_*From today's Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (with comments from Dan and
Lindsay to follow)*_:

NORTH ANDOVER — A fight with just over a minute left in the game marred
what was another gutsy performance by Merrimack College in a 4-1 loss to
Maine at J. Thom Lawler Arena last night.

The violent conclusion to this match, coming on the heels of last
Saturday's 21-penalty game against UMass Lowell, has Warriors coach Mark
Dennehy searching for answers.

"I don't want to be associated with that," said Dennehy of the fracas.
"Some of these players are going to have to decide if they want to be a
part of Merrimack's resurgence. The most unfortunate part of it all is
it overshadowed a good performance."

Merrimack's Hank Carisio received five minutes for fighting and a game
disqualification. Mike Alexiou was tabbed with slashing and a game
misconduct, and Patrick Watson (the backup goaltender last night) also
picked up a fighting penalty and a game disqualification.

Even Warriors assistant coach Darren Yopyk jumped into the fray, coming
over the top of a few of his own players on the bench to get involved.

"(Yopyk's) contention was that he was pulling people off the pile," said
Dennehy of his assistant's participation in the melee. "And I have no
reason not to believe him."

Maine had two players ejected. Rob Bellamy and Jon Jankus each received
five minutes for fighting and a game disqualification.

"I didn't like the skirmish at the end," said Maine coach Tim Whitehead.
"It wasn't a good thing."

Earlier in the game defenseman Rob LaLonde was ejected for a major
hitting-from-behind penalty.

If you're keeping score at home, Merrimack comes away with a stunning 40
penalties and an astonishing 165 penalty minutes in back-to-back games.

Before the brawl Merrimack and Maine played a pretty good hockey game.

Maine opened the scoring at the end of the first period. The Black Bears
were on a two-man advantage after Brent Gough received two penalties,
one for slashing and one for unsportsmanlike conduct. LaLonde had
already been tossed and over four minutes remained on his major penalty.

Merrimack was doing a tremendous job killing the penalty, but with 12
seconds left before the horn sounded, Josh Soares slid the puck across
the front of the net to John Hopson, who one-timed it home.

"To Merrimack's credit, they did a fabulous job on that 5-on-3," said
Whitehead. "It's almost a shame that we scored, but that was a big goal.
It was a tremendous penalty kill for them."

The Warriors evened the score at 1-1 halfway through the second period
on a short-handed bid. Maine goaltender Ben Bishop came way out of his
net to play the puck up to one of his forwards at center ice. Merrimack
forward Derek Pallardy intercepted the clearing pass and launched a
laser at the vacated Maine goal and Bishop couldn't get back in time.

Maine took the lead for good on Billy Ryan's goal late in the second,
and Michel Leveille added two third-period scores to ice the game.

Dennehy said he already made the decision that Yopyk wouldn't be behind
the bench in tonight's rematch.

Both schools will review the videotape and Whitehead said he will send a
copy to the Hockey East office for further assessment.

Stay tuned.

+++++++++++
*Now -- here's what WE saw*:

When the fighting broke out, Dan told me that he SAW the Merrimack
assistant coach throwing punches. Overall, I think officials did a
pretty decent job breaking up the fracas. We were at the end of the rink
(behind the Merrimack goalie), so I couldn't see what caused all of this.

Jankus and Bellamy did their best Hansen brothers imitation as they left
the ice. Lets hope that their absence from tonight's game doesn't
adversely impact the team.

To say that Bishop "came way out of his net" on the Merrimack goal was
an understatement. I've been saying for weeks that something like this
was going to happen. Hopefully this experience will curb Big Ben's
wanderlust, and has made me a firm supporter of the "trapezoid" behind
the net that they use in the Pros. Aside from that, he had a decent
night in net.

Once again, another great turn-out by Maine fans. I'm hoping that
there's a bigger turnout tonight!!

Yes, I was the one wearing the North Dakota jersey. My fondness for the
Fighting Sioux goes back to the first "Frozen Four" I ever attended --
Lake Placid in 1988. We ran into some North Dakota fans (wearing lime
green tuxedos) who told me that they went to this thing every year,
regardless of whether or not the team made it (Of course, I thought
anyone who would do that was crazy -- I say that as our 11th trip to
College Hockey Nirvana is less than six weeks away). The "Walsh" shirts
at Alfond a few years back sealed it for me. To make a long story even
longer, I bought the shirt a couple of weeks ago and wore it to Alfond
last weekend at BC. Since the Black Bears are now 3-0 when I'm wearing
the shirt, I figured I have to wear it until the team loses.

Maybe I take this stuff too seriously, but it's certainly lots of fun!!!


-- 
Lindsay A. Huntoon
Let's Go Maine Black Bears
www.sudsandsports.blogspot.com