Brett Carriere scored the go-ahead goal at 9:43 of the first period and Dave Wilson made 19 saves to help the University of Maine hockey team defeat Merrimack 2-1 Friday at Alfond Arena.

Will O'Neill also scored for Maine (7-3, 4-2 Hockey East), which killed off a five-minute penalty to Jeff Dimmen and won its sixth straight. The series resumes at 7 p.m. Saturday.

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It seemed like an uneventful second period until Jeff Dimmen's hit on John Jamieson with under three minutes left in the period. Dimmen was assessed a five-minute penalty for a hit from behind and a game misconduct with 2:07 left in the period, Dimmen's second penalty of the period.

So far this season, Maine Coach Tim Whitehead has been a stickler for discipline. He suspended captain Jeff Marshall for a game this season for a hit to the head of University of New Brunswick's Kyle Bailey, and Whitehead benched Darling tonight for a violation of team policy after the freshman missed a team workout earlier in the week. It will be interesting to see if any further action is taken against Dimmen.

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Wilson made his first start since Oct. 31, a 4-2 win over Niagara at Alfond Arena. After saves on Chris Barton with 36 seconds left in the game and on Carter Madsen with eight seconds left, the student section at the Alfond started chanting the junior goalie's name. That probably was welcoming for Wilson, who gave up a goal 44 seconds into the game.

Tonight's three stars:
1. Brett Carriere, Maine
2. Will O'Neill, Maine
3. Andrew Braithwaite, Merrimack

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