By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. – On Friday, members of the University of Maine hockey team talked about playing as a team, picking up the slack and that missing one of its top players wouldn’t ultimately change its fortune.

Saturday, the Black Bears put those words into action.

With Derek Damon serving a one-game suspension, the Black Bears dispatched Harvard with a convincing 6-1 victory in front of 5,062 at the Pepsi Arena in the NCAA Division I East Regional.

“Maine hockey has always been about a team effort and doing the little things,” said captain Greg Moore. “Every year, Maine hockey isn’t about one or two people carrying the team. It was a full team effort, and everybody contributed.”

Third-seed Maine advances to today’s regional final against top-seed Michigan State, which beat New Hampshire on Saturday, 1-0.

Maine broke open a 2-1 game with goals from John Hopson and Michel Leveille.

“We were outplayed pretty much from top to bottom,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato. “They deserve a lot of credit. In one of our biggest games of the year, to come up with one of our poorest performances is frustrating, but it doesn’t overshadow that we had a great season.”

Maine’s defense frustrated a Harvard club that had scored 24 goals in its last three games.The Crimson were often bottled up in the neutral zone by the Black Bears.When Harvard managed to create a rush or get a quality bid, freshman Ben Bishop continued his stellar play.

“I thought we played very good team defense,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “Bishop was sharp. Our defense was sharp, and our forwards did a lot too. We really hustled back and made it easier for our goalie and our defense. In the first two periods, to hold them to 13 shots was the difference.”

Donato said Maine’s forecheck took the game out of the Crimson’s control and turned it into a match where the Black Bear forwards were able to grind it out with Harvard’s defense. The six goals were the most Harvard allowed all year.

“That was key for us, controlling the neutral zone” said Maine forward Josh Soares. “I thought we did a really good job of that. They have some really crafty forwards and if we can control them, it gives our defense some time.”

Up 2-1 in the second, Maine took control when Hopson scored moments after a Maine penalty kill. Hopson tucked in a rebound by Harvard goalie John Daigneau. Leveille made it 4-1 with 7:59 left in the period, bursting in alone and tucking in a backhander.

“They got the lead and they made us pay for it,” said Donato. “It was a situation where we weren’t able to play our game, and they played their game and are very good at it.”

Maine opened the scoring at the 8:16 mark of the opening period. Following a face-off win by Leveille, Soares fired a shot from the left point. It found its way through traffic for a 1-0 edge.

Harvard tied the game 1:16 later when Mike Taylor finished off a Nick Coskren pass at the right post. Maine answered right back just 31 seconds later when Bret Tyler skated around behind the net and wristed a shot home from the right post.

“That was huge to regain the momentum after they came back and scored after that first goal,” said Moore.

Maine added an empty-net tally from Moore with 3:36 left and a goal by Brent Shepheard in the final minute.