Three exhibition scores from Hockey East this weekend:
Fri. Concordia 5 at Lowell 5
Sat. Concordia 2 at Providence 11
Sun. Concordia 2 at Merrimack 5
Merrimack outshot the Stingers from Montreal, 48-23
(37-14 over the first two periods). The Warriors' returning
leading scorer, Agostino Casale, opened the scoring late in
the first period from Matt Hentges & Jeff Massey. Casale began
the year on left wing but has since been switched to center.
Concordia evened it up early in the second with Merrimack freshman
Rob Atkinson in the box on a major for hitting from behind,
but goals from Dan Gravelle (Matt Crowley) and John Barron (Cooper
Naylor, Dan Hodge) made it 3-1 Merrimack. Barron's goal was
a PPG with Marc Morin of Concordia in the box on a major for -
you guessed it, hitting from behind. Concordia cut the lead to
3-2 late in the second and owned much of the play for most of
the third, but they couldn't penetrate Mike Doneghey. Crowley
(Atkinson, Gravelle) and Naylor (Barron, Teal Fowler) added
tallies 18 seconds apart (15:07, 15:25) to put it away.
For Merrimack, each of the three varsity goalies saw a period
of action - 1st, Yannick Gosselin (6 shots-6 saves); 2nd,
Steve D'Amore (8-6); 3rd, Doneghey (9-9).
If there is a starting goalie at this point, it is probably
Gosselin. He seems to be playing with much more confidence
now, and that was undoubtedly earned from his performance in
the Hockey East quarterfinals last year when he backstopped
Merrimack to a near-gargantuan-upset of eventual league champ
Boston College, playing all three games. However, Coach Ron
Anderson has no qualms about yanking one guy for another, and
it would be a mistake to think that Gosselin has the job nailed
down. All three goalies played well yesterday but they weren't
really tested. Concordia was not a very good team.
These lines will probably change drastically before the season
starts, but yesterday Anderson went with the following (please
see my roster posting for more player information):
LW C RW
1 26 Lebeau (sr) 14 Casale (jr) 8 Massey (so)
2 11 Atkinson (fr) 16 Gravelle (so) 19 Crowley (so)
3 10 Fowler (so) 18 Naylor (fr) 21 Barron (so)
4 7 Gibson (fr) 15 B. Locke (jr) 23 Ragault (so)
5 17 Fendelet (fr) 22 Kelley (jr) 12 McMillan (fr)
LD RD
1 24 Miller (so) 4 Maillet (jr)
2 2 Hentges (jr) 6 Weinrich (so)
3 20 Greschuk (sr) 3 Hodge (fr)
4 5 Doyle (sr) 27 Dooley (sr)
(Hodge is the son of Ken & brother of Ken Jr., and Weinrich is
the brother of former Maine Black Bear/US Olympic Team member
Eric.)
Fowler, for example, was first line center last week, but this
week he was third line LW, so that's a good example of how the
spots are very flexible. I wouldn't be surprised to see
Anderson juggle lines much of the season, at least at the start.
A quick inspection of the above line chart shows that of the
23 non-goalies who played yesterday (not playing were forwards
Howie Rosenblatt (sr) and Steve Cardosi (sr), and Rosenblatt
at least probably has a spot nailed down on the first or second
line), this is the breakdown by class:
F D
Sr: 1 3
Jr: 4 2
So: 5 2
Fr: 5 1
So again, the Warriors' inexperience will be a problem. But
7 D and all 3 goalies have at least a year of play under their
belts, so perhaps we'll see a reduction in goals-against from
last year's average of more than five goals/game, and Anderson
would more than welcome that while his offense gains its sea legs.
Next report from this weekend's upcoming Hockey East Jamboree.
- mike
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