In Saturday's 4-3 win by Maine over Merrimack, a number of milestones were
reached by players from both teams.
 
For Maine, David Cullen's assist on Cory Larose's goal at 2:56 of the first
period was his 100th career point (26-74--100).
 
Magnus Lundback's goal at 12:29 of the first was the first of his career.
 
For Merrimack, Rejean Stringer's assist on Greg Classen's goal at 8:23 of
the second period was the 100th of his career.  Then in the third period at
11:14, Stringer scored his 50th career goal.
 
It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers Steve Kariya and
Stringer put up the rest of the season with the emergence of rookies
players.  In the case of Kariya, it is a relatively new player in Barrett
Heisten who I believe was added to the Larose-Kariya combo somewhat
recently (just since the world junior tourney?).  Tonight he scored two big
goals including the winner and he looked very solid this weekend.
 
And in the case of Stringer, it is Classen who skated with Stringer and
Kris Porter for the first time all year tonight and scored two goals while
setting up another -- against one of the nation's top defenses.  Merrimack
coach Chris Serino has compared Classen to one of his former players at
UNH, Derek Bekar, and Classen may have come into his own this weekend, also
leading the penalty kill unit that stopped two Maine power plays early in
the second with Maine up 3-1 and threatening to put the game away and
Stringer, Merrimack's top penalty killer, in the box both times.
 
Certainly both lines were the best on the ice tonight and a threat almost
every time they were out there.  Kariya (16-26--42) and Stringer
(13-28--41) are already among the national scoring leaders (and Larose,
13-19--32, and Porter, 16-14--30, are creeping up there with six and five
points respectively this weekend).  When you add in players of the caliber
of Heisten and Classen who performed the way they did this weekend, it has
to make those lines that much more dangerous.  Heisten now has totals of
5-11--16, Classen 9-6--15.
 
Hopefully Maine fans who made the trip to North Andover enjoyed the singing
of the Canadian and American anthems both nights by seventh grader Jill
Martin of Chelmsford, Mass.  It may not be the last time you hear her, as
word is that Hockey East has asked Jill to sing the anthem for the league
tournament at the FleetCenter in March.  I don't know if this means they
consider Jill the best in the league, but it is something folks at
Merrimack are proud of nonetheless. :-)  This is the first time in at least
13 years that the anthems have been sung at Merrimack -- the tape of Huey
Lewis and the News was retired this year to make way for Jill, and I think
anyone who has heard her can see why. :-)
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
*****          Color Voice of Merrimack Hockey WCCM 800 AM          *****
*****       Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at:       *****
*****   http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html    *****
>>>    U.S. College Hockey Online http://www.uscollegehockey.com/     <<<