PORTLAND, Maine – Eastern road trips haven't historically been kind to the University of North Dakota men's hockey program.

So when North Dakota had to settle for a 1-1 tie against host Maine tonight to close out the Ice Breaker Tournament, a game in which UND carried play for the majority of the game, neither UND head coach Brad Berry nor his players were found hanging their heads after emerging from the locker room.

The tie, following Friday's 5-2 win over Lake Superior State, ensured not only an unbeaten start to the regular season, but UND's first Ice Breaker Tournament championship in four tries.

“We took a lot out of this weekend,” said Berry. “A win and a tie, on the road. We haven't had a lot of success out here in previous tournaments. To come away with a championship, it's a positive building foundation for our group.”

It was a game dominated by UND from start to finish. In fact, the Black Bears did not register their first shot on goal until just over seven minutes remained in the first period.

But Maine goaltender Rob McGovern, a freshman making his first collegiate start, sparkled in a 44-save performance that earned him tournament MVP honors.

UND outshot the Black Bears 45-20 and threw 18 shots at McGovern in the third period alone. UND also outshot Maine 6-2 in the 5-minute overtime. UND freshman forward Brock Boeser led all players with eight shots on goal and was one of 14 players to register at least two shots.

In all, the shot attempts count stood 84-41 in favor of UND. 

However, only freshman Chris Wilkie was able to solve McGovern. The Omaha, Neb., native received a Paul Ladue feed in front of the net and flipped home his own rebound to open the scoring on the power play at 1:32 of the first period.

“It might have been a little frustrating,” Wilkie said of UND's barrage of empty scoring chances. “The whole time we thought one was eventually going to go in. Obviously it didn't and they played pretty well, but we're happy with how we played offensively and the chances we created.”

Boeser and his linemates, freshman Shane Gersich and sophomore Nick Schmaltz, generated 13 of UND's 45 shots and several of them resulted in Grade A opportunities. But McGovern, who found out Saturday morning he'd be making his debut against fourth-ranked UND, was equal to the task.

“We tested him early and he stood up to the test. We threw everything at him and he did a great job for them tonight,” said Berry. “The one thing I said to our team after the game was, 'When you create chances like that and play the way we did, then things will happen to us in the future as far as positivity and winning games.' It's when you don't get the chances and you play in your end of the rink all night that things don't happen and go your way.”

At the other end of the ice, UND sophomore goaltender Cam Johnson was every bit as effective as his counterpart, if less busy.

Making just his third career start, Johnson turned aside 19 of 20 shots and had a perfect third period for the second day in a row. Johnson's lone blemish came directly off of a UND turnover in the defensive zone at 8:24 of the second period. Blaine Byron intercepted a Troy Stecher clearing pass in the slot and fed to Cam Brown at the side of a gaping net, leaving Johnson no chance.

“Early in the game, he wasn't called upon,” said Berry of Johnson. “But later on, halfway through the game and the third period, he made some great saves off of Maine's opportunities. He made the saves. It's a great start for him and I think that builds confidence in his game.”

Stecher, a junior assistant captain, said there was plenty enough to build upon into next weekend's non-conference home-and-home series with Bemidji State.

“It's early in the season, so you can't really get frustrated. You've got to look at the positives,” said Stecher. “We were generating so many opportunities and the season progresses, we'll start capitalizing. You do want to capitalize, obviously, but coming out on the road and getting a win and a tie in non-conference is pretty big for our hockey team.”

Big indeed, even if UND wasn't quite certain whether or not it was the tournament winner as the players filed off the ice after Maine won the shootout.

“I don't think we had any clue until coach brought the trophy in,” said Wilkie with a chuckle. “But that's a big deal for us to win the tournament and we're happy with the result even though we didn't get the win tonight.”

Notes: Stecher, Schmaltz, defenseman Paul LaDue and forward Drake Caggiula were UND's representatives on the all-tournament team … UND went 1-3 on the power play while Maine went 1-2 … McGovern, Johnson and Brown were named the game's three starts … Maine held a 40-37 edge in the faceoff circle. Only freshman Rhett Gardner (11-8) and Caggiula (4-3) won more than half of their draws for UND … Gardner and freshman defenseman Christian Wolanin both made their collegiate debuts tonight after sitting out Friday's opener … The two teams had a shootout following overtime. UND's shooters were Austin Poganski (shot high), Boeser (hit the post) and Wilkie (stopped by McGovern). Maine's Nolan Vesey scored the lone goal in the shootout.