Saturday, February 20, 1993 at Matthews Arena, Boston, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (13-16-2, 7-14-0 HE 6th) 0 2 0 - 2
Northeastern Huskies (9-20-1, 5-15-1 HE 8th) 0 1 0 - 1
FIRST PERIOD MC-NU
No scoring.
SECOND PERIOD
1. MC1, Rob Atkinson 10 (Dan Gravelle), 1:12. 1-0
2. MC2, Matt Adams 9 (Jim Gibson, Don MacLeod), 13:40. GWG 2-0
3. NU1, Jordon Shields 12 (Mike Taylor, Francois Bouchard), 19:48. PPG 2-1
THIRD PERIOD
No scoring.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 10-11--5 = 26
Northeastern 12-14-13 = 39
SAVES: MC, Mike Doneghey (W, 12-11-1, 60:00, 39 sh-38 sv).
NU, Elijah Gold (L, 0-1-0, 59:00, 26-24).
POWER PLAYS: MC 0 for 2. NU 1 for 3.
PENALTIES: MC 6/15. NU 5/10.
REFEREES: Bob Fowkes, John Gravellese. LINESMAN: Jeff Bunyon.
ATTENDANCE: 1,115.
THREE STARS: 1. G Mike Doneghey, Merrimack (39 sh-38 sv).
2. RW Matt Adams, Merrimack (1-0--1, GWG).
3. G Elijah Gold, Northeastern (26 sh-24 sv).
In a low-scoring defensive battle between two teams trying to avoid last
place, Merrimack eked out a 2-1 win at Northeastern to sweep the weekend
series. Matt Adams scored his 7th goal in 7 games at 13:43 of the second
period and that proved to be the winner, as goalie Mike Doneghey was
outstanding with 38 saves. Elijah Gold made his first career start for NU
after playing only 52 minutes combined in five relief appearances, but he
was also superb, stopping 24 of the 26 shots he faced and earning the third
star of the game.
The win allowed Merrimack to take sole possession of sixth place in Hockey
East, as UNH defeated 7th-place BC. Merrimack is in sixth with 14 points
while BC is in 7th with 12, and NU takes up the rear with 11. With the
weekend sweep, Merrimack moved from eighth to sixth place. Three games
remain in the season for NU and Merrimack, four for BC - but BC's odd game
is at Maine.
The Warriors now look to be in excellent position to at least avoid last
place and a second straight trip to Maine for the HE quarterfinals. The
pressure is on the last-place Huskies, who can only catch Merrimack by
picking up four more points in their final three games than Merrimack does,
meaning the Huskies will need at least a win over BU next weekend (or two
ties).
The win was the 7th of the HE season for Merrimack, tying the team's
previous season high for HE wins (7-14-0 in 1990-91). The team broke a
five-game HE road losing streak and had been only 1-9-0 on the road in
HE all year. Meanwhile, NU is now 1-11-1 in its last 13, 0-9-1 in its
last 10 HE games, and, perhaps most amazing, 0-9-1 in its last 10 home
games after opening the season with four straight home wins.
THE GAME
As late as a half hour before the game, NU coach Ben Smith had not named
a starting goalie. However, with the way freshman Mike Veisor has been
overworked and sophomore Elijah Gold, though little-used, has held his own,
it was not all that surprising that Gold (who is deaf) was given his first
career start after playing a total of only 52 minutes (2 goals allowed)
in five separate relief appearances.
Mike Taylor was moved back to forward from defense for NU, and the Huskies
skated only five defensemen tonight. Perhaps Smith impressed upon them the
need to play total team defense, because the Hounds came out and played
superbly in front of Gold. Gold did not look spectacular, but he was solid
and his confidence seemed to grow as the first period went on without
Merrimack denting his armor. However, at the other end of the ice,
Mike Doneghey was just as good and also didn't suffer from a lack of
defensive help. It was good old-fashioned tight-checking defensive hockey.
Both teams had a power play in the first and both were held scoreless, but
the more impressive job of penalty-killing was done by Merrimack which
had to deal with a major penalty for hitting from behind to Don MacLeod.
