In a game played Wednesday night in North Andover MA, The Boston College
Eagles earned a hard fought 3-1 victory over the Warriors of Merrimack
College.
 
In the first period, there were two goals.  The first was scored by
BC just twenty seconds into the game.  David Franzosa fired a shot that
got thru Merrimack goalie Steve D'amore for a quick one to nothing lead.
The assists went to Jason Rathbone and Marc Beran.  All too often this
happens to Merrimack.  They allow a goal in the first five minutes or
so of the first period.  They might get away with it against Independents
or weaker teams in the leagues, but against BC's and other powerful
teams, Merrimack can not afford to do this.
 
Merrimack tied the game up at the 9:33 mark.  On a four on four situation,
Defenseman Mark Cornforth wound up and shot a slap shot.  The shot was
blocked, but the puck bounced to Agostino Casale.  Casale hit Teal Fowler
right out in front for a quick shot that got by Scott LaGrand for the
tie.
 
The goal that really broke Merrimack's back came at the 19:31 mark of the
second period.  It wasn't that it put the game out of reach, it was
a situation where Dan Gravelle had just missed an open net on a backhander
by putting it over the net.  From my vantage point, I couldn't tell if
LaGrand got a hand on it, or if Gravelle just got under his backhand shot
too much.  Anyway, the goal by BC was scored by Sal Manganaro.  He got
the puck in front of the Warriors net when defenseman Alex Weinrich fell
behind the net.  The assist went to Mark Beran.
 
The scoring was closed out by John Joyce.  It was an empty netter and
was unassisted at 19:46 of the third period.
 
 
Personal thoughts:
 
This game could have gone either way.  Neither goalie had to make a lot
of saves, but the percentage of those saves that were quality saves was
very high.  Both goalies played extremely well.  Merrimack I believe, had
the better oppurtunitys, but couldn't convert.
 
I was impressed with the play of two Warriors that you won't find on
the scorecard (* That could be several of them ;-) *)  I think Jim Gibson
and Mark Cornforth played extremely solid games.
 
 
Shots on goal:
 
BC   6   7   5   -   18
MC   6   8   5   -   19
 
Scoring by Period:
 
BC   1   1   1   -   3
MC   1   0   0   -   1
 
Saves:
BC (LaGrand)  5   8   5   -   18
MC (D'Amore)  5   6   4   -   15
 
 
Also, a new cheer came out of tonight's game.  It's modeled after the
Goalie Sieve cheer.  Merrimack fans would point at D'Amore and say
Goalie, and then point to LaGrand and yell Gambler.  I wonder how long
LaGrand will have to put up with that...
 
Kevin
 
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"You can still Rock in America"  -Night Ranger