Saturday, February 1, 1992 at Snively Arena, Durham, NH
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (12-14-0, 3-11-0 HE) 1 2 0 - 3
New Hampshire Wildcats (15-9-1, 8-4-1 HE) 2 2 3 - 7
FIRST PERIOD NH-MC
1. MC1, Chris Davis 1 (Chris Ross, Guy Ragault), 4:33. 0-1
2. NH1, Mike Guilbert 2 (Eric Royal, Gregg Blow), 15:06. 1-1
3. NH2, Domenic Amodeo 17 (Glenn Stewart, Greg Klym), 18:05. 2-1
SECOND PERIOD
4. MC2, Teal Fowler 16 (Davis), 5:54. SHG 2-2
5. NH3, Rob Donovan 6 (Nick Poole, Jason Dexter), 10:22. 3-2
6. NH4, Dexter 3 (Poole), 13:49. GWG 4-2
7. MC3, Rob Kelley 8 (Dan Gravelle, Alex Weinrich), 16:51. PPG 4-3
THIRD PERIOD
8. NH5, Scott Morrow 21 (Joe Flanagan), 3:50. PPG 5-3
9. NH6, Flanagan 19 (Savo Mitrovic, Amodeo), 19:15. 6-3
10. NH7, Flanagan 20 (Mitrovic), 19:44. 7-3
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 12-12--7 = 31
New Hampshire 14-12-20 = 46
GOALIES: Merrimack, Steve D'Amore (10-13-0, 60:00, 46 shots-39 saves).
UNH, Jeff Levy (13-9-1, 60:00, 31 shots-28 saves).
POWER PLAYS: Merrimack, 1 of 2. UNH, 1 of 4.
PENALTIES: Merrimack 6/12. UNH 3/6.
REFEREE: Steve McBride. LINESMEN: Chuck Wynters, Tim Benedetto.
ATTENDANCE: 3,392 (capacity 3,530).
THREE STARS: 1. Jason Dexter, UNH (1-1--2).
2. Joe Flanagan, UNH (2-1--3).
3. Nick Poole, UNH (0-2--2).
In a game that was closer than the 7-3 score indicates, UNH got balanced
scoring from all four lines to take its second win over Merrimack this
season. As the box shows, UNH's last two goals came in the last minute
of play.
WARRIORS AND WILDCATS WOUNDED
Merrimack got bad news after last night's game. Not only was forward John
Barron lost with an injured elbow, likely for the season, but senior
F-D Claude Maillet is also probably gone for the season with an injury.
Maillet had moved back to defense to try to stabilize that position after
several injuries, but now he is gone too. The list of Merrimack players
out of the lineup is long enough to start another team. Barron, Maillet,
Mark Cornforth, Jason Pagni, Jim Gibson, Yannick Gosselin, Aggie Casale,
Matt Hentges, and Rob Atkinson were out for one reason or another, and
both Matt Crowley and Don MacLeod played but are still recovering from
injuries. One-third of the players iced by Merrimack tonight saw time
with the JV team this season. No excuses, of course, because you play
the hand dealt to you, but Ron Anderson has really faced a difficult time
this season finding players to fill in. The Warriors were averaging losing
a player a game to injury over the last six games before escaping tonight
unscathed. In the pregame interview, when asked what he was looking for
against UNH, Anderson said, "To get out of the game with no injuries!"
UNH was also without a few key players - Bob Chebator took a vicious hit
the night before from Lowell's Aaron Kriss and was at the game but looked
like he had just returned from a war. He suffered a concussion and bad
face lacerations, but is apparently okay. Thomson and Eric Flinton were
also out of the lineup but should return Friday.
THE GAME
Both teams started out skating well and had good opportunities. Freshman
Chris Davis, playing in his second game, got Merrimack on the board with
his first goal at 4:33 when he deflected in Chris Ross's shot. Guy Ragault
also assisted. Davis and Ragault have both seen limited action this
season but showed tonight that they have earned a spot in the lineup with
their strong two-way play. They will be counted on even more with all of
the injuries.
Merrimack got good pressure on Levy but he was equal to the task, making a
superb pad save on a point-blank shot by Gravelle. The Warriors rebounded
well from the 7-0 pasting they suffered to PC the night before with a good
overall effort.
But the Wildcats got the better of the play late in the period and came up
with two goals to take a 2-1 lead after one. Off a faceoff, Mike Guilbert
took a feed from Eric Royal and beat D'Amore as the two New Hampshire
natives combined on the tally at 15:06. Three minutes later, Domenic
Amodeo knocked in a rebound for his 17th goal of the season.
Teal Fowler tied it for Merrimack early in the second with a shorthanded
goal, his 16th goal of the year. Davis was given the penalty-killing
shift and stole the puck, carrying up the right side on a 2x1 and putting
a shot on Levy. Levy made the stop with his blocker or elbow, but Fowler
was right there to bang in the rebound.
But UNH came right back with two goals to go up 4-2. Rob Donovan put in
the rebound of Nick Poole's shot at 10:22, then Jason Dexter blasted
a shot past D'Amore from the left circle at 13:49. The line of Donovan-
Dexter-Poole played very well and came up with the big goals in the period
that enabled UNH to take a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Dexter and Poole
would each earn stars for their efforts.
Three minutes after Dexter's blast, the Warriors pulled within one on the
power play at 16:51. Rob Kelley got his 8th goal when he put in the
rebound of Gravelle's shot, and it was 4-3 after two.
The Wildcats got a big goal on the power play at 3:50 of the third when
leading goal scorer Scott Morrow got his 21st to make it 5-3. Merrimack
hurt its cause by taking three penalties in the third, and although they
allowed just the one PPG to Morrow, it was a big one, putting them down
by two on the road. The top UNH line of Morrow-Flanagan-Mitrovic, which
had been silent in the first two periods, led an onslaught of 20 shots
on D'Amore of the third, and although the Merrimack netminder made several
great stops to keep the deficit at 2, Merrimack was unable to generate
much offense on Levy. Finally, Flanagan scored twice in the final minute
of play to make the final score 7-3.
EPILOGUE
Falling to 3-11-0, Merrimack lost a chance to pull ahead of Northeastern
this weekend as both teams now have the same record, and so Friday's game
at NU could help decide which team goes to Maine for the playoffs. The
Wildcats vaulted over BU into a tie with Providence for 2nd with 17 pts,
just two behind Maine if the Black Bears held on and defeated Lowell.
UNH will also face a Beanpot team Friday, hosting BC, and then they go
to PC Saturday in what should be a very big game between a battle of
second-place teams.
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com
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