Lowell's 3rd line of Christian Sbrocca, Jon Mahoney and Ryan Sandholm
combined for 9 points (4G, 5A) in leading the high-flying Riverhawks to
an opening game victory in their best-of-three series versus
Northeastern. Lowell netminder Martin Fillion stops 27 shots, looking
especially strong in the first period when Northeastern tested him often.
In fact, Northeastern outshot Lowell 12-4 in that period but came away
with nothing as Lowell led 2-0 after one period.
Northeastern's goalie Mike Veisor tied a Hockey East playoff record for
fewest saves(2) in a period. Even though he gave up seven goals, he
couldn't be faulted very much because the fast-skating Hawks were
simply too much for Northeastern's defensive corps.
Lowell coach Bruce Crowder started the speedy line of David Dartsch,
Shannon Basaraba and Marc Salsman against the Huskies first line of
seniors Dan Lupo and Jordan Shields with freshman Erik Kaminski.
Dartsch's line held that line scoreless while Sbrocca's line was running
havoc over Northeastern's depthless second and third lines.
Salsman scored his first of two only 76 seconds into the game when
Sbrocca stole the puck deep in the Husky zone and Salsman put it away.
Lowell's second goal was a very pretty play by first-star recipient
Mahoney who brought the puck over Northeastern's blue line, made a
sweet behind the back pass to Sbrocca, who fed it right back to
Mahoney. He carried it deep along the right boards, headed for the net
and slid it out front to a waiting Salsman, who put away his second with
a shot that rolled up and over Veisor's sprawled right pad.
Northeastern definitely had some good chances in this period but
second-star Fillion was unbeatable. Northeastern's center Scott
Campbell was fed from the corner and skated out in front of Fillion with
absolutely no other Lowell player within 20 feet. He was stoned by
Fillion, clearly responsible for Lowell's 2-0 lead after one.
Northeastern's Bob Sheehan got them on the board early in the second
with a very weak shot from outside the zone which beat a bewildered
Fillion. Jon Mahoney regained Lowell's two-goal lead with a nice play
during a six-man attack delayed-penalty situation midway through the
period. Lowell swarmed Veisor and company and eventually Mahoney
came out from behind the net and fed a cross-the-crease pass to
defenseman Mike Nicholishen who swatted the puck into an empty net.
Lowell scored two more before the period ended including another
empty netter when Mahoney found himself all alone in the crease with
the puck after a scramble to the left of the net. The second was a
short-handed goal by starter Basaraba. Lowell led 5-1 after two.
Sbrocca made it 6-1 on a nifty deke-and-shift move on Veisor during a
breakaway at 6:44 of the third. Northeastern got a second soft goal from
Scott Campbell and a nice goal from defenseman Rick Schuhwerk who
put it between Fillion's pads from 20 feet out after being fed from Kayhko
on a bang-bang play. Lowell defenseman Chris Libbett scored from the
point to make it 7-3 when Veisor was completely screened during a
Lowell power-play and the Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the series.
There were many penalties as game wore on and Northeastern grew
increasingly frustrated. Also, Husky defenseman Dan McGillis played a
strong game on an otherwise baffled Northeastern squad.
Stars:
#1 Jon Mahoney - 1 goal, 2 assists, set-up Salsman and Nicholishen with
pretty plays, played a strong, high-spirited game
through-out.
#2 Christian Sbrocca - 1 goal, 3 assists, made it clear why he is "All
Hockey-East" this year.
#3 Martin Fillion - Looked excellent when it really counted. Got another
assist on Sbrocca's breakaway. Has to be one of
the strongest puck-handling goalies in Div. 1.
Shots:
NE 12-06-09-27
UML 04-15-13-32
Refs: MacBride, Fowkes Linesman: J. Jones
Est. attendance 1800-2000 on a cold, stormy night.
Game 2, tomorrow night at 7:00 in Billerica.
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