ORONO — Devin Shore was in the middle of all the scoring for the Maine men’s hockey team in a 4-2 victory over New Hampshire on Saturday at a soldout Alfond Arena.

The sophomore center scored one goal and assisted on the other three, and it was his relentless hustle that helped the Black Bears stave off their first three-game losing streak of the season. It also helped avenge a 3-2 loss at New Hampshire on Friday.

New Hampshire (14-13-1, 6-6 Hockey East) took advantage of an early Maine penalty to grab the lead on a Brett Pesce slap shot at 4:16 of the first period.

Shore tied the score at 6:28 when he grabbed his own rebound in the slot and fired it past Casey DeSmith.

Maine (12-9-3, 6-4-2) controlled play for much of the second period. Brian Morgan was foiled by DeSmith at point-blank range, and Shore had a deflection carom off the left post. The Black Bears also had an apparent goal disallowed, a decision upheld by a video review, which revealed the puck had been kicked into the net.

And the Wildcats took advantage when Nick Sorkin skated in on Martin Ouellette from the right, putting a wrist shot into his torso that landed behind him and in the net for a 2-1 lead.

But the third period belonged to the Black Bears, and to Shore in particular. He set up an Eric Schurhamer wrist shot to tie the score, then made the play of the game. Shore raced from behind to grab the puck from an unsuspecting Wildcat and flipped it perfectly to Ryan Lomberg, whose one-timer put Maine ahead for the first time on the weekend.

Shore’s hustle also set up a Brian Morgan empty-net goal in the final minute.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.