Cedric Lacroix had a pair of goals, and Rob McGovern made 28 saves Saturday night, as the Maine Black Bears defeated Brown University 5-1 in non-conference hockey action before 3,499 fans at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
After a scoreless opening period, Rob Michel opened the scoring with his first goal of the year on the powerplay at 6:03 of the second to make it 1-0 Maine. Lacroix got his first of the night at 17:45 to make it 2-0, but Sam Lafferty got Brown on the board at 19:30 to cut it to 2-1 after two.
Lacroix got his second of the night at 7:16 of the third, followed by a powerplay goal 1:15 later by Cam Brown to make it 4-1. Brown would pull their goalie with 10 minutes left to play and with a powerplay, they would have a six on four advantage. But that would backfire as Blaine Byron scored a minute later shorthanded into the empty net to put the game away.
Along with Lacroix, three other Black Bears had two point nights. Brown and Michel also had an assist each to go along with their goals, and Brendan Robbins had two assists.
Senior goalie Tim Ernst took the loss in net for Brown, making 24 saves on 28 shots. Connor Maher came in for the final nine minutes and made three saves.
Maine improves to 5-7-3 on the season, winning for just the second time in their last 12 games. Brown slips to 1-8-0 on the year.
Maine returns to action next Friday and Saturday as they get back into Hockey East play with a home and home series with New Hampshire. Fridays game will be in Durham at 7 p.m., and Saturdays game in Orono at 7:30 p.m. Brown will travel to Army next Saturday for a 7 p.m. contest.
BRO 0 1 0- 1
UME 0 2 3- 5
Shots on goal- Brown 29 Maine 32
Win- McGovern Loss- Ernst
Powerplay- Brown 0-5 Maine 2-5
