Friday, January 17, 1992 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Maine Black Bears (17-2-0, 6-1-0 HE) 1 3 3 - 7
Merrimack Warriors (11-10-0, 2-7-0 HE) 1 0 1 - 2
FIRST PERIOD UM-MC
1. MC1, Teal Fowler 15 (Alex Weinrich, Cooper Naylor), 7:44. 5x3 0-1
2. UM1, Scott Pellerin 14 (Jim Montgomery, Chris Imes), 16:51. 4x4 1-1
SECOND PERIOD
3. UM2, Jean-Yves Roy 15 (Brian Downey, Imes), 3:29. PPG 2-1
4. UM3, Roy 16 (Montgomery, Downey), 6:29. GWG 3-1
5. UM4, Roy 17 (Imes), 11:46. 4-1
THIRD PERIOD
6. UM5, Montgomery 12 (Imes), 2:18. SHG 5-1
7. UM6, Downey 12 (Jason Weinrich, Roy), 8:52. 6-1
8. MC2, Rob Kelley 5 (unassisted), 9:40. 6-2
9. UM7, Pellerin 15 (Cal Ingraham), 12:41. 7-2
SHOTS ON GOAL: Maine 15--9--9 = 33
Merrimack 5-12--5 = 22
GOALIES: Maine, Garth Snow (15-2-0, 60:00, 22 shots-20 saves).
Merrimack, Steve D'Amore (9-9-0, 60:00, 33 shots-26 saves).
POWER PLAYS: Maine 1 of 8. Merrimack 1 of 8.
PENALTIES: Maine 12/24. Merrimack 13/26.
REFEREE: Dan Raposa. LINESMEN: Chuck Wynters, Tim Benedetto.
ATTENDANCE: 3,011 (capacity 3,617).
THREE STARS: 1. Maine, Jean-Yves Roy (3-1--4).
2. Maine, Jim Montgomery (1-2--3).
3. Maine, Chris Imes (0-4--4).
Hobey Baker candidate Jean-Yves Roy scored a natural hat trick in 8:17
of the second period to break open a 1-1 game and send top-ranked Maine
on to a 7-2 win at North Andover. The line of Brian Downey-Jim Montgomery-
Roy combined for five goals and five assists to lead Maine to the win.
The crowd of 3,011 was the largest home crowd at Merrimack since the team
entered Hockey East three years ago. *This* is how games are supposed
to be here.
CASALE INELIGIBLE
The big pregame news was the announcement that Merrimack senior Agostino
Casale was declared academically ineligible for the spring semester and
has finished his career at Merrimack. Casale led the team in scoring
until he was suspended by Ron Anderson in early December for the
remainder of the first semester. Casale returned to the team after Christmas
and played in five more games until being declared ineligible. He leaves
the team with a big void in the scoring department as he had 17-13--30 in
17 games.
The situation is identical to that which forced All-America goalie Jim
Hrivnak out in January 1989. Both Hrivnak and Casale were in their senior
years and had met the NC$$ standards for eligiblity, but they did not meet
Merrimack's standards. Hrivnak later returned to Merrimack to complete
his degree, and I hope to see Casale do the same.
THE GAME
The game turned out to be a very physical one, sometimes bordering on cheap
which was disappointing. Referee Dan Raposa didn't have very good control
of the game and it resulted in several potentially ugly situations.
The big difference was Merrimack's inability to contain Maine's top line
as the Warriors got away from the solid defensive style which had enabled
them to win two games last week. Goalie Steve D'Amore played another
superb game in net for Merrimack, but the team did not help him out at all.
Almost every Maine goal can be attributed to a Merrimack player not doing
a good job of covering his man, and this was particularly disappointing.
The game started out close and exciting, and the large crowd was on the
edge of its seats with every rush. Merrimack sent the partisan crowd
into a frenzy with its first goal on a 5x3, but the two-man advantage was
the result of a poor interference call on Maine goalie Garth Snow.
Already on a power play, the Warriors dumped the puck in and as Snow
attempted to control it behind the net, Teal Fowler skated in and jumped
between a Maine player and Snow to try to get the puck. As he made his
jump, Snow backed into him and was called for the penalty even though he
couldn't have seen Fowler coming. At 7:44, Alex Weinrich took a shot from
the point after some good passing by the pointmen and his shot was stopped
by Snow, but both Dan Gravelle and Fowler were there for the rebound
and Fowler put it in for his 15th goal.