Guy Ragault, Quentin Fendelet and Cooper Naylor, in particular, put heavy
pressure on the points and even created two great scoring chances of their
own on the shorthand. Although NU outshot Merrimack 12-10 for the period,
the Warriors had more quality chances and also shot a few pucks wide.
Merrimack got on the board 1:12 into the second on Rob Atkinson's 10th
goal of the year. Dan Gravelle created the play when he carried to the
blue line and fed Atkinson at the boards just inside the zone, and
Atkinson's shot from the right circle beat Gold upstairs. Atkinson may
have been offsides on the play, but it was close and NU didn't argue. With
Atkinson getting into double digits in tallies, he became Merrimack's 6th
player to get 10 or more goals on the season. There were only four all
of last year.
Merrimack carried the play early on and went on a power play at 4:23
after a penalty to Bob Kellogg, but NU had the best chances shorthanded
as Tom O'Connor poked the puck away from Dan Hodge, carried up the left
side and took a shot that was stopped. Doneghey left the rebound out
front, but a followup attempt went just wide. Doneghey began to shine
as he also stopped Dino Grossi shorthanded, made a nice toe save off
Sebastien Laplante after the penalty expired and then flashed the glove
on Danny McGillis' shot through traffic.
The eventual game-winner for Merrimack came on a play that could have
just as easily been a goal for NU. O'Connor made a nice shift to go
around MacLeod and his shot went off Doneghey's glove and then off the
post. MacLeod got to the puck first and fed Jim Gibson on the quick
transition. Gibson went up ice with Matt Adams and fed Adams in front
for Adams' 9th of the year, 7th in the last 7 games, at 13:40.
With 1:52 left in the period, Teal Fowler hammered Grossi with a cross-
check in front of the Merrimack net and went off to give NU a power play.
The Huskies would score their only goal of the game on the man advantage
with 12 seconds remaining in the period as Taylor moved the puck cross-ice
through the slot to Jordon Shields at Doneghey's right, and Shields
banged it in for his 12th of the year, 7th on the power play.
That was to be it for scoring in the game. The third period saw both
teams try to generate chances, but both teams played outstanding defense
and hustled back to help out. It was interesting to see that NU employed
the dump-and-chase style, which usually didn't work as Merrimack got
to the puck first and broke out European-style many times but was foiled
by the equally sound backchecking of the Huskies. The referees put their
whistles away in the third and called nothing, and the period flew by.
Gold was pulled for a sixth attacker with a minute left, but NU's attempts
to create havoc and find an open man were unsuccessful as Merrimack
continually blocked shots and cleared the puck out to center ice. Doneghey
ended the game with 38 saves and got the win in a game that could easily
have gone the other way.
POSTGAME
Outstanding weekend performances for Merrimack came from Adams, who
scored three big goals and earned a first and second star, and Doneghey,
who turned aside 68 of 72 shots for a .944 weekend save percentage; he
lowered his GAA to 4.62.
Perhaps the most telling stat of the season for Merrimack is their
record when allowing 3 goals or less: 11-0-2. They are 2-16-0 when
allowing 4 or more.
NEXT
Northeastern takes on BU next weekend in a home-and-home, with Friday's
game at NU, before closing the regular season at BC on Fri March 5th.
Merrimack gets ready to host Maine twice next weekend; Maine is the only
HE team Merrimack has not beaten since joining the league in 1989. The
Black Bears, 31-1-2, posted wins of 14-1 and 11-2 over the Warriors the
last time they met in November (at Orono), but Merrimack hopes to continue
its solid defensive play of late and make things tough for Maine in the
"Ice Hut".
BTW, word is a large crowd is expected for the Maine-Merrimack games, so
those planning to go might want to make plans ahead of time for tickets
to be safe. Last year, 3,011 showed up for the first Maine-Merrimack
game, and the rink holds 3,617. The number for the ticket office at MC
is 508-837-5341.
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.) *HMN*
|
