Saturday, December 5, 1998 at Kelley Rink (Conte Forum), Chestnut Hill, MA
BC 6, UNH 3 HOCKEY EAST GAME
------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNIV. OF NEW HAMPSHIRE (HE) 0 2 1 - 3 5-2-1 HE (9-3-1 overall)
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 2 2 2 - 6 5-3-0 HE (8-4-1 overall)
Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
UNH 6-12-12 -- 30 8 - 16 1 - 7
BC 7-12-12 -- 31 9 - 18 3 - 5
UNH - Sean Matile 5-10-10 - 25 saves/6 goals (60:00)
BC - Scott Clemmensen 6-10-11 - 27 saves/3 goals (60:00)
COMMENTS
---------
Friday night Boston College had dominated the first period but gave up
2 late goals to lose the momentum, and ultimately the game, as UNH won
6-1. In the rematch Saturday back at BC, goals in the last minute of
periods 1 and 2 and an effective power play provided the Eagles with the
split, 6-3. BC managed to score the first 3 power play goals against
UNH in league play this year (UMaine had 2 in a Governor's Cup non-league
game.) Coach Jerry York rearranged his lines to try to spark the BC
offense, and it appeared to work, along with a better performance from
goalie Scott Clemmensen, who had been pulled in the middle of Friday's
loss. UNH was not able to get much going offensively, only 1 of 7 on
power plays, though they may have been affected by a knee injury to
forward Mike Souza, who was knocked from the game after the first period.
BC had most of the early jump in the first period with the new line
combinations. The group of freshmen Jeff Giuliano, Ales Dolinar, and
RPI transfer Cory Bilodeau proved effective as a 4th line and got the first
goal of the game. UNH failed to clear the puck from the zone as Giuliano
intercepted and sent it to the slot; Dolinar's shot apparently deflected
off the post and across the crease to Bilodeau, who lifted it into the
open net. This was Bilodeau's first collegiate goal (I'm told), and came
while he was filling in at forward instead of his listed defense role.
The Wildcats had a chance to even the score with a 5-on-3 power play, but
Clemmensen made a few saves and UNH fanned on a couple of shots. UNH
goalie Sean Matile made a nice stop on a BC steal and break-in, but a
holding penalty at 18:52 gave BC the first of their power play goals.
Brian Gionta fed the puck out from the right corner, Jeff Farkas touched
it so that it hopped past a UNH defenseman, and Blake Bellefeiulle had a
quick slapper through the 5-hole from the left circle. UNH almost got
that one back when Souza's quick slap shot banged off the crossbar with
6 seconds left. At the buzzer, a BC defenseman hit Souza hard along the
boards, and he limped off the ice, not to return.
New Hampshire started the second period with more energy and forechecking
pressure, forcing Clemmensen to make a nice save on a slap shot, and then
stopping a partial breakaway with the help of a retreating defenseman.
The efforts paid off when defenseman Mark White sent a long shot/pass in
from the left point, and it deflected in from the slot off a BC skate.
Shortly after that, Matt Swain used a nifty move to dance around the D,
only to be stoned by the goalie. The Cats took another penalty, though,
and BC's power play struck again. Matile stopped a right point shot, and
blocked the first rebound, but was down and unable to prevent Bellefeuille
from getting his 2nd one, again into a basically open net at 7:42. The
Eagles carried play for a few minutes after that, and gradually UNH got
going again to provide some up-and-down action. Matt Swain made the score
3-2 on a quick UNH counterattack and odd-man rush, collecting a nice pass
in the left circle and firing it past Clemmensen. BC was tiring a bit at
this point and New Hampshire carried the play most of the rest of the
period. (BC had one 3-on-1 chance on a steal but overpassed and got no
shot.) The late period strike came back to haunt UNH, though. After an
interference penalty with just 12 seconds left in the period, BC got a
somewhat controversial goal at the buzzer. After a first shot had been
stopped, the puck was pushed up the right boards, where Mike Mottau spun
and threw it toward the net. It bounced off a player and deflected through
Matile's legs and into the net just before the buzzer sounded. Though it
was very close, almost all agreed that it went in prior to the end of the
period, and the referee counted it. The goal was initially announced as
belonging to Jeff Farkas for BC (and I thought he was the one who deflected
the shot) but it was later changed to Mottau's goal.
UNH led off the final period with energy, like the second, almost scoring
on a 3-on-1 and then having Rogers fire one just wide of an open net. As
often happens, though, it is the other team who gets the goal. Mike
Lephart led a 3-on-2 counter for BC down the left side -- his shot was
blocked, Farkas' rebound was also stopped, but Matile was now down and
again unable to stop the final rebound, as Chris Masters flipped it in from
the slot. (4 of the 6 BC goals came on rebound scrambles, one was tipped
in front, and the other was a point-blank power play slapper.) For the
next 5 minutes play went back and forth. Following a BC penalty, UNH made
it 5-3 after BC couldn't clear the puck and a soft shot on the 3-on-1
threat just trickled in near the right post. Clemmensen swept the puck
back out with his glove but the goal judge correctly lit the lamp. Matt
Dzieduszycki got credit for his first goal at 7:16. Play again was mixed
during the middle of the period, then a UNH turnover put the game out of
reach. Lephart collected a soft clear in the center of the UNH zone,
bounced around a UNH defender, and sent a soft pass to Farkas just outside
the crease. His first shot was blocked, but again the rebound was loose,
and subsequent pokes got Farkas his team-leading 13th goal of the season
at 11:52. Play was a bit physical from that point forward, with both
teams taking penalties (mostly silly ones), but no one could score, and
BC ended up with the 6-3 victory.
With each team winning on their home ice for the weekend, it didn't help
clarify any positioning in Hockey East. It is hard for any team to sweep
either of these two. UNH has a good offense, and a very good defense,
though they had problems with turnovers and giving up rebounds Saturday.
The UNH goalkeeping controversy will continue, with the Wildcat faithful
calling for Ty Conklin to see more playing time given his strong play so
far this year. BC hasn't yet raised their defensive intensity to the
place it was last year, and the offense has been very good, though a bit
inconsistent in some games. Coach York had criticized his team after
Friday's collapse, and shook up his lines partly as a message to the
players. From the looks of it Saturday, he got the message across. I
was impressed by the efforts of the 4th line, who performed very well
considering that they had never played together before. BC used their
speed and tenaciousness around the net to put substantial pressure on
Matile, who must have wondered what happened to his defense at times. I
would think that both coaches would be a bit disappointed by the
inconsistency that both teams showed in the 2 games. Of course, most
teams would be happy to have the talent these 2 have, so ...
UNH plays a home-and-home with UMass-Amherst this weekend, at Amherst on
Friday and back in New Hampshire on Saturday. BC gets its first look at
Merrimack on Tuesday night, then is off until the Denver Cup after
Christmas.
Hockey-L note: As Erik Biever noted earlier in his post, we were happy
to play "host" during his visit to Boston. He didn't see the most
intense game ever played at Conte Forum, but it was a reasonable Hockey
East game between 2 good teams (and he was nice enough to cheer for BC.
Thanks, Erik.) We'll see what he thinks of Merrimack on Tuesday -- one
thing for sure, it won't be as big a crowd or as comfortable a seat!
Finally, I hope whoever is the new person(s) taking stats for BC learns a
little more quality control or math skills. The shot charts and the
shot totals don't exactly add up, and they only had BC missing the net
on 4 shots all game (this for a team that has been averaging maybe 15
missed shots a game? I have my doubts ...)
-------------------- ----------------------
Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask]
"Volunteer reporter" A pleased BC fan. GO EAGLES!
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
|
