Wednesday, February 2, 1994 at Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (10-14-2, 3-11-2, HE 8th) 1 0 2 1 - 4
Boston College Eagles (10-11-3, 4-9-3 HE 7th) 1 2 0 0 - 3
FIRST PERIOD MC-BC
1. BC1, Ryan Haggerty 11 (Michael Spalla, Jeff Connolly), 12:42. PPG 0-1
2. MC1, Jim Gibson 6 (Rob Atkinson), 17:50. PPG 1-1
SECOND PERIOD
3. BC2, John Joyce 13 (Joe Harney, Rob LaFerriere), 1:46. 1-2
4. BC3, Connolly 6 (Brian Callahan, Don Chase), 18:55. 1-3
THIRD PERIOD
5. MC2, Tom Johnson 8 (unassisted), 2:12. 2-3
6. MC3, Mark Goble 5 (unassisted), 7:13. 3-3
OVERTIME
7. MC4, Goble 6 (Gibson, Johnson), 3:22. GWG 4-3
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 6-15--7--3 = 31
Boston College 9-10--9--3 = 31
SAVES: MC, Martin Legault (63:22, W, 8-13-2, 31 sh-28 sv).
BC, Greg Taylor (63:22, L, 9-10-3, 31-27).
POWER PLAYS: MC 1 for 3. BC 1 for 3.
PENALTIES: MC 4/8. BC 4/8.
REFEREES: Scott Leavitt, Frank Cole. LINESMAN: Dennis Hughes.
ATTENDANCE: (not given) est. 1200
THREE STARS: 1. RW Mark Goble, Merrimack (2-0--2, GWG).
2. RW John Joyce, Boston College (1-0--1).
3. G Martin Legault, Merrimack (31 sh-28 sv).
Merrimack came back from a 3-1 deficit entering the third with goals by
Tom Johnson and Mark Goble, and then Goble scored his second of the
game 3:22 into OT to keep Merrimack unbeaten in HE overtime games
(7-0-2 since 1989). The Warriors are also unbeaten in OT over the
last two seasons, 7-0-4 (3-0-2 in 1993-94).
The win kept Merrimack within striking distance of 7th place BC, just
three points ahead. The teams will play Friday night at Merrimack
and again next Friday and BC in a set that could go a long way towards
determining where the two teams will finish.
The win also gave Merrimack head coach Ron Anderson 199 career
victories (199-162-11 in 11 seasons).
Only 8 penalties were called in the game, a stark contrast to Friday's
BU-Merrimack game which saw 48 penalties called. Scott Leavitt worked
both games.
FIRST
BC opened the scoring at 12:42 with five seconds left on a power play.
Ryan Haggerty took a center ice feed from Michael Spalla and fired
the puck past Legault from the right circle. Legault was screened by
his own man.
Merrimack tied it up with 2:10 left in the period on a PP of its own,
when Rob Atkinson won the draw over to Jim Gibson who beat a defenseman
and quickly flipped the puck past Greg Taylor.
SECOND
The Eagles went ahead at 1:46 when Merrimack wasn't able to contain
John Joyce for a rebound. Joe Harney's shot from the point went wide
to Legault's right and off the backboard, but it came right out in front
to Joyce who banged it in for his 13th goal.
Both goalies made big saves in the period. Taylor robbed Merrimack's
Gibson with a nifty glove stop on a 2x1. On a BC power play, Legault
was challenged by Jack Callahan from point blank range but turned the
shot away. Taylor would face 15 Merrimack shots in the second and
stop them all.
While Merrimack was on a power play later, a strange BC mistake nearly
allowed the Warriors to tie the score on a delayed penalty. Greg
Callahan was being called for crosschecking Claudio Peca behind the net,
but when Peca was able to get the puck free and send a lazy pass to
the point, BC's Rob LaFerriere oddly chose to lay off the puck and let
it come to Dan Hodge instead of touching it to draw the whistle. Hodge's
shot almost beat Taylor, as did a shot on the rebound, before BC touched
it to get the whistle. That put Merrimack up 5x3 for 1:34, but BC
did an effective job of killing it off.
With 1:05 left in the period, the Eagles took a 3-1 lead when Matt
Adams had trouble bringing the puck out from behind his own net. Adams
lost the puck in Legault's skates and it came out front, where three
Eagles took a whack at it, Jeff Connolly finally putting it in for
his 6th goal. With the way Merrimack was having trouble generating
offense and Taylor was turning aside everything in the BC net, that
goal looked to be a big one.
THIRD
But Merrimack came out and took advantage of its chances in the third,
skating better than it had in the first two periods and finally developing
some plays out of its own end. Tom Johnson cut the lead to 3-2 at 2:12
when he won a draw in the BC end and fired a turnaround shot that
eluded Taylor. Then at 7:13, Goble picked up the puck off a turnover
and went up the right side, blasting a shot from the right circle to
tie it at 3-3. BC had a power play with about 5 min left, but Legault
made a big save with the right pad off of Joyce and Merrimack killed
it off.
OVERTIME
Goble got the winner at 3:22 when he camped in front, took a pass from
Gibson in the corner and quickly beat Taylor.
POSTGAME
The win broke a six game winless streak for Merrimack (0-5-1) and
it couldn't have come at a better time. Merrimack needs to do nothing
short of win all three games vs BC to have a fighting chance of
finishing higher than last. Cooper Naylor's penalty killing was
superb, and Gibson played one of his stronger games of the season.
Tom Costa was outstanding on defense - and he didn't even take a penalty.
Legault has now allowed only 24 goals in his last 7 games and
continues to make a strong case for his being named to the All-Rookie
Team. 24 in 7 games might not seem like much until you remember that
this team was routinely allowing 6+ goals/game the last few seasons.
BC has also been playing well defensively, allowing no more than 4 goals
in each of their last 5 games, but the Eagles are having trouble
scoring just like Merrimack. David Hymovitz (14-10--24) was kept off
the board, as was Jack Callahan (9-11--20) and Rob Canavan (7-10--17).
The teams meet again at Merrimack on Friday before Merrimack travels
to Mass Amherst in a NC tilt Sunday and BC faces Northeastern in the
Beanpot Monday.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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