#3 Black Bears Dump Huskies, 5-1
 
Saturday December 12, 1998
by Deron Treadwell
 
ORONO, Maine -- After two weeks without a game, the No. 3 University of
Maine Black Bears wasted little time dusting themselves off as they
scored twice in first five minutes en route to a convincing 5-1 victory
over the Northeastern University Huskies Saturday night.
 
Maine went right after Northeastern and freshman goaltender Jason Braun
from the drop of the puck.  Braun made a stellar save on Maine senior
Steve Kariya and then classmate David Cullen rung one off the crossbar
on their first shift respectively.
 
On the next shift Maine almost converted once again as Anders Lundback
ripped one from the point and the puck trickled behind Braun, who fell
on the puck just before it crossed the goal line.  Three quality
scoring chances and the game was not two minutes old.
 
 [Maine] came out and played extremly well,  said Northeastern head
coach Bruce Crowder.   We struggled to get control of the puck and when
we did get control of it we were not very smart and threw it away.
 
The Black Bears kept the heat turned up on the stove and sophomore Dan
Kerluke notched the game s first goal.  Marcus Gustafsson made a nice
pass from the right wing over to Kerluke at the top of the left circle.
 Kerluke wound up and one-timed the pass past Braun high at 3:56 to put
Maine up 1-0.
 
 Kerluke is a real goal scorer and he just let it rip and it surprised
[Braun],  said Maine head coach Shawn Walsh.
 
Maine extended the lead to 2-0 just 1:02 later on the first goal of the
night by freshman Peter Metcalf.  Metcalf had the puck at the left
point and it looked like he was going to slip the puck down low to
Kariya, who was alone in the slot.  Braun cheated a little to
compensate and Metcalf beat him high.
 
 We got some breaks in the first period that made this an easier game
than it might have been,  Walsh said.
 
About three minutes later Northeastern almost cut the Maine lead in
half when Husky leading scorer Roger Holeczy beat Maine netminder Alfie
Michuad, but hit the outside of his post with the shot.  Then with
Maine s A.J. Begg in the sin bin for high sticking, Northeastern had
its best opportunity as the period as the Huskies kept the puck in the
Maine zone and pressured on the power play while Michaud was without
his stick.  For the most part, the Huskies were held in check during
the first period, only managing four shots on Michaud.
 
The Black Bears received their first opportunity on the power play with
about five minutes to play in the period and cashed in for a 3-0 lead.
David Cullen s blast from the right point beat Braun at the 16:24 mark
of the period.
 
Maine pushed the lead to four goals early in the second period on the
power play when freshman Chris Lynch was whistled for interference just
2:54 into the stanza.  Peter Metcalf received the puck at the left
point from Kerluke and when no Northeastern player came out to
challenge him, Metcalf walked the puck into the high slot and beat
Braun through a crowd for his second goal of the night with just nine
seconds left on the penalty to Lynch.
 
 [His] second goal was poise,  Walsh said of Metcalf s goal.  Boy, not
many freshman have that poise.  It makes him a pretty special player.
 
Northeastern broke through 10 minutes later to reduce the Maine
advantage to 4-1.  Freshman Matt Brown let one fly from the point that
hit not one, but two sticks on its way past Michaud.  One of those
sticks belonged to Lynch who was camped out in front of the net.  It
was Lynch s first collegiate goal and it came at the 14:11 mark of the
second period.
 
With the goal the Huskies also kept alive a streak that now spans 79
consecutive games where they have not been shutout.  The last time
Northeastern was blanked in a game was Nov. 23, 1996 at Providence.
This has been a trademark of the Husky progam.  In the last 400 games,
Northeastern has been shutout only three times.
 
That goal also marked a turning point in the contest.  For the most
part Maine dominated the first 34 minutes of this contest, but the goal
gave the Huskies life and they carried the play for the remainder of
the second period.  Northeastern had a great opportunity as Bob Haglund
was stoned just outside the goal crease on a terrific save by Michaud.
 
Despite the change in momentum, Crowder was still discouraged.
 
 Obviously there are different times in the game and wonder  If this
had happened..  , but the bottom line is we ve got to learn how to
compete and keep playing within the system and as coaches we just have
to continue to hound them,  Crowder said.   They themselves have to
believe they can do it.
 
The Huskies started the third exactly how they ended the period before
as they came out flying.  In the first shift Michaud was forced to make
three tough stops on both Jim Fahey and Holeczy.  Maine stemmed the
tide with its fifth goal of the game at the 4:56 mark of the period,
however.  Freshman Niko Dimitrakos lit the lamp for the first time in
his career with a wrist shot from the slot to close out the scoring.
 
 On the faceoff, Matthis [Trattnig] won it back to me and Tuomo held up
his guy and I just slid across and put a wrist shot over the goalie s
pad,  Dimitrakos said.
 
Braud stopped 25 of 30 shots for the Huskies.  Crowder said he would
have to look at the  fortune cookies  before deciding who to start in
the rematch Sunday afternoon, but indicated he felt the freshman may
have been effected by the atmosphere at Maine.
 
 I don t think he was as aggressive as he has been in the past and a
couple caught him by surprise,  Crowder said.
 
Michaud made 22 saves in net for Maine and received praise for his
efforts from both benches.  For his part Walsh  said he expects to come
back with freshman Mike Morrison in net Sunday.
 
With the win Maine moved to 10-1-1 on the year and 5-1-1 in Hockey
East.  Maine did not get their 10th win until February last season.
Northeastern lost its 10th game of the year dropping to 4-10 overall
and 1-7 in Hockey East.
 
Maine played without third-leading scorer Brendan Walsh who has a knee
injury.  Walsh injured the knee against New Hampshire two weeks ago and
had a corrective surgical procedure Friday.  He is expected out two
weeks.
 
The Black Bears will also lose defenseman Doug Janik and forward
Barrett Heisten for the next five games starting Sundy as they join the
U.S. Junior National Team.  Walsh will insert sophomore Magnus Lundback
for Heisten and freshman Ed Wood on defense.
 
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