In a game played Saturday night at Merrimack, the Merrimack Warriors got a
small measure of revenge.  Friday night, Merrimack got killed by Providence,
11-4.  When Kent State came to town, Merrimack exploded for a 10-2 victory.
 
Kent knew it was going to be a long night for them.  During the introductions,
Tim Evans skated out and fell, taking out Brent Mahoney.  The Warrior crowd got
 a good laugh out of it.
 
Merrimack opened the scoring at 3:44 when Brendan Lock was set up out in front
by John Barron and Jim Gibson.  Kent goalie Brian Dorfman didn't stand a chance.
Merrimack made it two to nothing when Agostino Casale took a feed from Howie
Rosenblatt and skated in alone.  Casale deeked Dorfman and slid it by him for
the goal.  It came at 8:19.
 
Merrimack scored again at the 14:41 mark as Teal Fowler scored.  I don't recall
the play, but I know that the assists went to Casale and Doug Greschuck.
 
Merrimack came out in the second and scored again.  On a goal that I don't
think the refs knew who scored it, John Barron was given credit for a goal.
 Theassists went to Greschuck and Alex Weinrich.  It came at 7:00 of the second.
 
Kent State got on the booard at 9:25 as Neal Purdon poked in a loose puck after
a scramble in the Warrior end.  The assists went to Roger Mischke and Jason
 Neal.
 
Merrimack then got a goal on a 5-3 advantage.  Greschuck scored on a blast from
the point.  The assists went to Locke and Dan Hodge (Yes, former Bruin Ken
Hodge's son).  It came at 12:29 while Matt Brait and Brian Mulcahy were in the
box.
 
Merrimack made it 6-1 on a goal by Casale.  I don't recall the play again.
Assists went to Hodge and Rosenblatt at the 17:50 mark.
 
Merrimack scored to make it 7-1 with 1:01 left in the period.  Jeff Massey
got the rebound of a Dan Gravelle shot and banged it home.
 
Merrimack came out in the third and made it 8-1 on a goal by Rob Atkinson.  The
assist went to Bryan Miller at 3:27.  Atkinson picked up the loose puck in
front of the net and banged it home.
 
Kent closed it to 8-2 when Kevin McPherson beat Yannick Gosselin.  The assist
went to Bob Krosky at the 4:17 mark.
 
Merrimack made it 9-2 on a goal by Cooper Naylor.  The assist went to Claude
Maillet at the 10:15 mark.
 
Merrimack closed the scoring with 1:10 left.  Dan Hodge poked home a rebound
of a Rob Atkinson shot.
 
Merrimack played well, but I was surprised.  I thought Kent played better than
they did last year when they visited Merrimack.  I think Merrimack has improved
that much more though than the Golden Flashes.  Kent gave Lowell a game the
night before, but lost 3-2.
 
Scoring by period
 
Kent		0   1   1   -   2
Merrimack       3   4   3   -  10
 
Shots
 
Kent	       10   8   4   -  22
Merrimack      16  14  10   -  40
 
Saves
 
Dorfman (KSU)  13  10   7   -  30
Gosselin (MC)  10   7   3   -  20
 
Merrimack plays Lowell Wednesday night at the Volpe Complex.  Lowell last night
held on for a four-three win of the Huskies of Northeastern.
 
Agostino Casale has 6 goals and an assist in the last two games.  It's good to
see him starting to break out a bit.
 
Kevin