Junior Cedric Lacroix is a hard-nosed center who provides the University of Maine’s hockey team with a physical presence and a valuable checker and penalty killer.
But Lacroix turned into a goal scorer on Saturday night as he enjoyed the first two-goal game of his career to lead the Black Bears to a 5-1 victory over Brown University at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
UMaine improved to 5-7-3 while ECAC member Brown fell to 1-8.
After a scoreless first period, Rob Michel’s 5-on-3 power-play goal snapped an 0-for-26 power-play drought for the Black Bears and gave them a 1-0 lead at the 6:03 mark of the middle period.
Lacroix expanded the lead at 17:45 but Sam Lafferty’s goal with just 30 seconds remaining in the period pulled Brown to within 2-1.
Lacroix restored a two-goal lead at the 7:16 mark during a 4-on-4 as he converted a cross-ice pass from Brendan Robbins, then Cam Brown added a power-play goal just 1:15 later as he flipped home a Chase Pearson feed.
Blaine Byron added an empty-net, shorthanded goal with nine minutes remaining.
“Scoring goals is definitely not my role on the team but if I can contribute offensively, it’s a bonus,” said Lacroix.
Lacroix said the credit for his goals should go to sophomore linemate Robbins.
“The first one was a lucky bounce. I was just screening in front and the puck went in off my stick (off a Robbins shot),” said Lacroix. “The second one came on a 2-on-1. Brendan made a great play. He came down the left wing with a lot of speed, their defenseman cheated over to him and I was open for a tap-in. I didn’t have to do much work on either one.
“I’ve tried to work on my offense because we need all 12 forwards and six defensemen contributing,” added Lacroix, whose goals were his second and third of the season and 12th and 13th of his 91-game career.
His second goal was key because it gave the Black Bears some breathing room and Brown’s goal all but sewed up the win.
“Chase gave me a gift. The goalie came over to him,” said Brown, who was left unattended at the far post.
Brown said the team needed the win and overcame a sluggish start.
“We came out slow the first 10 minutes but we got back to basics, kept things simple and good things started happening,” said Brown, who noted that sophomore goalie Rob McGovern kept them in the game by making several important saves in the early going.
McGovern made 11 of his 28 saves in the first period.
Michel opened the scoring with a drive from the midpoint.
“I walked to the middle of the ice, no one came with me and (Pearson) set a great screen,” said sophomore Michel, who now has three goals in his last five games after going without a goal in his first 44 career games.
UMaine went 2-for-5 on the power play, just the second time this season it has scored more than one power-play goal in a game. The Black Bears held Brown scoreless in six tries with the man advantage, giving them 17 successful penalty kills in the last 18 chances.
Brown’s Tim Ernst stopped 24 of 28 shots and Connor Maher finished up, saving all three shots he faced.
“We got good goaltending, we made plays, we grinded out some goals and we made some plays on other goals,” said UMaine coach Red Gendron. “After a sluggish start, we played much better. Scoring two power-play goals will help the confidence of the players.”
Maine will play a home-and-home Hockey East series with the University of New Hampshire next weekend. Maine and UNH will play Friday at 7 p.m. in Durham, then Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Orono.