Weekend Recap: Bears, Pirates, Maineiacs all win

It was a good weekend for local hockey, as all three teams won.

For the Pirates, who went on the road to Norfolk, Derek Whitmore scored the shootout game winner for the second time this season and David Leggio turned aside four of the five shots he faced to lift the Portland Pirates to a 6-5 win over the Norfolk Admirals on Friday night. The Pirates improved to 7-2 on the year and dropped Norfolk to 5-2-0-1. They have two games in Charlotte Tuesday and Wednesday night.

On Saturday, Luke Adam was recalled to Buffalo and had a shot on goal in the Sabres 4-0 loss to the Stars.

With the Maineiacs, they picked up a 5-4 comeback win in Drummondville. In front of 2,790 fans, Nicholas Champion stopped 30 shots, and the Maineiacs scored 3 goals in the first 4 minutes and 55 seconds of the 3rd period, as Michael Chaput, Francis Beauvillier, and Jess Tanguay got the tallies in the third, and it turned out to be enough for the win. With the win (hat tip to DJ Abisalih on this), The MAINEiacs picked up a total of 18 points in October. That ties the mark for the second highest point total in a month in franchise history. 9 wins are also tied for the second most in a month in franchise history.

The MAINEiacs return home this week to begin a five-game homestand on Wednesday night at 7:00 against the Quebec Remparts.

The Maine Black Bears knocked off Vermont, using a 49-22 face-off advantage to beat the Catamounts 3-2 in overtime. The final two goals came directly off of faceoff wins, including the one in overtime when Gustav Nyquist won the draw, sent it to Josh Van Dyk who dumped off the boards, where the puck went to Spencer Abbott, who scored the game-winner. Maine also had a 42-25 advantage in shots on goal.Dan Sullivan had 23 saves.

The Black Bears are back in action Saturday at Boston University.

MAINEiacs lose 5-4 to Huskies in shootout

There was good news and bad news for the Lewiston MAINEiacs on Wednesday night, as the team opened a four-game road trip against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. The good news was that the MAINEiacs were able to pick up a point. The bad news was that the Huskies picked up two, defeating Lewiston 5-4 in a shootout.

It took more than five minutes for the first shot on goal to be recorded, but the Huskies made that shot count. Jessyko Bernard scored on a shorthanded breakaway to put his team ahead. Rouyn-Noranda finished killing off Maxim Kazakov's penalty, but Jerome Raymond picked up a penalty moments later. This time, it was Lewiston scoring with the special teams, as Sam Henley deflected Dillon Fournier's shot in for the equalizer. Jason Kelly put the Huskies back on top at the 13:30 mark, as the home team took a 2-1 lead into the intermission.

The MAINEiacs came out with a strong start in the second period, scoring three straight goals. Christophe Lalonde tied the game at two on his first QMJHL goal, finishing off a feed from Alex Zafiris. Four minutes

Lewiston MAINEiacs open season with win!

Prior to the start of the season, it looked like offense would be one of the strengths for the 2010-11 Lewiston MAINEiacs. Most of the 1,891 in attendance on Friday night would agree, as the MAINEiacs lit the lamp eight times in an 8-3 win over the Rimouski Oceanic.

The MAINEiacs couldn't have asked for a better start to the 2010-11 season, finding the back of the net four times in the opening period. Etienne Brodeur opened the scoring at the 26-second mark, before netting his second of the game 1:26 later. Ryan Kavanagh cut the lead in half at 4:27, but the home team wasn't done yet. Cameron Critchlow lit the lamp twice in the first period, once at the 9:20 mark, and then again at 15:19.

After a scoreless second period, the offenses came alive once again in the third. Jess Tanguy's first goal of the season was sandwiched around a pair of tallies by Rimouski's Michael Beaudry. However, the MAINEiacs weren't done yet, as Stefan Fournier, Cameron Critchlow, and Cole Hawes put the finishing touches on an 8-3 win. With his third period goal, Critchlow completed his first career hat trick.

"We did a great job of forcing turnovers and finishing off plays in the offensive zone," said MAINEiacs' head coach Jean-Francois Houle.

Nicholas Champion got the win in goal for the MAINEiacs, stopping 22 of the 25 shots he faced. Philippe Tremblay suffered the loss for the Oceanic, allowing eight goals on 35 shots.

The MAINEiacs and Oceanic will finish their weekend series on Saturday night at 7:00.

Lewiston MAINEiacs HC JF Houle on Weekend Warm Up

MAINEiacs Head Coach JF Houle joined the Jeff and Matty on The Weekend Warm Up Presented by Mr Sparky America's On Time Electrician