ORONO — A single moment 8 minutes into a hockey game shouldn’t be decisive.

But it was for Maine on Friday.

Black Bears freshman Mark Hamilton was whistled for a boarding penalty, and No. 6 Massachusetts-Lowell took advantage. Twice.

Adam Chapie scored on a deflected shot while the River Hawks had a six-on-five advantage before Maine could get a stick on the puck, then knocked in a backdoor shot on the ensuing power play. That was all his team needed to subdue the Black Bears 2-0 before an announced crowd of 3,820 at Alfond Arena.

It was the first time Maine (7-15-1, 2-7 Hockey East) had been shut out since its home opener on Oct. 17, a 3-0 loss to Union College.

“Well, they called it, so it must have been a penalty,” Hamilton said. “They took advantage and scored after they pulled their goalie. It kind of stinks because then they still have a power play after it. It’s definitely unfortunate.”

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Maine Coach Red Gendron didn’t fault Hamilton for the penalty, but rather his teammates for surrendering the goals. He was upset with the Black Bears’ lack of energy in the first period.

“The other team came in here and they really wanted it and we weren’t ready for that,” Gendron said, sarcastically mentioning that his team may have let last Saturday’s 3-0 win at UMass go to its head. “Maybe (the River Hawks) didn’t get the memo about how good we were.”

UMass-Lowell (15-4-3, 8-1-2) hasn’t lost a game it has led after one period. And the River Hawks showed why, stifling Maine for 50 minutes after grabbing that two-goal lead. They are now 11-0-2 when holding an advantage after 20 minutes.

“I think we had really good bench energy all game. I think that helps a lot with the lead,” Chapie said.

“We want to play hard, we want to play fast, and I think that’s what we did.”

Chapie’s first goal came when he deflected a Michael Fallon shot past Maine goaltender Matt Morris.

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His second came when he took a pass from Ryan McGrath on a two-on-one and buried it from the right of the crease.

Morris made 40 saves to keep the game close, but the Black Bears mustered only 24 shots all game and never really tested River Hawks goaltender Kevin Boyle.

“I guess a lucky bounce for them. That’s how our season has been so far,” Morris said of the initial goal.

“There’s always something I can do better. Especially after that first goal, you want to make that next save and that was the next shot I faced. It was a tough break.”

The Black Bears’ 12 forwards generated only 14 shots. Center Devin Shore had four of those, but questioned his team’s effort.

“I don’t think we got to the net well enough. I don’t think we were hungry enough against a good defensive team like that,” he said.

Gendron, whose team next hosts Boston College on Sunday, took that one step further.

“The other team was better than us basically for 60 minutes,” he said.

“You’ve got to have the courage to get in there and win battles for those pucks. You’ve got to want it bad. You have to be willing to pay a price to score goals … and we weren’t willing to pay a high enough price to score.”


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