Orono, ME – Maine was looking for anything as a way to build momentum and snap out of their five-game funk.

It’s seems that Wednesday night was a good start. Spencer Abbott record four points (2g, 2a) as the Black Bears defeated the USA Under-18 team, 6-4, in exhibition play at Alfond Arena Wednesday night.

“It was important to build the momentum off Friday’s game at UMass,” commented Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “The boys played well, it wasn’t pretty at times, but at times it was.”

Maine was 0-4-1 in their last five games, earning a 2-2 tie in their last game against Massachusetts. For the U-18 team, they were coming fresh off a first place performance in Switzerland at the Five Nations Tournament.

“It was a lot of fun,” Brendan Silk commented about the tournament. “We beat Switzerland in the finals and it was a great experience.”

The game started off slow for the Black Bears, but they managed to score the first two goals, building a 2-0 lead.

Freshman John Parker answered first for Maine with a goal that beat the US starting goaltender Collin Olson.

A few minutes later with a power play goal, Will O’Neill scored, giving his team a two-goal lead, however, the U-18 team struck back with two unanswered goals to tie the game, 2-2, with a goal in the final minute of the first period.

Adam Shemansky scored in the second period to take the 3-2 lead, but it was short lived as Brendon Silk, a Boston College recruit from Wakefield, Mass., scored the game-tying goal midway through the second period as a younger USA squad matched Maine goal for goal.

“I thought we played pretty well as a team,” said Silk after the game. “Maine’s power play is really good. They had a couple really nice goals, so that hinder us.”

After that Maine came out firing as Joey Diamond scored a shorthanded midway into the second period, followed by Spencer Abbott, who gave Maine a two-goal advantage, 5-3.

In the third period Abbott scored again making it a 6-3 game, but the US scored on a goal by Stefan Matteau with 2:31 remaining in the game, reducing Maine’s lead to two goals, 6-4.

All four goaltenders spilt time in the game as Martin Ouellette (5svs/8sh) and Dan Sullivan (13svs/14sh) combined for 18 saves on 22 shots, while Jared Rutledge made 12 saves in the game before making way for Collin Olsen, who backstopped 11 of 14 shots in the loss.

Maine will now travel to Portland for their yearly game at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Saturday. The opponent will be against Clarkson University of the ECAC. The Golden Knights are 7-4-3 (2-3-1 ECAC) on the season, but have been shutout in two of their last three games.