After falling to eventual tournament champion Colorado College on Friday, Maine bounced back to claim second place in the Nye Frontier Classic by beating host Alaska-Anchorage 4-2 Saturday night.
The Black Bears did their damage early, posting three first-period goals in a span of just over seven minutes.
Colin Shields opened the scoring at 7:15 on the power play. Shields, who was named to the all-tournament team, gathered a long rebound off a slap shot and quickly blasted his shot from the right circle past UAA netminder Kevin Reiter.
Less than three minutes later, at 10:10, Chris Heisten, the Black Bears’ captain and Anchorage native, drew the defense by circling the UAA net and then found Troy Barnes, who buried a one-timer low.
At 14:43, Robert Liscak got the final goal of the first period and the eventual game-winner for the Black Bears. Breaking in alone against two defenseman, Liscak flashed his speed and skated around the right defender before giving Reiter a nifty fake and beating him glove side.
In a game that looked to be over early, Alaska-Anchorage refused to go away. The teams played even through the bulk of the second stanza until a trio of UAA freshman spoiled the shutout for Maine goalie Frank Doyle.
Spencer Carberry posted the Seawolves’ first goal when he chipped in a pass from Brent McMann via Justin Johnson at 15:43 as the three broke into the Maine zone together in formation. The teams entered the second intermission 3-1.
UAA made it 3-2 at 6:16 of the third when the freshman trio struck again. The three came into the Maine zone with speed and, after a shot from Johnson that Doyle couldn’t corral, McMann grabbed the rebound and stuffed it in behind Doyle at the left post.
Despite the rally and excellent goaltending down the stretch from Reiter, Maine sealed the win at 18:35 on a goal from Heisten when he beat the UAA defender to the puck off a face off and slid it past Reiter for his second point of the night.
Maine next faces Western Michigan in non-conference play next weekend. The Seawolves have a weekend off before opening WCHA play in two weeks against Minnesota-Duluth.
