By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. – The Maine hockey team needed its best from not only its big name players on Saturday, but also its “no-name” players. The Black Bears managed both.

With one of their top producers out of the lineup because of a suspension, the Black Bears collectively summoned peak performances throughout the lineup against Harvard.

Maine’s top line of Greg Moore, Michel Leveille and Josh Soares combined for three goals and two assists while John Hopson, Bret Tyler and Brent Shepheard also chipped in goals. The Black Bears also got a stellar performance in net from freshman netminder Brad Bishop and the defense in front of him.

“Any big game, you need your best players to be your best players and they were – Leveille, Moore, Soares, Bishop in the net, (Mike) Lundin, (Travis) Wight and Tyler,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “Then you can round that out — defensive players were great, (Steve) Mullin, (Travis) Ramsay and (Matt) Duffy had a good night. You can go right down the line. I can’t think of a guy that had a bad night.”

With Derek Damon serving a one-game suspension for violating team rules, the Black Bears each took it upon themselves to fill the void.

“Derek is a premier player and everybody had to step up a little bit,” said Soares. “We didn’t want Derek sitting out his last game. We want him playing. Everybody had to step up their game, and it was a great game for us.”

It was the first goal in six games for Leveille while it was Hopson’s second in the last six. Tyler netted his first in five games while it was the first goal for Shepheard in 10 games. In Maine’s last seven single-elimination tournaments games, the Black Bears had managed just seven goals before scoring six against the Crimson.

“Obviously it’s not a good thing to lose someone as productive as Derek Damon,” said Moore, “but guys knew they had to step up. We had one less guy out there. I think everyone responded really well and got the job done.”

Mike Hamilton moved to center to fill the gap left by Damon on the second line. Billy Ryan and Keith Johnson played on his wings.Freshman Chris Hahn took a wing spot on the third line with Keenan and John Hopson. Hahn and Keenan Hopson assisted John Hopson’s critical goal that turned a 2-1 lead into a 3-1 advantage in the second period.

“We juggled two of the lines and put Mike at center because he’s a veteran,” said Whitehead. “He did a very good job defensively, as I knew he would. I think Chris was a spark on that line.”

Now the Black Bears add Damon to the lineup today against Michigan State, giving an already surging team an extra spark. Maine has now won 11 of its last 12 games.

“That will give us a good boost, especially on our power play and to get a veteran centerman back,” said Whitehead. “He’s just been a tremendous player for us for four seasons.”