Game Statistics

BOSTON, MA-Colin Shields scored his second collegiate hat trick and the University of Maine converted on three shorthanded goals as the Black Bears skated to an 8-4 win over host Boston University in Hockey East action on Friday night, January 23rd.

Maine, which entered the game ranked third in the nation, improved its overall record to 17-5-1 and 9-3-1 in the league, while the Terriers slipped to 6-9-6 overall and 3-8-2 in the league.

Shields, who also chipped in with a pair of assists, scored two of the Black Bears' shorthanded goals, while Michel Leveille, who was credited with three assists, scored his team's third shorthanded goal.

Maine opened the game with a pair of shorthanded goals, the first by Leveille (7:10) and the second by Shields (7:42), to take a 2-0 lead at 7:42 of the first period. Both shorthanded goals came on the same Boston University power play.

The Terriers cut the lead to 2-1 on a goal by David Van der Gulik (11:31), but the Black Bears countered with a goal by Greg Moore (12:47). Before the first period was over, however, the Terriers came back with a goal by David Klema (18:3 1) to trail by only a 3-2 margin at the first intermission.

Shields then scored two unanswered goals within a span of 1:40 of the second period to finish off his hat trick and give the Black Bears a 5-2 lead. B.U. battled back with a goal by Bryan Miller (15:25) to cut the deficit to 5-3 after two periods.

Three third-period goals by the Black Bears-one each by Jon Jankus (0:43), Luciano Aquino (8:59), and Dustin Penner (14:59) put the game out of reach, as the Terriers could score just a single goal by Brad Zancanaro (3:45).

Each team had 35 shots on goal. For Maine, Frank Doyle earned the win with 31 saves, while Sean Fields was charged with the loss in the Terrier net, as he had 27 saves.

"We gave up some pretty bizarre goals tonight," said an obviously dejected Terrier head coach Jack Parker.

"Every time we gave ourselves a chance to come back, we took ourselves out of it with some unbelievable mistakes," said the coach. "We made the score 2-1 in the first period, and after that it was pathetic. We had two or three players make critical mistakes.

"I did like the way we continued to fight to come back," Parker offered. "But, then we made some real dumb mistakes. We need to be more thorough and more determined. We are too casual in our defensive end and it is killing us."

"Certainly, the two shorthanded goals gave us momentum," said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. "This was pretty crazy tonight. There was a lot of action out there. I am just pleased to get two points tonight because they are tough to come by here (at Brown Arena).

"I am expecting a hard-fought game tomorrow night. It will be 0-0 and not 8-4 when tomorrow night's game starts. It will be a brand new game."

Terrier coach Parker is certainly happy that will be the case.