COLLEGE HOCKEY RARITY
It's not as rare as a goalie scoring a goal, but tonight in BC's 6-5 win
over UMass-Lowell, Lowell scored a goal while a delayed penalty was being
called against them.
 
With BC leading 3-1 early in the second period and the teams skating 4x4, a
delayed penalty was signaled against Lowell and BC goalie Greg Taylor
headed to the bench for an extra attacker.  At the same time, BC D Greg
Callahan tried to collect the puck in the neutral zone while heading in the
direction of his net, and he lost control of the puck.  It slid down the
ice towards the empty net, and although Callahan tried to reach it, he
could not and wound up throwing his stick at the puck as it neared the net,
to no avail.
 
This could have been a penalty shot/optional minor, but as it was, the puck
went in anyway.  It seemed to me that according to the rules, Callahan
could still have been assessed a minor for throwing the stick, but this did
not happen.
 
Lowell's Christian Sbrocca was credited with the goal.  It nearly had an
effect on the outcome of the game.  BC was up 3-1 at that point and having
the better of the play, but from this point on, Lowell got a lift and would
soon tie and then go ahead, 4-3.  In fact, Lowell's third goal came when a
centering pass went in off the stick of BC's Marty Reasoner.  All the
breaks seemed to be going Lowell's way.
 
But BC deserves a lot of credit.  They bounced back in the third and wound
up winning, 6-5.  It was a very good win...BC's determination impressed me
and I have to say that I like this BC team a lot more than last year's.
They are certainly headed in the right direction.
 
The game was very entertaining.  Prime picked up the broadcast of the game,
and I encourage you to watch it in your area if you can.  I believe it is
being broadcast on delay in most places at 4 pm ET Saturday.
 
BTW, this was only the second time I have ever seen a team score on itself
during a delayed penalty.  The other time was almost ten years ago, in a
Cornell-RPI game that has been discussed on HOCKEY-L before.  That time,
during a delayed penalty signaled against Cornell with RPI already on a
power play, RPI tried a pass back to a pointman who wasn't there and the
puck went the length of the ice into the empty RPI net.  Cornell wound up
winning in ot, 6-5, and if I remember correctly, the result affected the
ECAC standings that year.
 
The thing that I am most curious about regarding the goal is, was it
charged against BC goalie Greg Taylor?  This kind of thing has happened so
rarely that I do not know how people tend to count it.  On the one hand, it
was scored into an empty net; on the other hand, in these situations, the
time that the goalie is out is usually not subtracted from the time the
goalie plays, and also you can make a case for Taylor still being somewhat
responsible by virtue of the fact that he left the net when he probably
shouldn't have - although Callahan was really the guy who caused the goal
to happen.  Anyway, I'll be interested to see how it was handled.
 
REASONER
This was the first time I had seen BC, and I was looking forward to seeing
highly touted rookie Marty Reasoner.  He didn't disappoint and looks like
an early shoo-in to be named HE Rookie of the Year.  He was named the
game's #1 star with two goals and an assist, and he was a force all night
offensively.  This guy has a nose for the net, he is a great playmaker, he
stickhandles well, and he generates offense wherever he goes.
 
However, if there's an area he still has to work on, it's defense.  I was
surprised that in the third period, Norton lauded Reasoner for his
defensive play on the night.  Yes, he does hustle and tries to get back to
help out.  But he was probably responsible for two Lowell goals tonight.
On Lowell's third goal, a 2x1, he didn't cover the man without the puck and
instead chose to face the net and hold his stick down along the ice.  The
Lowell player (Campbell?) simply centered the puck and it went in off of
Reasoner's outstretched stick.  Norton noted that Reasoner should have
forgotten the puck and worked on tying up his man, which he didn't do.
 
And on Lowell's fourth goal, although Norton didn't draw attention to this,
I thought Reasoner could have done more to prevent it.  Mahoney carried up
the right side and was fought off nicely by BC D Ken Hemenway.  But Mahoney
was able to collect the puck behind the net and wheeled around in front to
score easily.  Reasoner had an opportunity to prevent Mahoney from wheeling
in front, but instead he backed off and gave Mahoney a clear lane.
 
But besides this, I was still quite impressed with the guy.  He brings a
new dimension to the BC offense, and his defensive mistakes were nothing
more than ones that freshmen typically make.  Once he gets those ironed
out, he has the potential to be a great two-way player.  I did like the way
he hustled to get back on the 2x1, even if he made the mistake of turning
the wrong way.  And I haven't seen a better HE rookie yet.
 
Some say that Reasoner won't be around long because of his talent, but I
believe that he will benefit greatly from at least a few years in college
hockey during which he can improve his two-way game.  And from a selfish
standpoint, I hope I do get a few more years to watch him.  He might be the
most exciting rookie to come into the league since Paul Kariya, although a
case could be made for Jeff Tory last season.
 
TAYLOR
BC goalie Greg Taylor had a good night, I thought.  His defense was very
inconsistent (both teams' defensive play left much to be desired), but he
tended to control rebounds and of the four Lowell goals I saw (missed the
5th), I'd only say that he had a shot at the first.  Give this guy a good
defense and he'll be okay.
 
LOWELL
I was a little disappointed in Lowell's play.  They had this game handed to
them on a silver platter in the second, but they played so poorly
defensively that they let BC back in it.
 
But I still think Bruce Crowder is one of the best coaches in college
hockey.  I don't know if it's recruiting or the way he coaches, but I
really like the hard work and determination that his team displays.  It's
probably a combination of both recruiting and coaching.  Crowder's team
certainly reflects his philosophy on playing the game hard, and also he
seems to keep bringing in players who continually work and overachieve.
 
ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION
In fact, both teams are much better this year without some of the problem
players from last year who graduated or left early.  Lowell doesn't seem to
miss Greg Bullock at all, and as I suspected, they are more disciplined
without the negative influence he had.  And last year, I noticed that BC
tended to be hurt by dumb penalties taken by seniors who seemed more
interested in retaliation than in winning games.  Even though they
graduated a lot of players, I think BC is also a better team for their
improved discipline.  When Rick McAdoo says, "BC will return," I believe
him, and the only question is how soon - not if.
 
The league will definitely benefit by a BC team that returns to the
national prominence they once enjoyed.  Add in the play of Lowell and PC so
far, as well as the rapid improvement of UMass, and HE is a very exciting
league to watch.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
>> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System  <<
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