First, Merrimack lost its opener at Dalhousie University in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, by a score of 5-4.  This was not a surprise since
Dalhousie is reported to be one of the top teams in Canada.  The teams
battle again Sunday afternoon at 1 pm EST.
 
I caught the NESN opener tonight, in which the UMass rivalry was
rekindled, and host Mass Lowell gave Mass Amherst a rude 6-1 welcome
to Hockey East.  As expected, the crowd was very good, possibly a
sellout or close.
 
10/22/94                                   1ST 2ND 3RD  F   SHOTS ON GOAL
Mass Amherst Minutemen (0-1-0, 0-1-0 HE)    0   0   1 - 1    8-13--8 = 29
Mass Lowell River Hawks (1-0-0, 1-0-0 HE)   2   0   4 - 6   11-16-18 = 45
 
The Minutemen remained in this game until the third period.  Through
the first two periods, shots were pretty close, and the only
difference in the game was two early PPGs by the River Hawks.  But
after UMA pulled within one to make things very interesting, UML
roared back with two goals in 13 seconds to put it away and added
another pair for the 6-1 final.
 
Greg Bullock (2-3--5) and Christian Sbrocca (0-5--5) stole the show on
offense for UML, with Sbrocca's 5 assists tying a HE regular season
record that is shared by PC's Craig Darby and Maine's Paul Kariya,
although only Darby appears in the HE record book.  Sbrocca had
quite a few chances to set the record, too, near the end.
 
The game seemed to take forever, starting at 7 pm and ending about
10:10, partly due to two planned events (the dropping of the puck by
Mass Governor William Weld and the hatching of the new River Hawk
mascots between periods), but mostly due to 58 minutes in penalties
which were all minors, I believe.  The Minutemen went 0-12 on the PP
to Lowell's 2-9.
 
It certainly seemed as if the big difference between the teams was
UML's combo of Bullock and Sbrocca.  These two were playing a
different game from anyone else out there on either team.  I did not
think that UML goalie Craig Lindsey was tested much by the visitors,
yet the score remained close until Lowell blew it open in the third.
Lindsey, btw, wore number 13 - a strange number for a goalie.
 
Some of the more impressive players on the ice for either team were
freshmen.  Mike Nicholishen looked strong on D for Lowell and looks to
compliment Ed Campbell nicely.  Forward Shannon Basaraba from
International Falls, MN, scored his first for UML (as did Nicholishen).
For Mass Amherst, Tom O'Connor scored his first goal and his team's
first in HE.  Fellow D Brad Norton drew several penalties which hurt but
his physical play will be a plus - I look for this area to be one in
which the Minutemen will run into severe problems this year.  Overall,
the River Hawks just completely wore down UMA as the game went on,
which led to the four goal outburst in the third.
 
Sal Manganaro, a junior transfer from BC who was one of the better
players for UMA due to his hustle and determination, was injured in
the third when he crashed the net and slammed into the post.  He was
helped off the ice, favoring his leg, and I don't believe he returned.
That will be a big loss if he is hurt seriously.
 
I did not think that either Minuteman goalie Rich Kilduff or his team
defense had good games this evening.  Kilduff seemed affected by the
way Lowell came right back to make it 3-1 after UMA had finally gotten
on the board, and he quickly gave up a bad goal to make it 4-1.  But
the inexperienced Minutemen were often caught running around in their
own end and blew coverage on several key plays.  One example was early
on with Lowell up a man, and all four Minutemen were watching the puck
carrier behind the net, allowing Jeff Daw to sneak in and bang home a
pass.  Another came in the third when Bullock was uncovered off the
draw in the offensive zone and easily took a feed to score.
 
In short, I think it could be a long season for Lowell if higher
caliber opponents are able to stop Bullock and Sbrocca.  They were
allowed to do some things tonight that I don't think they'll be able
to do night in and out.  Lindsey did the job he had to in net, but he
often relied on his defense to get him out of trouble, and Lowell
certainly had the size and strength advantage in front.  Lowell's
problem with taking bad penalties (12 UMA PPs) would probably have
been exploited by a better team, too.  That needs to be controlled.
 
For Mass Amherst, that strength mismatch that they will face against
every other HE team along with the lack of a go-to guy up front will not
make it easy.  It was suggested to me last season by a UMA follower
that the team could conceivably go 0-24 this year in HE, and I could
see why after this game.  But they are bound to be a much better team
at the mid-way point of the season than they are right now.  There is
only one way to get experience...and Joe Mallen certainly has the
building blocks.  They are going to frustrate teams like they did
tonight, and the result could be an upset or two along the way.
 
NESN
Overall, the first broadcast of the season on NESN was one that I
think can be improved upon.  I do not believe that Dawn Mitchell's
between periods segments came off too well, especially after watching
the Prime broadcast of Miami-BG the night before.  I would have
preferred to have seen her player interviews handled by Bob Norton, as
was the custom for the past several years.  Norton and Bob Kurtz did
their usual outstanding job on commentary.  However, it was a mistake
to refer to UMA as "Amherst", since there is already a school by that
name playing DivIII.  BTW, NESN ditched the inaugural "Hockey East
Report" which was due to come on immediately afterwards, since the
game ran about 40 minutes longer than expected.
 
It doesn't get any easier for Mass Amherst, who travels to Providence
and BC for HE games next weekend.  Mass Lowell has a pair of
nonconference opponents, with St Lawrence visiting the Tully Forum
next Friday and Colgate hosting the River Hawks next Sunday afternoon.
Those two games should give a better idea of just what we can expect
from UML this season.
 
NESN's coverage of Maine at Northeastern next Friday (10/28/94) at 7
pm EST will be beamed to the nation by Prime.  Both teams are
currently undefeated at 2-0-0, pending the outcome of tonight's
Maine-UAF game.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
<<<<< Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors (station TBA for 94-95) >>>>>