It was a lot like night and day, watching the Lowell Riverhawk's Friday and
Saturday night games. Friday night, they were hapless and near hopeless in a
dismal performance, losing 5-0 to the fast skating Clarkson "Golden Nights".
However, a different team showed up on Saturday and they were able to match
the St. Lawrence "Saints" in an exciting two-way game that they eventually won
4-3 in overtime.
 
Lowell's freshmen have been the key this year and this game was certainly an
example of the difference they can make. Rookie sensation Greg Koehler scored
the winning goal with :41 remaining in overtime and fellow-freshman Chris Bell
had netted the game-tying goal with 1:25 remaining in the third. It was Bell's
second goal of the game.
 
Bell had gotten Lowell on the board first at 7:41 of the opening period. After
spending two minutes in the penalty box for an interference call at 5:19, Bell
took
a rebound of a Ryan Sandholm slapshot and whacked a backhander just inside
the far left post. St. Lawrence had a few good chances on the just expired
power-play including a breakaway (should never happen) and a stoned
opportunity by Saint Scott Stevens. It was nice to see Marty Fillion back in net
for
Lowell, but St. Lawrence gave their starter Clint Owen the weekend off and we
saw senior Jon Bracco man the nets for the Saints.
 
St. Lawrence went back on the power-play at 8:38 as Lowell's Craig Brown got
an interference call for hitting Bracco behind the net. It appeared he certainly
wanted to avoid Bracco as he persued the Saint carrying the puck, but I think
Bracco helped out a little and Brown sat for two minutes. The opportunity proved
fruitless for St. Lawrence and nearly costly as Lowell's Marc Salsman had a
great shorthanded chance.
 
Play was up and down at even-strength throughout the period with Lowell
executing some occasional extended pressure.  However, Lowell's first power-
play at 12:33 (on St. Lawrence's Thomas Cullen's holding infraction)  did not
create any scoring chances. Kevin Bertram nearly beat Bracco a little later on a
slap-shot that trickled off his pad and wide of the net. Coming the other way
soon
after that was Saint Shawn Allard, a sophomore who split the Lowell defensive
pairing of Derek Stone/Mike Nicholishen  and broke in alone on Fillion ... who
was up for the task.
 
St. Lawrence did even the score before the period ended as Stevens took a Dale
Clarke feed and wristed a shot that beat Fillion to the glove corner. This goal
was
the result of some hard work by St. Lawrence and some tentative play by Lowell
backliner Chris Libbett. It was clear early on that his fellow blueliner Anthony
Cappelletti was playing an incredibly improved game from the night before, so I
was sorry to see this tandem on the ice for the tying goal ... but the true
credit
belongs to the Saints on this one.
 
Shots at the end of one were Lowell 15 and St. Lawrence 9.
 
Lowell went on the power-play at 5:41 of the second when Bob Prier got whistled
for boarding. Doug Nolan had a good chance in tight but missed the net.
Cappelletti fed the puck down into the slot from his point position, it was
tipped
nicely but slid just wide off the side of the net.
 
Saints got a man-advantage at 9:00 as Lowell's Wil Tormey was called for high-
sticking. Saints Thomas Cullen got off a strong slapper that Fillion managed to
get a leg on. Paul Difrancesco got the rebound but stuffed it right back into
Fillion. At 10:21, Difrancesco was called for interference, bringing the
situation to
4-on-4. St. Lawrence's Joel Prpic and Prier came down on a 2-on-1 with Lowell's
Cappelletti back alone. Prpic fed Prier who returned a pass to Prpic at the top
of
the crease, but Prpic fanned on the shot.
 
At even strength, Lowell's Chris Libett made a nice play to break up another 2-
on-1. A little while later, Saint Thomas Cullen rang the post squarely ... then
at
the other end, Lowell's Jarrod Donovan was stoned by Bracco and then tackled
by St. Lawrence freshman Derek Ladoucer. A pile-up ensued with Lowell's
Brown and Saint's Cullen joining Ladoucer in the box. The big opportunity on the
man-advantage went to St. Lawrence however as Difrancesco nearly scored on
a short-handed slapper from 25' out. St. Lawrence got their own man-advantage
at 17:18 when Lowell's Jamie Graham went off for holding. The Saints managed
a few good shots from the points but really couldn't maintain any extended
pressure in the offensive zone.
 
