UMaine defeats Canisius en route to eighth JCPenney Hockey Classic win 
By Larry Mahoney, Of the NEWS Staff 
ORONO - Canisius College (N.Y.) wanted respect. 
The University of Maine wanted a win and a tournament championship. Both got their wishes on Saturday night as Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hockey League member Canisius hung tough but the Bears eventually emerged with a 6-3 triumph in their JCPenney Hockey Classic final. 
It was Maine's eighth Penney title in 13 years and third in the last four years. 
"We played well. We had something to prove," said Canisius junior goalie Steve Fabiilli, who played very well and made 41 saves of which 15 were of the high-percentage variety. "I just tried to play my game. It's a tough barn to play in and Maine keeps coming at you." 
Maine sophomore left wing Barrett Heisten, chosen the tournament's Most Valuable Player after notching a goal and an assist, said Canisius was a good team. 
"We knew it would be a frustrating game," he said. "We tried to do too much individually. When we kept things simple, we did well." 
The Ice Griffs, who have just two scholarships compared to Maine's 18, played a neutral zone trap and did an effective job at it. 
"I was pretty pleased with how we competed against a team I consider the number one team in the country," Canisius coach Brian Cavanaugh said. "We wanted to raise the respect of our program. We were excited to be invited to the tournament." 
Dan Kerluke scored for the third consecutive game - Maine's win over UNB on Friday night is considered an exhibition by the NCAA - to give Maine a 1-0 lead and freshman Robert Liscak scored his first college goal later in the first period. 
Steve Birch's shorthanded goal just 32 seconds into the second period pulled Canisius within 2-1 and represented the third shorthanded goal allowed by the Bears this season. Maine allowed only three shorthanded goals all of last year. 
Maine's Brendan Walsh scored the first of his two goals and Heisten converted on the power play to make it 4-1 before 
Canisius' Paul Dusza closed out the second period scoring with 4:10 left. 
Canisius had a third-period goal disallowed when it was ruled the net had come off its mooring and Bear defenseman Peter Metcalf sewed up the win with a nice individual move with 7:58 remaining. 
Metcalf faked a shot at the right point, stickhandled around a Canisius player, and roofed a 16-foot wrist shot over Fabiilli's glove. 
"I'm patient. I like faking my shot. Their goalie stayed back in his net and that gave me the top corner," said Metcalf who also knew Fabiilli was a butterfly style goalie who dropped down quickly. 
"It was a hard shot. I went down a little early and he beat me," Fabiilli said. 
Walsh finished off Canisius on the power play 3:31 later by gathering in a rebound, pulling the puck back and lifting it into the top corner. 
"Barrett and I were both there so it was one of those, `You want to shoot it or should I shoot it.' Nine times out of 10, I would never have gotten the puck away from Barrett in that situation," quipped Walsh. 
Walsh added that the Bears didn't play well defensively "but we got the win and that's what we wanted." 
Jeff Jurek added a consolation goal for Canisius with 2:08 left. 
Kerluke's goal came off a nice little backhanded flip pass from Guite, who sent him in alone. Kerluke tucked a backhander between Fabiilli's pads. 
Liscak converted an Anders Lundback pass by sliding his own rebound behind Fabiilli from a difficult angle. 
Birch capitalized off a three-on-one by snapping the rebound of a Tim Warrilow shot over the glove of Maine sophomore goalie Mike Morrison from the circle to Morrison's left. 
Walsh answered 32 seconds later by sweeping the rebound of a Doug Janik point shot behind Fabiilli and Heisten made it 4-1 three minutes later with the prettiest goal of the game. 
Heisten passed to his brother Chris behind the net to Fabiilli's right and Chris gave it right back to Barrett, who one-timed a 15-foot wrist shot over Fabiilli's blocker into the short-side corner. 
"We used that play when we were together in Anchorage. Once Barrett beat the defenseman, I knew what he was going to do," said Chris Heisten. 
Canisius hit a crossbar and a goalpost before a neutral-zone turnover and a three-on-two resulted in Dusza's 14-footer through Morrison's pads off a Matt Shewchuk feed. 
Morrison finished with 16 saves in what Maine coach Shawn Walsh termed a "very sloppy performance." 
Heisten said his MVP award was special. 
"I think it's the first one I've ever won in my life," said Heisten who was joined on the all-tourney team by Metcalf, Kerluke, Canisius defenseman Warrilow and goalie Sean Weaver and UNB center Colin Beardsmore. 
UNB won the consolation game over the University of Connecticut 6-2.