The Lowell Riverhawks continue to pile up HockeyEast points as they handed the
short-handed Boston College Eagles their fourth straight loss. Lowell's senior
Ryan Sandholm scored the game-winner at 10:19 of the third period and freshman
Greg Koehler ( pronounced Keel-er ) added an insurance goal at 16:56.
 
Both goals were on power-plays with Eagles freshman Kevin Caulfield (Thayer
Academy & Hyde Park, Mass.) in the penalty box. Eagles junior Jamie O'Leary (
Needham, Mass.) had given Boston College the tie score ( 4 to 4 )at 8:25 of the
third. Less than a minute later, Caulfield and Lowell defenseman Anthony
Cappelletti where mixing it up far behind the play back in the Lowell zone.
Once they freed themselves, Cappelletti rushed up ice in an attempt to join the
Lowell pressure in the B.C. zone. Apparently, Caulfield tried to deter this and
brought Cappelletti down ... giving Lowell a power-play at 9:27.
 
Sandholm, a forward playing the point on power-plays, took a feed from Mike
Nicholishen and let go a low-slapper that beat Eagle goalie Mike Correia ( from
local Tewksbury, Mass. ) at 10:19. Sandholm's excellent puck-handling skills
and strong shot make him an excellent point-man in these situations. It was
Ryan's second goal of the game, his eighth of the season.
 
After that, Lowell went into a fairly effective trap play. It took nearly five
minutes for B.C. to penetrate the Lowell zone in an attempt to tie the score.
It was during some eventual offensive pressure by B.C. that Caulfield made his
second mistake. The freshman got Lowell goalie Marty Fillion's stick up under
his arm and apparently got it stuck somehow, because Marty let go of it,
apparently intentionally to show the offense, and the stick stayed up under
Kevin's arm, probably caught on his Jersey somehow. The penalty was for holding
so the offense may not have been as I saw it.
 
Once again, it took Lowell less than a minute to take advantage. This time,
Lowell senior Neil Donovan fed Koehler from the corner and the freshman snapped
one by Correia from about 20' feet out in the slot. The goal was the freshman's
seventh of the season. The point was his second of the game and 18th of the
season, making him HockeyEast's leading rookie scorer overall as well as the
league lead he already held. Greg Koehler continues to impress as a skilled
play-maker, goal scorer and face-off man.
 
The rest of the game was more effective trap play by Lowell. There were a few
chances by B.C. but Fillion held strong. Lowell's freshman Chris Bell and
Eagles freshman Mike Mottau ( Thayer Academy & Avon, Mass. ) mixed it up and
got called for penalties at 19:29. Each receiving a 2 minute roughing and 1-
minute misconduct. I just saw the end of the fracas, it being behind the play,
and what I saw was Mottau on top of a covered Bell, and Mottau was throwing
punches. As Hockey-L'er and B.C. fan Rick McAdoo ( pronounced Mac-a-doo ) said
"He's really mad about something."
 
Early on, it wasn't so apparent the evening would prove so successful for the
Riverhawks. Two early miscues by Lowell defenseman led to B.C.'s early 2-0
lead. The first happened at 6:24, soon after Lowell had killed B.C.'s first
power play. A Lowell defenseman ( not sure who ) took the puck behind the
Lowell net as he was proceeding to skate up ice. As he came out from behind, he
lost the puck as he attempted to assess the play up ice. The puck rolled to the
corner, where he assumed another Lowell player would see it at his feet. Well,
he didn't, and Eagle senior Ryan Taylor ( from local N. Andover ) scored what
may have well been his first collegiate goal. Ryan came down the boards,
grabbed the puck and headed to the net, putting a quick wrist-shot past Fillion
and the B.C. bench erupted with a strange cackling cheer for the senior.
 
Less than four minutes later, Cappelletti attempted to restart to offensive
advance by passing back to his fellow blue-liner Nicholishen who was about ten
feet inside the Lowell zone. Well the pass was soft and Eagle senior David
Wainwright ( Thayer Academy & Westwood, Mass. ) beat Fillion at 10:11.
 
Lowell got one back quickly at 10:59 as Koehler one a face-off back to Bertram
at the point. He let go a slap-shot that was partially blocked, but strong
enough to reach Sandholm at the top of the crease, who re-directed it past
Correia for Lowell's first goal. It appeared Sandholm didn't have a great read
on the blocked shot ... and was simply a benefactor of the old hockey slogan
"Keep your stick on the ice!".
 
Lowell penalty killing unit was then to get some major work as they went down
5-on-3 after calls to Bertram for charging at 11:31 and Tormey for roughing at
12:48. The Tormey call was atrocious in my opinion. Trying to kill a penalty
and maintain a box formation, Tormey was being interfered with by an Eagle
forward. After about 15-20 seconds of this, he finally retaliated way too
demonstratively ... and got the call. Incidently, Lowell forward Doug Nolan (
Quincy, Mass. ) was also interfered with, preventing him from reaching a point
man with the puck. Fortunately for Lowell, the Eagle point man shot into a
crowd and the puck never reached the net. Given a two-man advantage for 0:43,
the Eagle power-play moved the puck well and got several fine shots. Fillion
and Lowell hung on, however. Lowell got their first power-play at 14:44 but
wasn't able to score either.
 
Fourth line forwards did even the score for Lowell at 17:26 though. Freshman
Jamie Graham (S. Windsor, Conn.), playing in his second collegiate game, fed
freshman Craig Brown who beat Correia for the tying tally. A late period score
from freshman John Campbell (Westboro, Mass.) gave Lowell a 3-2 lead at 19:50.
 
Bertram made it 4-2 for Lowell at 12:42 of the second and O'Leary made it 4-3
at 16:32.
 
Two players who didn't figure in the scoring but played outstanding games were
Lowell junior Shannon Basaraba and Lowell sophomore Mike Mulligan. Basaraba's
high-flying rushes kept B.C. on their toes all game. Mulligan's tenacious
fore-checking and bruising body play make him a force on the ice.
 
Senior Neil Donovan garnered three assists on the night to pad his team leading
stats. Updated stats are as follows
 
Player        Pos.  Class   G   A   Pts.
Neil Donovan   C    Sr.   8  19   27   (Among top-5 in HockeyEast)
Ryan Sandholm  LW   Sr.   8  10   18
Greg Koehler   C    Fr.   7  10   17   (HockeyEast Rookie Leader)
Marc Salsman   C    Sr.   7   7   14
Mike Nicholishen LD Jr.   3  10   13
 
WJUL's Three Stars (Chosen by Chaz Scoggins, Lowell Sun)
1- Ryan Sandholm, Lowell  (2G)
2- Neil Donovan, Lowell   (3A)
3- Chris Masters, Boston College (1G)
 
Lowell faces off against the Maine Black Bears tonight at Tully Forum in
Billerica at 7:00. Lowell is 1-2 vs. Maine this year. Playing a pair of
overtime games in Maine in Nov., losing one and winning one. Then playing
another close game in Vermont the next weekend. It will be nice to have the
Black Bears on our home ice at last. This will be the last time we see Maine
until next season and we won't see B.C. again unless we meet in the Hockey East
playoffs. (That is if they finish 6th and place us in the quarterfinals!
*wink*)
 
Lowell is now 20-23-5 against Boston College in 48 games.
They will meet Maine for the 55th time tonight, the Black Bears holding a
commanding 33-20-1 edge in the first 54 meetings.
 
I could go on and on ... but I wouldn't want to miss tonight's game! *smile*
 
Riverhawk fan,
        Paul Gentile
 
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