Merrimack remained perfect at 4-0-0 with an exciting 3-2 overtime win
over visiting Colgate.  Mark Goble scored the winner at 2:43 of OT as
he banged in the rebound of a shot by Mark Cornforth after Cornforth
had rushed the puck up the left side and tried to stuff it past
Colgate goalie Shawn Murray.  Murray played well, stopping 28 shots
and earning the third star.  Martin Legault continued to shine,
turning aside 31 of 33 shots in posting his third win and bringing his
GAA below 2.00.  Colgate fell to 0-2-0.
 
The first period belonged to Colgate (shots 11-4) but the only goal
came from Merrimack's Matt Adams (3rd), a blast from the right circle
on a rush at 7:59.  Legault was the key to the period for Merrimack,
as the Warriors had to deal with an impressive forecheck by Colgate
that forced them to turn over the puck for quite a few good chances.
But the freshman was there to stop all 11 shots he faced.
 
Merrimack came out storming in the second, outshooting Colgate 6-0 at
one point, but it was Murray's turn to come up big.  MC took a 2-0
lead with a shorthanded goal at 8:56, a shot from the right point by D
Dan Hodge after Goble and Rob Beck had carried the play into the
Colgate zone.  The goal came two seconds into a Red Raider power play
following a 4x4 situation.
 
At this point, Colgate stepped up its play and would fight back to
nearly even the shot totals for the period.  Although it looked like
Legault was about to stone the opposition for the first two periods in
his third straight game, Colgate got on the board at 16:40 of the
period when D Nigel Creightney and C Mike Harder worked a give-and-go
starting from the left point, with Creightney beating Legault to cut
it to 2-1.
 
The third was pretty evenly played, with Colgate scoring the only goal
at 6:59.  D Todd Murphy picked up a loose puck high in the slot and
fired it past Legault to tie it up at 2-2.  With the momentum swung to
Colgate's side, Legault would make the biggest save of the game right
after the score when his glove flashed out to rob Greg Lewis of what
would have been the go-ahead goal.  It was a stop very similar to the
one he made on Kelly Askew at RPI.
 
Goaltending was the story the rest of the period, especially for
Colgate as Murray kept the game tied with good positional play on
Merrimack rushes; then Goble would get the winner in OT.  It didn't
play a part in the outcome, but fans had to wonder if they were in the
Boston Garden with all the fog in the third period and OT.  It was
raining and very humid outside, and there were problems with fog
forming over the ice and the glass fogging up, although it never
delayed the game.
 
Overall, a well-played game by both teams.  Merrimack made quite a few
horrendous passes out of its own end early on, but Colgate could not
capitalize after doing a nice job of stepping up to pick them off.
Once Colgate got the puck in the Merrimack end, the defense did a
superb job of knocking the forwards around and helping Legault by
clearing loose pucks.  This could have been a different game if
Colgate had scored on a couple of its golden chances in the first
period.  Colgate also did a nice job of bottling up the Merrimack
forwards once into the neutral zone; rarely could Merrimack mount a
serious burst of speed up ice for a quality shot on goal.
 
BTW, Heather stepped into the lineup :-) in her first game doing the
shot chart - and she did a great job, earning an honorable star of the
game.  Good work by the rookie.  SID Jim Seavey wrote on Heather's
place sitting card, "Heather Neely (one more week, anyway...)". :-)
 
It also looks like Merrimack may have an Ogre of its own.  There was
some guy slamming his hands and head on the glass in front of the
student section, generally going nuts and firing up the crowd.  We'll
have to see if he makes any more appearances.
 
Merrimack next hosts Dartmouth Saturday night, while Colgate plays at
unbeaten (2-0) UMass-Lowell the same night.  In the Dartmouth game,
Heather and I make our last appearance at either a Merrimack or a
college hockey game as single people.  There won't be any radio
tomorrow, by the way.
---                                                                  ---
Mike Machnik                                           [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                   *HMN* 11/13/93
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