The period ended as it started, in a 1-1 tie. Shots were 13 for St. Lawrence to
Lowell's 7.
 
After basically trading the first two periods in puck-control, the third was
loaded
with up-and-down hockey. Lowell's Koehler fed someone in tight early on and
they got Bracco down but their backhander was gloved nicely. St. Lawrence
came rushing down a little while after only to be broken up by great back-
checking by Lowell forward John Campbell.
 
At 3:05, St. Lawrence got whsitled for delay of game. This came during some
Lowell offensive pressure and the whistled was blown while a Lowell blueliner
had the puck all alone at the point. Why it wasn't a delayed call is beyond me.
Lowell had some great chances during the man-up as did St. Lawrence who got
a short-handed breakaway. A low Cappelletti slap-shot was tipped up nicely by
Lowell's Shannon Basaraba and everyone thought it went in, but the ref must
have thought it hit the crossbar and play just continued. Koehler, playing the
point at one juncture of the power-play, fanned on a one-time attempt and
Difrancesco broke out on a 2-on-1 with Saint John Poapst. Difrancesco fed
Poapst at the last second, but Fillion slid over for a big save.
 
At even strength again, Difrancesco had another good chance that Fillion kicked
out ... but got another soon after that he made Lowell pay for. He was fed in
tight
by Ruddock, his first shot was another Fillion save, but he got his own rebound
and roofed one from in tight.
 
Lowell's Koehler came back with a good chance and another on the rebound but
Bracco stood strong. St. Lawrence's Scott Murphy went down with a bad
shoulder injury. A little while later, Saint's player got a slashing call and
Lowell's
power-play would tie it up. Cappelletti let go a slapper that stayed about 20"
off
the ice, deflected up off Bracco's pad and into the net to tie the score at
12:05.
 
Some matching penalties :20 seconds later led to a 4-on-4 and Saint Derek
McLaughlin ended up with a breakaway :30 seconds later. He came in on Fillion
, who skated out to meet him, and as Fillion backed into the net, McLaughlin
slipped it between his legs.
 
Prpic came right in and was stoned on his shot and on his rebound. Sandholm
nearly slipped one through Bracco's five-hole a few seconds later. At 17:54,
Lowell called a time-out. About :30 seconds later, Lowell brought the puck up the
ice and Fillion was pulled for a sixth skater. Nicholishen dumped it in and
Lowell
senior Neil Donovan dug it out in the corner. From far off to the side, he fed
Bell
alone in front who slammed it by Bracco for the tying score.
 
The period ended with a few minors called against Cullen and Libett. Shots in
the third were 14 for St. Lawrence and 13 for Lowell. (Originally announced the
other way around.)
 
Overtime saw a few more solid chances. Lowell's Doug Nolan came rushing
down the right side and fired a backhander as he leaned in on the Saints
defenseman, but Bracco made a strong save. McLaughlin came the other way
and split the Lowell defense down the middle only to find himself on his knees
with the puck in front of Fillion. His shot was low and blocked easily. During
the
whole third minute of overtime, Lowell maintained some good offensive zone
pressure which forced a St. Lawrence time-out at 2:56.
 
But, it was all over at 4:19 as Koehler put home the winner on a strong
wrist-shot
from about 18' out to the left of the net.
 
One of the things that surprised and impressed me throughout this game was
the strong play of Lowell defenseman Anthony Cappelletti. In fact, the whole
defensive corp showed up for this game. They were still week in allowing a lot of
odd-man rushes and several breakaways, but they cleared the slot effectively
and never really allowed St. Lawrence to set-up for long. Marty Fillion was very
strong in stopping 36 of 39 shots. The Lowell extra teams were perfect on
penalty-killing but weak on the power-play.
 
About St. Lawrence, well ... here it is ... "Paul Difrancesco"!!! This kid was
all
over the ice ... and he got a lot of playing time. He was one of the main reasons
that Lowell couldn't get things clicking on the power-play. This kid gets across
the ice to the puck in lightning time. Stevens and McLaughlin also had to be
watched closely. Prpic is huge and incredibly shifty for a big guy.
 
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