(Complete game box posted to list INFO-HOCKEY-L)
ST. LAWRENCE UNIV.  0  1  3 -  4    2-1-0 ECAC        4-5-0 overall
BOSTON COLLEGE      3  6  1 - 10    1-4-1 HE (1-0 SO) 3-7-1 overall
 
Whether St. Lawrence was tired after last night's battle with Boston
University or Boston College finally put everything together was not
clear, but BC pounded the Fighting Saints tonight, scoring 3 power
play goals and 3 shorthanded goals.  Because the game was a rout
(6-0 BC at one point), the teams played all 6 goalies.  BC took the
play to St. Lawrence from the start of this one, forechecking
aggressively, making quick transitions from defense to offense,
finishing off the plays, and in general showing offensive form they
have not shown this year before tonight.  For the Saints, on the
other hand, it was a long, painful night where little went right
even when they made good plays, and when many things went wrong.
 
Though it turned out it may not have been needed, BC's Greg Taylor
had another solid game in goal, giving up only the first 2 Saints'
goals before being replaced at the 46:11 mark.  Clint Owen was
replaced by Jon Bracco for St. Lawrence after BC's 5th score, but
it didn't really matter as Bracco was torched for 4 more 2nd period
goals.  Freshman Eric Heffler played the 3rd period in goal for SLU,
his first action as a collegian (I think.)
 
An indication of how the game was going to go was BC's first goal,
a shorthanded score when Marty Reasoner won a faceoff in the left
circle, cut right to the net, and slid a backhander past Owen.  Don
Chase had another shorthanded bid at the 3:00 mark but was stopped.
Good forechecking produced the 2nd goal, as Toby Harris and Clifton
McHale worked deep along the boards to pop the puck loose to Harris,
who passed to a wide-open Brian Callahan at the left side who lifted
the puck in.  Continuing pressure by BC led to a power play chance;
Brian Callahan sent the puck to the point, Ken Hemenway slapped it
back in to Ryan Mittleman at the right of the crease and he took a
couple of swipes to push it past the goalie.
 
St. Lawrence mounted their best effort of the period in the last
few minutes.  Allard made a nice move to get free in front of the net
but Taylor made the save.  A couple minutes later a soft SLU shot
beat Taylor, slid across the goal mouth and bounced off the pipe,
coming to a stop about 2 inches outside the goal line.  BC's Joe
Harney cleared the puck.  Had either of those 2 opportunities gone
in, it may have been a different game.  More pressure led to a BC
penalty in the last few seconds of the period, setting up SLU for a
power play to open the 2nd period.
 
The roof fell in on St. Lawrence early in the 2nd, when Paul
DiFrancesco tripped while skating the puck out of the SLU zone to
start a power play rush, sending the puck directly to an unmarked
Don Chase, whose shorthanded goal made it 4-0, BC.  After a St.
Lawrence penalty, they almost got their own shorthanded goal after
the BC defense coughed up the puck for a point-blank shot, but
Taylor made the save.  15 seconds later Brian Callahan made it 5-0
when a clear by Owen popped straight up in the air, fell at Callahan's
feet right in front of the net, and he lifted it over Owen's shoulder.
 
Owen was replaced by Bracco at this point (2:37 into second period).
The teams went back and forth, with SLU missing their chances and BC
putting heavy pressure on Bracco.  BC scored their 3rd shorthanded
goal in 3 penalty-kills at 6:44 as David Hymovitz scored from Chase.
St. Lawrence came right back, finally getting on the board when
DiFrancesco came out in front of the net from the right corner and
stuffed a backhand through Taylor; a power play goal.  It didn't stop
the onslaught, though, as SLU was forced to take another penalty on
a BC break, and the Eagles scored on the subsequent power play.  It
came after Bracco stopped a Don Chase shot, there were several swipes
at the puck in the crease, and Hymovitz finally swept in to poke it
through a prone goaltender.
 
BC continued to dominate the period, getting several more great
chances.  O'Leary made it 8-1 with a slapper on a 3-on-1 break, Peter
Masters got his first of the season with a quick one-timer after a
nice feed from Reasoner, and SLU escaped only after Bracco made
several more sharp stops.  BC ended up with 25 shots in the period,
17 on goal, and the shot chart had most of them right in front of the
goal.
 
The third period was a bit rougher, as SLU was somewhat frustrated and
BC got a little lazy; understandable with a 9-1 lead.  Matt Oikawa
got one back for St. Lawrence at 4:51.  More clutch, grab, hold, and
general interference was the style of play for the next part of the
period.  BC's Chase took a roughing penalty when retaliating at Tom
Cullen, and Burke Murphy got the PPG from a sharp right-side angle,
bouncing the puck through Andy McLaughlin's pads.  The sixth goalie
of the night entered at 16:55, when Ari Shocket replaced McLaughlin.
Gordon's score brought SLU within 5, but a splendid shift at the blue
line by Reasoner and pass to Ryan Mittleman enabled him to close out
the scoring for BC.
 
BC fans were understandably pleased with this effort, though it is
hard to gauge how St. Lawrence stacks up as an opponent.  They had
just come off a tough road game at BU, where they got deflated by
a 3rd period BU blitz, and got no real breaks in the BC game tonight.
On the other hand, BC played a strong forechecking game, breaking up
many passes and forcing SLU to give up the puck for repeated good
BC shots.  The good power play (3 for 5) and shorthanded goals (3)
were positive signs for a BC team that has struggled to find its
scoring touch.  (The last BC 3-shorthanded-goal effort was an 8-4
win over UMass-Amherst on January 6, 1995.)  Coach Jerry York went
with a 7th defenseman to keep this group fresher, and it seemed to
work, along with the rearranged forward lines.  The entire group of
forwards worked extremely hard tonight, going deep into the SLU
zone to forecheck, fight for the puck, intercept clearing passes,
and turning those efforts into good goal-scoring opportunities.
 
Boston College's next game is at crosstown ECAC foe Harvard, Tuesday
November 28th. St. Lawrence's hosts ECAC rival Union on December 1.
 
A possible correction to the scoring in last night's Clarkson-BC
game:  The 2nd BC goal was listed on the game summary sheet as
O'Leary 1 (Powers, Hymovitz).  O'Leary got the tip of a Powers shot
from the point; at least that is how I saw it and the scoresheet
reported it.  The rink announcer at the time credited the goal to
freshman Andy Powers.  Tonight's stat sheet showed the goal as
credited to Powers, not O'Leary, and O'Leary's goal tonight was
marked as his first.  A question to those who may know:  When does
a scoresheet become official?  I have noted several mistakes on the
official game summary sheets over the months - for example, tonight's
sheet shows the BC power play efficiency as 1 for 5, when the sheet
clearly shows 3 BC power play goals.  As these sheets are typed up
under time pressure, I can understand some errors.  That's why I
usually keep my own stats as well, as a double check.  I presume
the "official" scoresheet is kept by the scorer at ice level.  On
the other hand, I recall discussions last year about press box
people, SID's, etc., awarding assists after the fact.  Is there
a point when the statistics become set in stone?
---------------                    ----------------------
Rick McAdoo                        [log in to unmask]
Read the FAQ!!!                    A pleased BC fan.  GO EAGLES!
 
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