Chase Pearson scored a pair of goals and Jeremy Swayman stopped 16 of 17 shots Friday night, as the University of Maine opened their mens hockey regular season with a 3-1 victory over St Lawrence at Alfond Arena in front of 3,648 fans.
All the scoring on the night occured in the second period. Pearson got it started on an assist from Ryan Smith shorthanded at 8:28 to make it 1-0 Bears. Just 2:18 later, Smith recorded his second point of the night with a goal to extend the lead to 2-0. The visiting Saints, out of the ECAC, got their lone tally at 12:54 on a Phillip Alftberg powerplay marker to cut the lead to 2-1. Pearson got the insurance goal on the powerplay 3:39 later, on assists from freshman Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup and Alexis Binner.
Maine (1-0) went 1-7 on the powerplay, while St Lawrence was 1-8. Arthur Brey made 34 saves in the loss for St Lawrence (0-1), as the Saints were outshot 37-17 in the game.
The two teams finish up the two game non-conference series Saturday night, with faceoff scheduled for 7 pm.
