This bounced during massive mail problems last weekend. Rick McAdoo
also posted on the game, but this may be of interest to people who
want to hear the Merrimack point of view. The Sat BC-MC post did make
it out okay. - mike
Friday, February 17, 1995 at Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (13-14-5, 6-9-5 [3] 6th HE) 1 2 1 - 4
Boston College Eagles (10-18-2, 7-11-2 [1] 7th HE) 0 1 0 - 1
FIRST PERIOD MC-BC
1. MC1, Matt Adams 20 (Daryl Krauss, Martin Legault), 6:53. 1-0
SECOND PERIOD
2. MC2, Claudio Peca 6 (Rob Beck), 7:53. GWG 2-0
3. MC3, Ryan Mailhiot 2 (Tom Johnson, Tom Costa), 10:53. 3-0
4. BC1, Ryan Haggerty 21 (Tom Ashe), 13:13. 3-1
THIRD PERIOD
5. MC4, Mark Goble 7 (Beck), 10:17. 4-1
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 12-12--9 = 33
Boston College 5-14--8 = 27
SAVES: MC, Martin Legault (W, 8-12-4, 60:00, 27 sh-26 sv).
BC, Greg Taylor (L, 10-16-2, 60:00, 33 sh-29 sv).
POWER PLAYS: MC 0 for 5. BC 0 for 6.
PENALTIES: MC 11/30. BC 9/18.
REFEREES: Steve McBride, Rich Fowkes. LINESMAN: Paul Scleparis.
ATTENDANCE: 4,529 (capacity 7,884).
THREE STARS: 1. G Martin Legault, Merrimack (W, 27 sh-26 sv).
2. LW Ryan Haggerty, BC (1-0--1).
3. LW Rob Beck, Merrimack (0-2--2).
RW Matt Adams' 20th goal of the year kicked off the night for Merrimack,
which built a 3-0 lead halfway through the game and went on to a 4-1 win
at Boston College.
Adams, a hometown boy from Andover, MA, thus became the first Merrimack
player to record 20 goals in a year since Dan Gravelle scored 23 and Teal
Fowler scored 20 in 1991-92. Adams joins Gravelle, Fowler, Agostino Casale
(22 in 1990-91), and Andy Heinze (20 in 1989-90) as the only 5 Warriors to
reach the 20-goal plateau since Merrimack joined Hockey East in 1989. His
team-leading totals now stand at 20-19--39.
Also scoring goals for the Warriors were Claudio Peca, Mark Goble, and
Ryan Mailhiot. The always-steady Rob Beck set up two goals and was named
third star of the game.
Martin Legault had a quietly solid game in net, collecting number one
star with 26 saves on 27 shots (.963). He has now allowed three goals or
less in each of his last six games, and his performance raised his Hockey
East-leading save percentage to .903.
BC wing Ryan Haggerty scored the only Eagle goal and was named second
star for his efforts.
The win was the 218th of Merrimack head coach Ron Anderson's career,
tying him with J.Thom Lawler for the most coaching wins in Merrimack
history.
FIRST
Merrimack carried the play right from the start, taking a 9-1 edge in
shots through 15 minutes of the first and finishing with a 12-5 edge
after one. With Martin Laroche moved to the first line centering Beck
and Claudio Peca, that line came out of the gate strong and Peca forced
Greg Taylor to make a nice save early on. On an early power play,
Laroche got the puck in the low slot but was stopped by Taylor's glove.
Adams got the Warriors on the board at 6:53 on a play where he and
linemate Daryl Krauss took advantage of their speed. BC ended up being
caught deep in the zone, and Legault was able to fire the puck up to
Krauss at the blue line, starting him and Adams off on a 2x2. Krauss
went to the boards and then threaded a pass that sent Adams in a step
ahead of the two Eagle defenders, and Adams' shot from the right circle
beat Taylor to make it 1-0.
The Eagles did not really have any good chances in the period, a testament
to the fine defense played by Merrimack. They checked BC closely through
the neutral zone and forced turnovers, creating rushes of their own.
SECOND
A late penalty to Merrimack in the first followed by another at 1:17 of
the second gave BC a golden opportunity to tie, a 5x3 for 40 seconds.
Here, Legault came up big on his first real tester of the night, a
screen shot from the point by Tom Ashe that Legault was able to stop
with his pad.
