Wednesday, January 27, 1993 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Boston College Eagles (6-14-4, 3-9-2 HE t7th) 0 2 1 - 3
Merrimack Warriors (10-12-2, 4-10-0 HE t7th) 1 2 2 - 5
FIRST PERIOD MC-BC
1. MC1, Dan Gravelle 13 (Bryan Miller, Martin Favreau), 2:15. 1-0
SECOND PERIOD
2. BC1, Marc Beran 10 (John Joyce, Ryan Haggerty), 0:21. 1-1
3. BC2, Jack Callahan 12 (Rob Laferriere, Scott Zygulski), 3:58. 1-2
4. MC2, Cooper Naylor 3 (Rob Atkinson, Teal Fowler), 5:05. 2-2
5. MC3, Atkinson 9 (Fowler, Naylor), 12:35. 3-2
THIRD PERIOD
6. MC4, Fowler 10 (unassisted), 6:44. GWG 4-2
7. BC3, Haggerty 4 (Jerry Buckley, Tom Ashe), 9:15. 4-3
8. MC5, Miller 4 (Gravelle, John Barron), 16:12. 5-3
SHOTS ON GOAL: Boston College 13-12--7 = 32
Merrimack 8--7--6 = 21
SAVES: BC, Mike Sparrow (L, 0-7-0, 58:11, 21 sh-16 sv).
MC, Mike Doneghey (W, 9-7-1, 60:00, 32-29).
POWER PLAYS: BC 0 for 3. MC 0 for 1.
PENALTIES: BC 2/4. MC 4/11.
REFEREES: Frank Cole, John Gravallese. LINESMAN: John Jones.
ATTENDANCE: 1,522.
THREE STARS: 1. C Teal Fowler, Merrimack (1-2--3, GWG).
2. LW Cooper Naylor, Merrimack (1-1--2).
3. G Mike Doneghey, Merrimack (32 sh-29 sv).
Sparkplug Teal Fowler had a goal and two assists and goalie Mike Doneghey
stopped 29 of 32 shots to lead Merrimack to a 5-3 win over Boston College
in the first meeting of the season between the two teams. Fowler's three
points give him 98 for his career (47 goals, 51 assists); he has 10-14--24
on the season. He scored the game-winning goal for the second straight
contest.
Merrimack moved out of last place for the first time this year and is now
tied for 7th place in Hockey East with the Eagles, although Merrimack
currently holds the edge in tiebreakers with 4 wins to BC's 3 and a 1-0-0
record in the season series. The Warriors can take sole possession of
7th with a win Friday night in the rematch at BC's Conte Forum. BC has
never been in last in HE this late in the season (perhaps ever).
The Warriors seem to get up for BC more than any other Hockey East team,
and this game was no exception. They came out flying and dominated play
early on, and it wasn't long before they took the lead at 2:15. Martin
Favreau centered the puck to leading scorer Dan Gravelle in front, and
Gravelle tucked it between BC goalie Mike Sparrow's pads for his 13th goal.
The goal brought a barrage of about 200 tennis balls onto the ice from
Merrimack fans. This astonished those of us in the press box, and on
our broadcast, Dan Roche commented that he hadn't seen that for about 5
years. But I've commented here and elsewhere about how I am against
throwing objects on the ice, and I said this on the air too. It doesn't
matter that it was Merrimack fans doing it. I think it's a bush league
thing to do, and I said that in between periods to the folks who had
architected the whole thing. Some people said it was okay because they
were bringing back a "tradition", but that's one tradition I would like
to see die. At the time, I said that it was likely to work against the
Warriors because of several reasons: first, there's always the possibility
that it will incur a delay of game penalty. But more important, I felt
the combination of the delay involved in cleaning up the ice and the
fact that it was probably just going to make BC angry, would both cut
short the momentum that Merrimack had going for it and probably swing it
BC's way. And that's exactly what happened.
BC dominated the rest of the period and if not for the job Doneghey did
in net, the Eagles would have scored several goals. First, at the five-
minute mark, Jerry Buckley appeared to have scored when he tried a wrap-
around but Doneghey somehow made the save; we originally thought it was
in. Then, at 5:23, Merrimack's Wayde McMillan drew a major penalty for
hitting from behind (no game DQ), putting BC on a five-minute power play.
Merrimack killed it off, partly because of Doneghey and partly because
BC's power play was terrible. Doneghey saw several point-blank shots
the rest of the period, the best chances from defenseman Tom Ashe and
from John Joyce, but the period ended with Merrimack up 1-0. BC had
outshot Merrimack 13-8.
The Eagles continued to threaten and scored twice early in the second
to take a 2-1 lead, and it looked like Merrimack was going to suffer
another momentary lapse of defense that would cost it the game. Just
21 seconds into the period, Marc Beran tied it when he took a feed
from Joyce in the corner and slid it by Doneghey. Then at 3:58, BC
took the lead when Scott Zygulski, who was filling in for Ian Moran out
with the flu, left a drop pass for Jack Callahan and Callahan rifled it
into the net. The goal was Callahan's 12th, and he leads the Eagles
in that category. Merrimack was standing around watching the play at
this point, and BC was able to take advantage of this.
