Saturday, October 26, 1991 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA
Alabama-Huntsville Chargers (1-1-0) 1 3 1 - 5
Merrimack Warriors (1-0-0) 3 0 4 - 7
FIRST PERIOD MC-AH
1. AH, Todd Awender 1 (unassisted), 0:43. SHG 0-1
2. MC, Bryan Miller 1 (Jim Gibson, Agostino Casale), 7:26. PPG 1-1
3. MC, Alex Weinrich 1 (Casale, Dan Gravelle), 10:45. 2-1
4. MC, Casale 1 (Gravelle, Gibson), 11:47. 3-1
SECOND PERIOD
5. AH, Curt Krolak 1 (Ken Thibodeau), 0:48. SHG 3-2
6. AH, Doug McDonald 1 (Stuart Vitue), 6:46. 3-3
7. AH, Thibodeau 3 (unassisted), 18:46. 3-4
THIRD PERIOD
8. MC, Claude Maillet 1 (Gravelle, Casale), 6:58. PPG 4-4
9. MC, Gravelle 1 (Maillet, Teal Fowler), 9:33. PPG 5-4
10. MC, Fowler 1 (Rob Atkinson, Matt Crowley), 11:41. GWG 6-4
11. AH, Vitue 1 (Dave Slifka), 18:01. 6-5
12. MC, Casale 2 (Gravelle), 19:38. ENG 7-5
SHOTS ON GOAL: AH 9-11--7 = 27
MC 24-14-16 = 54
GOALIES: AH, Manny Butera (59:10, 53 shots-47 saves).
MC, Yannick Gosselin (28:36, 13 shots-10 saves),
Steve D'Amore (31:24, 14 shots-12 saves).
POWER PLAYS: AH, 0 of 6; MC, 3 of 9.
PENALTIES: AH, 15/33; MC, 12/27.
PENALTY DU JOUR: tie, hitting after the whistle/hitting from behind/
roughing (4 each).
REFEREE: Bill Jones. LINESMEN: Jim Bletzer, Hans Baker.
ATT: 1,657.
THREE STARS: 1) Agostino Casale, Merrimack (2-3--5).
2) Dan Gravelle, Merrimack (1-4--5).
3) Ken Thibodeau, Alabama-Huntsville (1-1--2).
In a rematch of last season's opening game between these two clubs,
Merrimack bounced back from a 4-3 deficit with three straight goals to
open the third and held on for a 7-5 win. Last year, the teams battled
to a 6-6 tie.
Word was that Huntsville's 7-2 win the night before over Lowell was
due much more to a poor performance by Lowell, and the 54-27 edge in
shots tonight was a good indication of the fact that Merrimack has just
too many big guns for Huntsville. But the Chargers play with a lot of
heart and might have pulled this one out if they didn't run out of gas
in the third. Again, as with the Providence exhibition, Merrimack played
two solid periods in the first and third and had a lackluster second. This
is something of concern for Ron Anderson thus far, failure to play a
full 60 minutes.
Merrimack's first line of Gibson-Gravelle-Casale combined for three goals
and nine assists on the night. Casale, a preseason All-America candidate
of The Sporting News and Merrimack's leading returning scorer, picked up
right where he left off last year. He was literally all over the ice and
earned his #1 star. Freshman LW Matt Adams was dropped down to the second
line, presumably because he and Gravelle are relatively similar types of
players and Anderson thought it better to split the two up. Adams was
kept off the board tonight, but he didn't see much time early on with
all the penalties. Only about 6 of the first 25 minutes were played at
even strength.
Despite scoring three goals, Merrimack's power play was only +1 on the
night as Huntsville took advantage of poor play by MC's points and scored
two shorthanded goals, one in the first minute of each of the first two
periods. Merrimack allowed only three SHG all of last season, and this
is a dangerous precedent to set for the season. I wouldn't have been
too surprised if Ron Anderson had started declining penalties.
UAH played better defense than the 54 shots would indicate, and they
took the play to Merrimack for much of the second period despite being
on the short end of the size advantage. Thibodeau and Krolak were
fantastic killing penalties, forcing the point and generating quite a
few shorthanded chances. Butera, a freshman, saw 24 shots in the opening
period and kept his team within two goals entering the second.
A plus for Merrimack was the offensive play of the defensemen, who have
not been too involved in scoring over the past two years. Tonight, the
defense combined for three goals and an assist. Merrimack defensemen
combined for only 10 goals all of last season.
In the Warrior net, The Goose was yanked almost nine minutes into the
second despite allowing only three goals, two of them shorthanded. Steve
D'Amore came in from the bullpen and played well the rest of the game,
allowing two goals.
On the UAH roster is freshman goalie Derek Puppa. He is the younger
brother of former RPI and current Buffalo Sabres goalie Daren Puppa.
Derek did not make the trip with the Chargers.
UAH has a tough weekend, playing Hockey East teams Lowell, Merrimack
and Providence back-to-back-to-back. Merrimack next travels to Union
and RPI Nov 1-2 and then returns home for the Hockey East opener against
Boston College on Wednesday, November 6. I believe that all of Merrimack's
first nine games are winnable, with the toughest matches likely to be
RPI and two with BC. This opening stretch will go a long way towards
telling what kind of season Merrimack will have. If the Warriors come
out of it 7-2 or better, I think a 20-win season is within grasp.
Finally, although rumors continue to run rampant that UAH will drop down
to DivIII after this season, Doug Ross has the Chargers playing an
exciting brand of hockey and they may surprise some people in 1991-92.
I'm sure scheduling isn't going to get any easier with Notre Dame and
Kent about to enter the CCHA and with Hockey East going from 21 to 28
league games next season, unfortunately, and I get the feeling that may
play a huge part in their decision. I hope something can be worked out
to keep Huntsville at the DivI level.
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Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
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