, and the period is just past half over. But Maine would get back into the game just three minutes later. Steve Kariya hit Scott Parmentier in stride coming down the right side and Parmentier skated to the bottom of the faceoff circle before using that terrific wrist shot of his to beat UML goaltender Martin Fillion at 14:35. Only trailing 3-1 after everything that happened would have been acceptable, but Lowell did not give up. Shawn Wansborough attempted a shot just inside the blue line with seconds left in the third -- apparently to just put something on net -- but it was broken up by Chris Bell who went in 2-on-1 with Sean Storozuk. Storozuk converted with only five seconds remaining in the first period, and a 4-1 Lowell lead. Once again, it was a poor period all around for Maine. Like the previous two games, Maine gave up too many odd man rushes, and when they did, Michaud couldn't seem to make the big save. In retrospect, Michaud had a limited chance on any of the four goals. UML had only 8 shots in the period, while Maine had 11. It was a fairly even period, but UML got their most success by using an aggressive forcheck. Maine seemed very unsure of themselves in their own zone, and the Riverhawks exploited that by sending two and sometimes three forecheckers in deep and Maine was coughing up the puck. When Maine was able to get out of their own zone, they had great success generating some chances. Eleven shots considering the time spent shorthanded that period is pretty good. Fillion made a couple dandy saves for UML to keep the three goal advantage. SECOND PERIOD: I honestly thought we might see Javier Gorriti to start the second. Michaud wasn't to blame per se, but four goals on eight shots isn't very good. Michaud did start the period, and he would play well for the remainder of the game. After allowing the four goals in the first, he would stop everything else that came his way. In the past two games, Maine has had a "bad" period that has essentially been the difference. Last Friday it was a 5 goal second period by UNH, the next night it was a four goal first period. Tonight was the same thing, but in none of those games did Maine come out in the following period and play as well as they did in the second tonight. Maine would dominate the Riverhawks for the entire second period, outshooting them 15-5, but only scoring once. Their defense tightened, the passing improved, the confidence level seemed to rise and Maine got back into the game. Martin Fillion had a great period for Lowell. He saw some quality chances and turned them aside, but it was a mad scramble for one of his few rebounds that period that gave Maine its second goal. Shawn Mansoff, who played both forward and defense tonight, slammed home a loose puck at 12:16 of the second to bring Maine within two at 4-2. It appeared as though Maine was just going to be unlucky tonight. They dominated the period, but only scored once, and to top it off defenseman Jeff Libby suffered an injury during the period and did not return. He will not play Saturday either. THIRD PERIOD: Maine entered the third period, down by two goals and three players. With Cardinal out with the flu, Guite ejected, and Libby injured Maine had their work cut out for them. It would take only 21 seconds for Maine's stellar new line combination of Steve Kariya, Scott Parmentier and Shawn Wansbourgh to erase the Riverhawk lead. At the 8:36 mark of the third Scott Parmentier collected a rebound in the slot and let a quick turn-around shot go, beating Fillion and bringing Maine within one goal at 4-3. On the ensuing rush up ice, Shawn Wansbourgh came into the Maine zone alone with two UML defenders, but he dropped a pass to Steve Kariya who was trailing the play, and Kariya scored at 8:57 -- 21 seconds after the Parmentier goal -- and the score was tied at 4-4. Fillion made the best save I have seen this year in the third period. Shawn Wansborough had a centering pass all alone in the slot and Fillion just plain robbed him. It was a great save that brought some cheers from the Maine faithful. Much like the second, Maine dominated this period as well. UML generated more shots (7) than in the second, and Maine took less (13), but the play was totally in Maine's favor. You could see the players growing more confident with each time they broke through the UML forecheck, and once they tied the score. Maine's passing was improved in the third as well. Alfie Michaud also stood up in the third period. He made several key saves late in the game, including one with roughly a minute to go to preserve the tie. OVERTIME: There were relatively few chances in overtime for either side, though Maine controlled the play. Lowell had only one shot in the four minutes of overtime that were played. An unusual line combination of Jason Vitorino, Cory Larose and Trevor Roenick produced two goals tonight, but they produced the biggest goal scored this season. Trevor Roenick took the puck away from Ryan Sandholm deep in the UML zone and centered a pass to freshman Cory Larose who was alone in the slot. Larose didn't miss a beat in getting the shot away, and it ended up in the back of the net for the win. Hard work setup this goal, and many have questioned where Trevor Roenick has been this year. He certainly stepped up along with the rest of his teammates tonight. POSTGAME: I've been talking on and off the list all week that this one game would tell us more about Maine than any other. Maine's back was against the wall, last in Hockey East, a three-game losing streak, and questions up and down the bench. How easy would it have been to pack it in trailing 4-1 after one. This team showed character and it showed heart tonight. They put the first period behind them, and they rallied for a stunning overtime victory. This game is surely a needed confidence boost for a hurting team. This game alone won't do much, but it is certainly something to build on. Part of sweeping a team is winning on Friday night, Maine can now focus on Saturday and another chance to move up in the standings. There was no question who the best team was tonight. Maine outplayed UML for all of this game, with the exception of the shorthand. UML's power play far outmatched the Maine penalty killers. This will be an important area of focus in meetings tomorrow morning I'm sure. Maine outshot UML 42-21 (31-13 in the final 44 minutes). Martin Fillion held onto the lead, but as Maine turned up the heat he did begin to give up more rebounds, and Maine went to the net well, getting many quality chances. Unlike Northeastern and UNH, the Lowell defensemen do not do a good job clearing rebounds and tying up forwards. The Kariya-Parmentier-Wansborough line was absolutely incredible tonight. They all registered at least two points tonight (Kariya, 1-2--3, Parmentier 2-0--2, Wansborough 0-2--2) and they were dominating. They logged a lot of ice time late in the game, and they played well. UML was able to cause problems with their forecheck. Maine was the better team tonight, and to win Saturday they will need to come out and take the lead and try to force UML out of their deep forecheck and get into a more wide open game. Maine was much faster than the Riverhawks, and they'll want to exploit that Saturday night. Overall, a great effort for Maine tonight and a needed "W". We've now seen how the Bears deal with adversity, let's see how they deal with a moderate amount of success. --- Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])