Maine began to take control of the action and tied the score with 3:09
left in the period. Montgomery took a shot from the left circle that
D'Amore stopped, but no one covered Scott Pellerin for the rebound.
Afterwards, Ron Anderson talked about how the players were too concerned
with the shots from the outside, which he would prefer to allow, and they
ignored the players sneaking in for rebounds. As a perfect example of
good defense, he pointed out on the tape Maine defenseman Jason Weinrich
who didn't even watch brother Alex's shot from the point and instead
concentrated on controlling the Merrimack forward there for a possible
rebound.
This was the first time brothers Jason and Alex had faced each other in a
collegiate game. Their older brother Eric, now with the Devils, was on
hand to watch the game, as was HE Asst. Commish Nonni Daly (Mamma SID)...
not to mention a number of HOCKEY-L'ers and you know who you are.
Roy and Snow were the story of the second period. Snow stopped all 12
Merrimack shots he saw and made many great saves. Roy scored three
straight goals at 3:29, 6:29 and 11:46 to make it 4-1 and this crushed
the Warriors' spirits. All three goals came when Roy was allowed to
roam freely right in front of D'Amore. On his first, which was a power
play goal after a bad hitting from behind penalty by freshman Mark
Cornforth, Montgomery took a shot from the top of the right circle and
three Warriors watched Roy walk in and pound home the rebound.
Three minutes later, the first line clicked. Montgomery won the draw
just outside the Merrimack zone and they were off the the races. He
carried the puck into the zone and passed cross-ice to Downey on the left
side, but again Merrimack did not pick up Roy who was the trailer. He
was fed by Downey in the low slot and easily beat D'Amore to make it 3-1.
Roy completed his hat trick at 11:46 on another bad goal. Imes carried
the puck behind the net and fed Roy, who had gotten position to D'Amore's
right and slammed home the short pass before the goalie could slide over
to cover the angle. It was a pretty natural hat trick, but good defense
should have prevented all three goals.
While killing a penalty early in the third, Montgomery hammered the coffin
shut with good forechecking. Imes pushed the puck into the zone and
Bryan Miller went along the boards to get it; he never did as Montgomery
beat him to it, took it out in front and scored his 12th of the year
shorthanded, and it was 5-1. Anderson was clearly upset with the play of
his top three lines, and he started to go more to fourth-liners Matt Adams,
Rob Kelley and Wayde McMillan. They played very well and Kelley had two
great bids turned away by Snow from point-blank range. But the Black
Bears kept up the attack and notched their sixth goal just as a power play
expired and before Merrimack's returning player could get into the action.
Jason Weinrich carried the puck in front and was taken by defenseman Don
MacLeod, but having created a two-on-one down low with Downey, he dished
it off to Downey who got in untouched and tallied his 12th.
The Merrimack crowd knew they were watching a great team in action, and
so it's easy to understand why they exploded when the Warriors finally
scored again. Kelley stole the puck at center ice and flew in all alone,
and his goal at 9:40 was his fifth of the year but only his first since
notching four goals against DivII AIC two months ago.
Not long after the goal, Maine's Randy Olson went back behind his net to
get the puck and was blindsided by a Merrimack player (not sure who) and
went down immediately. No penalty was called and it didn't seem like
a cheap hit, but Olson was caught at a bad angle and was hit hard. Word
is he suffered a third-degree shoulder separation which is very painful;
he was helped off by Pellerin and was obviously in great pain. Olson is
one of those unheralded players who does his job well without fanfare,
and hopefully he will not be out too long; he's a senior and the team
needs him in there. But I didn't get the impression he would be back
Sunday, at least, and that hurts since Maine is already without Martin
Robitaille (knee, has been out for a month), Matt Martin (knee, ankle,
has been out since being injured Jan 3 against Army), and Andy Silverman
(shoulder, day-to-day).
Maine closed out the scoring at 12:41 on Pellerin's second of the game.
Cal Ingraham, who had been quiet until then, took a pass from Pellerin
and went behind the net while Pellerin cruised in front. Ingraham fed
him from the other side of the net and the Merrimack defense watched
Pellerin make it 7-2. Again, it was a goal that could have been prevented,
but the Black Bears were simply playing at a much higher level than the
Warriors and were literally skating circles around them.
