NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The good feelings lasted a short time for the University of Maine hockey team.

Then the bad vibes began, the start of a downward slide for the Black Bears in a 7-1 loss to Merrimack on Saturday at Lawler Arena.

With less than eight minutes left in the first period, a pass deflected off the stick of Maine defenseman Jeff Dimmen and past goalie Martin Ouellette.

The goal — credited to Joe Cucci, the last Merrimack player to touch the puck — was the first of seven unanswered tallies by the Warriors. Merrimack outshot, outhustled and outmuscled Maine, which entered the game ranked ninth and 11th in national polls.

“They took it to us pretty good, in all areas of the ice,” said Maine center Robby Dee, who scored Maine’s goal at 4:11 of the first period on a two-man advantage. “Overall, it was not a very good game for us. Losing 7-1 is not where we want to be, especially right now, toward the second half of the year.”

Maine Coach Tim Whitehead didn’t mince words.

“That was an absolute embarrassment,” he said. “The effort, the execution was poor.

“I’m having trouble thinking of one player that really played his heart out. It was a poor team effort. We got outclassed in every category of the game, at every position.”

The Black Bears (9-6-4, 6-4-2 Hockey East) contended with Merrimack’s physical play, but the Warriors (10-4-4, 6-4-3) outshot Maine 13-5 in the first period and scored twice in 42 seconds — Cucci’s goal, a pass that bounced off Dimmen’s stick and past Ouellette (10 saves), and Shawn Bates’ slap shot from inside the blue line that bounced off Ouellette and trickled into the goal with 7:16 left in the first.

The Warriors took a 3-1 lead with 5:14 left in the first on Stephane Da Costa’s wrist shot from the left circle.

Dan Sullivan (15 saves) relieved Ouellette in the second, and while Maine outshot Merrimack 14-8, the Black Bears couldn’t create traffic in front of Warriors goalie Joe Cannata (29 saves).

With 1:23 left in the period, Chris Barton’s short-handed goal made it 4-1.

“(Barton’s goal) was a back-breaker,” Dimmen said. “I thought we had a really good second and we built some momentum there, and then that took the wind out of our sails.”

Brandon Brodhag was credited with Merrimack’s fifth goal at 5:06 of the third on a shot that deflected off Maine center Tanner House and past Sullivan.

Da Costa and Jesse Todd added third-period goals for the Warriors, who won despite being outshot 28-16 in the second and third periods.

“I actually thought that out of the gate, the first five minutes, we looked sharp,” Whitehead said. “We had some jump.

“But there’s too many guys on our team that are trying to do things with skill, and hard work’s going to beat that every time.”

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:

rlenzi@pressherald.com