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Despite juggling lines and goalies, the Black Bears lose to UNH and fall to 1-5 overall.

By RACHEL LENZI, Staff Writer October 25, 2009

DURHAM, N.H. — Third-period persistency wasn't enough for the University of Maine men's hockey team.

A lineup shuffle wasn't enough, either. Neither was the return of junior captain Tanner House, nor a new goalie in Shawn Sirman, who made his first start with the Black Bears.

Saturday in a 5-2 Hockey East loss at New Hampshire, little seemed to help the Black Bears despite an offensive push in the final 20 minutes.

"We had nothing to lose in the third," said House, who missed the first four games of the season with a knee injury. "We were down 4-1 and had to come out, stay out of the (penalty) box and start getting more pucks on the net. And I think we did that."

Maine put 11 shots on UNH goalie Brian Foster in the third period to cut a three-goal lead to two on Will O'Neill's power-play goal with 8:56 remaining, but in the second period Maine took three penalties and UNH outshot Maine 15-5, as Steve Moses scored a pair of goals for the Wildcats.

"Certainly, killing off penalties, we're not going to generate offense," Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. "We weren't able to handle the excitement of the moment and we took some penalties, and we're not going to generate offense that way."

Maine forward Adam Shemansky agreed.

"We lost discipline and took some penalties," said Shemansky, who played Saturday after being taken off the ice on a stretcher in Friday's 5-3 loss at Massachusetts. "We allowed them to get second and third opportunities."

Defensively, the Black Bears lapsed in front of Sirman, who made 18 saves before being relieved by Scott Darling, who had three saves in the third period.

"We're not feeling very good," Whitehead said. "We're not off to a good start coming off a couple of bad seasons, and we've got to solidify our goalkeeping situation and play better defense in front of those goalies. That goes hand in hand: team defense and goalkeeping."

Entering the game, the Black Bears (1-5, 0-2 Hockey East) juggled their four lines, reuniting House with Brian Flynn and Gustav Nyquist on the top line while moving Robby Dee to a line with Kevin Swallow and Joey Diamond. David de Kastrozza, who missed Friday's game with the flu, centered a line with Kyle Solomon and Brett Carriere, and Shemansky, Matt Mangene and Spencer Abbott formed Maine's final line.

But all the shuffling resulted in two goals -- House's score that gave Maine a 1-0 lead at 9:23 of the first and O'Neill's power-play goal at 11:04 of the third, which cut UNH's lead to 4-2.

UNH's third line of Moses, Mike Borisenok and Paul Thompson combined for three goals and four assists in the second period. UNH forward Greg Manz tied the game 17 seconds after Maine took a 1-0 lead on House's goal, and Moses and Borisenok combined for three goals in the second to give UNH (2-2-1, 2-0) a 4-1 lead.

"They put the puck in the net," UNH Coach Dick Umile said. "That line has played well for us. Moses came out and scored a good couple of goals for us."

However, Umile wasn't pleased with his team's third-period performance, as the Wildcats took four penalties and were outshot 11-4 in the final 20 minutes before Blake Kessel scored an empty-net goal.

"We played a good two periods and we talked about going out there and playing a solid third period, which we didn't do," Umile said. "We kind of played on our heels in the third period.

"We took control of the game after two periods and felt good about it, but we got sloppy in the third."

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:

rlenzi@pressherald.com