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. HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.