But a weak goal by the Warriors just a minute later brought Merrimack
back into a tie and helped swing the momentum back their way. Fowler
fed Rob Atkinson on a rush, and Atkinson raced up the right side and
threw it in front where Cooper Naylor was there to pick it out of the
air and bang it in. Sparrow had a chance to deflect the pass in front
but he chose to sit back in his net instead. Atkinson would give the
Warriors a lead they would not relinquish at 12:35 of the second after
that line of Naylor-Fowler-Atkinson combined for some hard work in the
BC end. BC defenseman Todd Hall had the puck behind the net, but Naylor
came in and hammered him against the boards, then took the puck and
passed to Fowler in the slot. Fowler found Atkinson at the post to
Sparrow's right and Atkinson beat the goalie to the short side for his
9th goal and a 3-2 lead.
Mark Cornforth went off for holding at 13:13 to give the Eagles their
2nd PP of the game, and although they tested Doneghey several times,
the shots were all ones that the goalie could see and the rebounds were
quickly cleared.
Early in the third, Callahan went off for BC to give Merrimack its first
(and only) power play of the game, but the Warriors' third-ranked PP in
Hockey East was unable to convert. Beran had a good shorthanded bid
when he was deep in the zone and a clearing pass came in front, but he
fanned on the shot. Then Fowler scored the eventual winner at 6:44 when
he lost the draw but got the puck back and shot it along the ice between
Sparrow's legs from about 20 feet out. It was Fowler's 10th goal of the
year and gave Merrimack a big 4-2 lead.
But the Eagles pulled within one at 9:15 on a goal by Haggerty. Ashe,
whose older brother Steve captained Plattsburgh in their winning of the
1992 DivIII Championship, took a shot from the left point that was
deflected behind the net, but Buckley beat a Merrimack defender to the
puck and fed Haggerty in front for the goal. BC had a chance to tie it
when Gravelle went off for hooking at 12:05, but again their power play
was powerless. Naylor, an excellent penalty-killer, forced the puck away
from the Eagles when they were trying to break out and had an open net,
but he shot it just wide.
The rest of the game was all Merrimack. Bryan Miller, a three-and-a-half
year defenseman who was just moved to forward last weekend, scored an
insurance goal with 3:48 left on a line change. John Barron dumped the
puck in and raced to the bench, and Gravelle came on with Miller and beat
BC to the puck in the corner. Gravelle found Miller in front for a shot
that trickled through Sparrow's pads and a 5-3 lead. The assist gave
Gravelle 30 points on 13 goals and 17 assists, the third straight year
he has reached that plateau (39 and 51 points the last two years), and
he moved into a tie for 21st on Merrimack's all-time scoring list. Not
bad for a guy who had 3 points in just 10 games his freshman year. He
has 123 career points in 100 games.
Matt Adams nearly made it 6-3 when he fired a blistering shot from the
left circle on a rush, but the puck banged off the post. BC coach Steve
Cedorchuk then pulled Sparrow with 1:49 left and his team down 2, but
the puck stayed in the BC zone for much of the final two minutes although
the Warriors didn't come up with the empty-netter. It wasn't for lack of
trying, though; the Naylor-Fowler-Atkinson line was keeping the puck in
and several shots were fired at the open net by Naylor, Atkinson and Dan
Hodge, but they were all blocked by defenders.
POSTGAME
The win was Merrimack's second straight in Hockey East and also their
second straight against BC, as they won 3-1 at BC in their final meeting
last season. After starting the season 0-6-0 in HE, Merrimack is .500
in its last eight league games at 4-4-0 and slowly moving up. But to
improve their chances of not finishing last, at least, they need to win
the next two games against BC. The first comes Friday night at BC, where
the Warriors hope to catch BC looking ahead to its Beanpot matchup with BU.
BC was without several key players for this game. Goalie Josh Singewald
remains sidelined with a strained right knee suffered against BU, but he
skated today and might play Friday or Monday in the Beanpot. The Eagles
could use him, as Sparrow looked weak on several goals. As mentioned,
Moran was out with the flu but is expected back Friday. And forward Rob
Canavan is day-to-day with a shoulder sprain but could play Friday; he
is the Eagles' third-leading goal scorer with 8.
BTW, Dan Roche, with whom I work on the Merrimack broadcasts, will be
calling the Beanpot with WRKO's Dick Lutsk on Monday night - Dick will
be doing play-by-play and Dan is on color. Dan is a superb hockey
announcer, so I encourage everyone in New England to tune in. I am
pretty sure the broadcast will be on WRKO (680 AM) but if it isn't,
try WEEI (590 AM) as they carried the Beanpot last year, I think. They
will be doing both games Monday.
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.) *HMN*
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