Taylor would keep the game 1-0 later when Peca let go a one-timer on
a cross-ice pass from Laroche, but the BC goaltender made a big right
pad save.
Peca got the eventual game-winner at 7:53 when Beck picked off a
clearing pass at the blue line and fed Peca for a quick shot from the
slot that beat Taylor to the short side. That made it 2-0. Mailhiot
made it 3-0 three minutes later when Tom Johnson's pass deflected off
a defender and came to Mailhiot in the slot for a quick goal, only
his second of the year for the fourth-liner.
After Beck got the puck in the high slot and walked around a D, then
forced Taylor to make a nice save, BC coach Jerry York called timeout
at 12:58. That paid off since just 15 seconds later, Haggerty beat
Legault on a somewhat weak shot from the high slot to get BC on the
board and make it 3-1.
BC was able to generate more offense in the second, tallying 14 shots
to Merrimack's 12, but the MC defense was again instrumental in
shutting down the Eagles in front of the net and clearing rebounds.
Taylor seemed to be frustrated as the period came to a close, firing
the puck at Beck, but a near-scuffle was averted.
THIRD
BC was still in the game, but two power plays in the first half of
the third didn't produce too much. Near the end of the first man
advantage, super freshman Jamie O'Leary (4-17--21) had a great chance
off a cross-ice feed from Brad Carlson, but Legault stayed right with
him and made the pad save.
Just as the second BC PP was ending, the Warriors closed the scoring
at 10:17 on a goal that was technically even strength (as the penalty,
which came at 8:17, had just expired). Goble stole the puck and passed
to Beck, then headed up ice. Beck returned the pass and Goble walked
in, beating Taylor upstairs with a nice ten-footer for his 7th of the
year to make it 4-1 and give Merrimack some breathing room. That was
how it ended.
POSTGAME
The difference in the game certainly seemed to be team defense. BC
had trouble containing the speedy Merrimack forwards on their rushes,
while the Warriors did a good job of shutting down the top Eagle line
of Haggerty-Chase-Hymovitz. Legault got the help from his D when it
counted, while Taylor was forced to see more quality chances. But
Taylor did see all of the shots that resulted in Merrimack goals,
although at least three were also a result of defensive breakdowns.
I suppose Legault could be faulted on the one goal he allowed, to
Haggerty. Both goalies did make a number of big saves to keep the
score close much of the way.
Among the Merrimack defensemen, Karl Infanger shone, going down to
block shots and effectively riding opponents off the puck as they came
into the zone. Infanger has been a seldom-heralded but key part of
the defense in recent weeks, doing his job well with no fanfare.
As this was the final home game of the regular season for BC, the
Eagles took the opportunity beforehand to salute the seniors with
an introduction of each one. This is a tradition I like to see,
and as it turned out, it was too bad the graduating players weren't
able to give the crowd of 4,529 more to cheer about. BC will graduate
7 players after this season, including forwards Ryan Haggerty, Rob
Laferriere, Jim Krayer, Mike McCarthy, Jerry Buckley, and Rob Canavan,
along with goaltender Josh Singewald. Haggerty received the second
star of the game for his goal, but this seemed more of a token award
since his line was contained pretty well most of the night.
Merrimack got good play out of all four lines tonight, with Peca, Goble,
Beck, Laroche, Krauss, and Mailhiot having particularly good games.
The win was a big one, as it puts Merrimack in good position entering
the last four games of the season. Three are at home, with two coming
against BC, and if the Warriors are able to take both of those home
games with BC, they will be in good position to finish 6th or maybe
even higher.
At one game under .500, a win Saturday night would enable the Warriors
to reach .500 at the latest point in a season since 1988-89. In their
last four games, Merrimack has gone 2-1-1 and held the opponents to
an average of 2 goals/game. The Warriors are 6-2-1 in their last 9,
and since their 1-8-1 start, they have gone 12-6-4.
The Eagles will try to regroup and find a way to solve the Merrimack
defense and Legault to salvage a split of the weekend set.
For whatever reason, the Warriors seem to have enjoyed good success
against BC in recent years. BC still leads the all-time series,
15-7-0, but Merrimack has taken 3 of the last 4 meetings and has won
all 7 since 1990. Since the second game of the 1990 HE quarterfinals,
BC holds a slim 8-7-0 edge in the series.
NEXT
The teams meet again in the conclusion of this weekend's home-and-home
at Merrimack's Volpe Center, Saturday night at 7 pm.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
|
