After a gift goal, Bears rout Yale> Larose, Kerluke score two apiece

PORTLAND – The University of Maine’s final non-conference men’s hockey game of the season got off to an inauspicious start Wednesday night when freshman goalie Mike Morrison gift-wrapped a Paul Lawson goal 30 seconds into the game with a pass right onto the Yale University left winger’s stick.

But the Bears scored the next six goals, including four during a span of 9:29 in the second period, and went on to post a 6-1 victory over the Bulldogs at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Two of Maine’s hottest goal scorers, junior center Cory Larose and sophomore left wing Dan Kerluke, scored twice apiece as Maine improved to 15-2-4.

Doug Janik had a second-period power play goal that gave Maine the lead for good, and Anders Lundback added a third-period goal.

Larose now has five goals in his last four games while Kerluke has 10 in his last eight.

“I really liked the way we played in the second period. We outshot them 19-6. I went to three lines and that seemed to get our flow going,” said Maine coach Shawn Walsh.

Yale coach Tim Taylor said his team has had trouble stringing together 60 minutes of consistent hockey and said the last 10 minutes of the second period was all Maine.

“Maine requires you to play intense, aggressive hockey and sacrifice yourselves because they keep coming at you. That’s been a long-standing trait of Shawn Walsh teams,” said Taylor.

Maine senior defenseman and captain David Cullen said, “Our constant pressure got to them a bit.”

Larose answered Lawson’s goal 2:30 later when he redirected Robert Ek’s left point wrist shot behind Yale goalie Alex Westlund.

“It went off my knee,” said Larose.

The teams played an even first period before the 4,785 fans on hand and Yale, 5-9-1, actually outplayed the Bears during the first nine minutes of the second period.

But freshman defenseman Janik’s power-play goal ignited the Bear scoring flurry 9:50 into the period and totally changed the momentum.

Niko Dimitrakos stickhandled cleverly in the offensive zone before dispatching the puck to Cullen at the right point. Cullen slid it across to Janik at the left point, and Janik’s low slapper slipped under Westlund’s stick and through his legs.

“Niko opened up a lot of room for me,” said Janik.

Larose made it 3-1 a minute later off a faceoff win by Barrett Heisten. Heisten slid the puck to Steve Kariya, who moved it to Larose. Larose skated from right to left through the slot and beat Westlund through the five-hole with a 25-foot wrist shot.

“Other teams have been beating us on draws, so we’ve been working on them in practice,” said Larose. “I got the shot off quick and went to the net for a rebound.”

Kerluke scored his goals 3:13 apart late in the period.

His first one came on a tough-angle 16-foot slap shot to Westlund’s left that beat the second team All-America goalie through the five-hole.

“I was going to pass it to Ben [Guite], but he was off to the side, so I figured I’d shoot and see what happened,” said Kerluke.

His second came on a shorthanded breakaway off an Ek pass.

Morrison, meanwhile, stopped the final 23 shots he saw after his first-period blunder.

“It was a terrible goal and it was my fault,” said Morrison. “But I tried to stay in the zone. I forgot about it. These things happen to everyone. I knew I had a great team in front of me.”