Friday, January 1, 1993 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA
NONCONFERENCE GAME
Union Skating Dutchmen (1-8-0)       0     0     0  -  0
Merrimack Warriors (7-8-1)           0     1     1  -  2
FIRST PERIOD                                                          MC-UC
No scoring.
SECOND PERIOD
1. MC1, Rob Atkinson 4 (Mark Cornforth, Dan Gravelle), 8:33.  GWG      1-0
THIRD PERIOD
2. MC2, Atkinson 5 (Guy Ragault), 6:46.                                2-0
SHOTS ON GOAL: Union        7-12--7 = 26
               Merrimack    8--6-10 = 24
SAVES: Union, Mike Gallant (L, 0-2-0, 59:55, 24 sh-22 sv).
       Merrimack, Mike Doneghey (W, 6-4-0, 60:00, 26 sh-26 sv).
POWER PLAYS: Union 0 for 4.  Merrimack 0 for 3.
PENALTIES: Union 4/8.  Merrimack 5/10.
REFEREES: Frank Cole, Drew Taylor.  LINESMAN: Tim Benedetto.
ATTENDANCE: 762.
THREE STARS: 1. G Mike Doneghey, Merrimack (26 sh-26 sv).
             2. C Rob Atkinson, Merrimack (2-0--2).
             3. G Mike Gallant, Union (24 sh-22 sv).
 
In a game played at a pretty slow pace as both teams tried to get their
legs back after a three week break, Merrimack got two goals by Rob
Atkinson and Mike Doneghey posted his second career shutout with 26
saves as the Warriors held on to defeat Union, 2-0.  Merrimack ran its
record on New Year's Day to 2-0-0, having defeated Air Force on NYD 1992;
this was the second consecutive NYD game for Merrimack and rumor is the
Warriors will be at Alabama-Huntsville for NYD 1994.
 
The shutout was the first by a Merrimack goalie since Steve D'Amore
blanked Northeastern last January 11th by an identical 2-0 score.  Doneghey
had defeated Kent, 5-0, back in 1989-90 when he was a freshman for his
only other shutout.
 
Union goalie Mike Gallant also played extremely well in keeping the score
close and made several outstanding saves.  Gallant entered the game with
an 0-1-0 record (can't figure that out since he played the first 9:24 of
the season-opening 6-5 loss to Army and allowed only four goals, meaning
that Luigi Villa, who relieved him, actually surrendered the GWG) and a
25.53 GAA.  He lowered that to 5.19 after this outing and was awarded the
game's third star.
 
The opening period was very sluggish and long, taking almost 45 minutes
to complete.  There were lots of whistles as both teams iced the puck
or went offside quite a bit.  Union's two power plays were not effective
as Merrimack did not allow them to get the puck down low, while Merrimack
did get off a few good shots on their one chance but Gallant came up big.
 
The eventual game-winner was scored at 8:33 of the second when Merrimack's
Mark Cornforth took a cross-ice feed from Dan Gravelle and fired a shot
from the top of the left circle that was tipped in by Atkinson.  But Union
had the edge in shots for the period, 12-6, with most of those coming on
their two power plays which showed more life this time around.  Right
after Atkinson's goal, Union started to press and Doneghey was forced to
make several huge stops, one with the glove off of Cory Holbrough, to
keep the one-goal lead.
 
Merrimack got what looked like a break on Union's first power play of
the second period, halfway through.  With Union threatening, it looked
like defenseman Mark Cornforth knocked the net off to force a whistle,
and Union complained to referee Frank Cole who apparently had determined
that Cornforth was pushed into the net because the faceoff came outside
the line.  A delay of game penalty on Cornforth would have put Union up
two men.
 
Atkinson added an insurance goal at 6:46 of the third when he took a
feed from Guy Ragault out of the corner and wristed it past Gallant to
make it 2-0 and close out the scoring.  Merrimack seemed to have the
better legs in the third and after Atkinson's goal, there were several
minutes where the Warriors pressed and threatened to open up a 3-0 or 4-0
lead.  But again, Gallant was superb.  Union started to carry the play
a little more after things calmed down and Doneghey had to make three
game-saving stops to preserve the win and shutout: one off of Holbrough
with six minutes left from about ten feet out (glove), a pad save off
of a Steve Battiston slapper right afterwards, and then a marvelous point
blank save off of Chris Albert on a 2x1.
 
Holbrough was easily the most impressive player for Union; neither of
the Darbys (Keith and Kevin) were able to do too much, but then again
both teams struggled for much of the game.  Union is probably pleased
with its defensive play, allowing just 24 shots, and hopefully the solid
performance will boost the confidence of Gallant and he can take some of
the load off of Luigi Villa when called upon.  Union played seven
freshmen and seven sophomores, so they're a young team and pretty
inexperienced.  5 of 6 defensemen are first or second year players.
 
Merrimack's offense sputtered, for the most part, but Doneghey played
well in net to carry them to the win.  Merrimack will next play Vermont
on Sunday 1/3 at 2 pm, the last nonleague game of the year for the
Warriors.  Merrimack is 6-2-1 in nonconference action thus far.
 
Union returns to ECAC action on January 8th when the Dutchmen host Yale.
 
The Warriors' record with Heather on hand is now 4-1-1.  We're trying to
see if she can be airlifted in for future games when she can't drive out
here.
 
From Mike and Heather: Happy New Year, everyone!
[From Heather: "Anyone else need help with their win-loss record?  I'm
willing to travel!" :-)]
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)    *HMN*