Box to come in a day or so.  Thanks to Kevin Yetman for posting HE boxes and
also to all others who posted info.
 
First, other scores not already given:
Fri  Michigan 7, Minnesota 3
     Miami 4, FSU 2
     OSU 4, WMU 4 ot
     Providence 4, Denver 2
     Air Force 4, Elmira 1
Sat  Clarkson 5, UMass-Lowell 2
     BU 6, Minn-Duluth 3
     partial: SLU led Northeastern 8-0 in third period
     Air Force 7, Elmira 5
 
Merrimack exploded for 8 goals in the first period and then had to hold on
to beat Army, 9-6, at West Point, NY.  Agostino Casale led Merrimack with a
hat trick and an assist to run his totals to 9-8--17 in five games.  He
scored the Warriors' final three goals including an empty-netter.  Dan
Gravelle added two goals and an assist to give him 4-9--13 on the year.  For
Army, Rick Berube had 1-2--3 and Rick Randazzo had two goals.
 
The Warriors went 5 for 5 on the power play in the first period and 5/6 for
the game; they are now 14 for 33 overall, 42.4%.
 
Merrimack came out swarming and led 4-0 by the 7:01 mark.  Matt Crowley got
things started at 1:39 when he deflected a shot from Jason Pagni (seeing his
first varsity action) past Army goalie Scott Boyle.  Gravelle took a pass from
Bryan Miller and scored on a slap shot from the high slot at 2:33.  Rob
Atkinson and Jim Gibson (who later injured his knee in the second period and
will be gone indefinitely) tallied 13 seconds apart to make it 4-0.
 
Army got on the board 13 seconds after Gibson's goal when Ross Erzar sneaked
one by Steve D'Amore from in close, but when Gravelle deflected a shot from
Mark Cornforth by Boyle at 10:15 to make it 5-1, Boyle had allowed 5 goals
on 17 shots in half a period and Army head man Rob Riley had seen enough.
Boyle was pulled for Brandon Hayes.  This seemed to give the Cadets a spark.
Chad Sundem intercepted a clearing pass and beat D'Amore at 11:15, then
Mark Stachelski tipped in Berube's shot on the power play to get the Cadets
back in the game at 14:38, 5-3.
 
Army was called for three straight penalties late in the period and Merrimack
capitalized on all three chances to make it 8-3 after one (shots 24-9, 42-22
for the game).  Cornforth scored his first collegiate goal at 16:33 on a shot
from the point off the draw.  Then Casale scored twice.  At 17:58 he knocked
in a rebound, and 40 seconds later he grabbed the puck off the end boards
after a wide shot by Alex Weinrich and flipped it in.  The crowd was stunned
by the offensive explosion and admittedly, so were we.
 
But as I've said before, the second period has been Merrimack's downfall, and
this time was no different.  Rob Riley's team came out looking like a
completely different bunch in the second, playing the brand of physical
hockey that Army teams are known for and which is their biggest strength.
Army scored twice, once at 53 seconds when Randazzo converted a breakaway,
and at 13:18 when Berube slapped one by D'Amore from the high slot.  The
final two periods were pretty evenly played, and in fact if you subtract all
PPGs scored in the game and the empty-netter, you're looking at a 4-3 Army
even strength advantage.  On the Merrimack side of things, passes were just
not nearly as crisp as they were in the first and the Warriors made quite a
few giveaways in their own end, but to credit Army, the Cadets played much
tighter defense and used a much stronger forecheck that caught the Warriors
off guard a few times.
 
1:20 into the third, Randazzo scored his second of the night off the draw,
and the crowd of 2,033 was excited about a possible Army big comeback win
since it was now 8-6.  Casale's empty-netter with 51 seconds left made the
final 9-6 after Merrimack had held Army to only three third-period shots
following Randazzo's goal.  Merrimack scored eight goals in the game's first
18:38 and none other than the ENG for the rest of the game, but a key to
that was surely that the Warriors had five PP opportunities in the first
period and only one for the rest of the game.
 
Merrimack is now 3-2-0 (0-1-0 HE) and plays at UMass-Lowell Wednesday night.
Army is 3-3-0 and next hosts Alaska-Fairbanks 11/15-16.  Army will play at
Merrimack in December in what should be an interesting rematch.
 
The Warriors have scored 28 goals in their four NLG (avg 7.00) but only one
goal in their single HE game against BC.  Merrimack has allowed 21 goals
in the four NLG (avg 5.25) and surrendered three to BC.  The most interesting
stat may be scoring by periods.  The quick start and strong third is good
to see, but something has to be done about that second and the Warriors'
inability to put teams away.  Still, it's an improvement over last season
when Merrimack was outscored badly in the first and played relatively even
2nds and 3rds in what was often a catchup effort in the 19 games they lost.
 
Also, the team was 3-1-1 overall after 5 games last year, so they are half
a game off of last year's pace.  I said that the first nine games were all
winnable and with a few bounces, Merrimack would be 5-0 instead of 3-2.  But
I also said 7-2 in the first 9 was realistic and would be a good start
towards the goal of 20 wins, so the short term goal would be to win the next
four against Lowell, AIC, BC, and Kent.  And the short-short-term goal is
a win at Lowell Wednesday, where Merrimack has always had trouble being a
skating team.  That game is on NESN, the first of 5 NESN appearances for
the Warriors this season.
 
Scoring by periods 1991-92:
            1   2   3    TOT
Merrimack  16   4   9  -  29
Opponents   7  13   4  -  24
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Mike Machnik        [log in to unmask]       [log in to unmask]