The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team opened up the Hockey East portion of their schedule with a 5-3 loss to the University of Massachusetts Minutemen on Friday night.

UMass didn’t wait long to get on the scoreboard. With Maine in the penalty box, Casey Wellman fired a blast by Scott Darling only 1:07 into the game.

At the 7:17 of the period, defenseman Martin Nolet scored his first goal of the season, giving UMass a 2-0 lead.

Maine cut the lead in half, 2-1, when freshman Adam Shemansky – who’s had a strong start to his collegiate career – scored his third goal of the season at 13:33 of the first period.

With 2:35 left into play in the period, UMass made it 3-1 when James Marcou scored, beating Darling.

Freshman goalie Shawn Sirman replaced Scott Darling to start the second period.

At 10:59, the Black Bears pulled to within a goal, 3-2, as Will O’Neil scored his first of the season. Brian Flynn and Gustav Nyquist were credited with assists on the play.

Just 4:12 later, UMass regained their two-goal lead when the Marcou brothers teamed up, beating Sirman as Michael was credited with the goal and James with the assist.

TJ Syner made it 5-2 for UMass when he found the back of the net, beating Sirman with a power play goal at 7:58 of the third period.

With 1:02 left in the game, Maine’s Tanner House notched his first goal of the season on the powerplay with Nyquist and Flynn getting their second assists of the night.

Sirman made 17 saves in relief of Scott Darling, who made seven saves in the first period. Paul Dainton made 26 saves on 29 shots to remain undefeated at 3-0-0.

Maine was 1-for-4 on the powerplay. UMass went 3-for-6 on the night.

NOTES: Adam Shemansky was injured late in the second period, he was taken to a local area hospital as a precaution, but was later released.