Both teams were guilty of questionable stick fouls late in the game. On
one play, Merrimack dumped it in but was called for offsides, and as Wayde
McMillan calmly skated across the slot from Snow's left to right, several
seconds after the whistle had blown, Snow inexplicably skated out several
strides from behind the net where he had stopped the puck and viciously
slashed McMillan across the ankles. Raposa must not have seen it because
no call was forthcoming, although there was a minor battle afterwards and
Raposa sent Montgomery and Merrimack's Matt Hayes to the box. Merrimack
was particularly upset because McMillan had just returned from a bad ankle
injury and the slash may have re-injured the ankle.
Notably, NESN announcer Bob Norton was quiet about the play even though
NESN cameras caught the incident on tape. But later he was calling for
Don MacLeod's head on what Norton claimed was a spear of Pellerin, and
let me tell you, the Merrimack brass is extremely upset at Norton for
this. Alex Weinrich was carrying the puck out of its own end and Pellerin
was chasing him, and as MacLeod tried to pick Pellerin and keep him out of
the play (clearly interference or hooking), his stick apparently caught
Pellerin in the gut and Norton screamed that MacLeod should have gotten a
major and game DQ. But there was no jabbing of the stick as is required
for a spearing call although it was definitely a hook. Pellerin was down
and I don't know what if any injury he may have suffered, but MacLeod was
not guilty of spearing. As the tape shows, he was probably guilty of
laziness as he stood there while Pellerin moved past him and he put out his
stick in front of Pellerin to try to hold him back.
EPILOGUE
It was too bad that a game that started out as an exciting matchup turned
into an exchange of late hits and ugliness. With the two teams meeting
again at Maine Sunday night, I hope we won't see them pick up where they
left off. Also, maybe we'll see a closer game even though Maine will be
back home; when Merrimack plays teams back-to-back, they tend to play
better the second night as they did in the second game at Alfond last
season. The key will be reverting to the strong play in front of their
own net.
Merrimack goalie Steve D'Amore said after the game that this Maine club
was the best team he had ever played against. I agree that Maine is a
good team, probably deserving of their top ranking in the polls, but I
can't help but look at the glaring mistakes that the Warriors made and
think that it could have been a closer game if they had tightened up
a bit. Merrimack has never been able to control Maine's top line. Also,
this was the fourth straight game that Maine scored 7 goals against
Merrimack as the Black Bears did it in each of the three meetings last
season.
I was the one who called the three stars for this game, and I wanted to
put Montgomery first but relented with Roy's three goals having set the
tone for the rest of the game. But I thought Montgomery had a fabulous
game and deserved the #1 star. For a while I have believed that Montgomery
is the key to that line even though Roy gets more ink. Roy will likely
get more votes for Hobey than Montgomery, too, but if Roy wins it, he
should give half of it to Montgomery.
It was nice to see the huge turnout, and we hope this will carry
over into the coming weeks.
Two Merrimack notes regarding NESN:
* The second intermission with center Teal Fowler was an absolute riot.
First, Fowler was apparently unaware that the interview had started and
he doused his face with water from a water bottle as Norton was beginning
to ask him a question. Then, when asked to explain how he got 289
penalty minutes for Niagara of the NAJHL yet has no PIM in 21 games
this season, he said, "Well, it was a physical league..."
* In the same intermission, NESN ran a nice feature on Merrimack coach Ron
Anderson which included a bunch of old Anderson photos from BU, minor
leagues, etc. that Anderson previously wouldn't let anyone see. :-) It
really is a great story how Anderson ended up as Merrimack coach and
built the team from an average DivII team into a contender for the 1988
DivI national championship. Both Shawn Walsh and Jack Parker had some
nice things to say about Anderson, with Parker saying that he believed
Anderson would turn the Warriors into a solid DivI team before long and
that he considered Anderson one of the top college hockey coaches in the
country. Two weeks ago on the radio, Anderson was asked whether he
was happy with the fact that Merrimack wasn't being run over by teams as
they were two years ago and that they're surprising teams now, and he
said no - he wants the program to reach the point where teams come into a
game with Merrimack *knowing* that they're going to get a tough game as if
they were playing a BU or Maine. I hope that the feature and interviews
with Anderson gave viewers around the nation a good idea of what a true
down-to-earth guy he is. What you see is what you get with him, which is
one of the things I appreciate about being involved with him and his
program, and he has done a wonderful job of keeping the small-school,
small-town atmosphere around a program that is rapidly becoming more and
more prestigious.
If you've read this far - thanks. I suppose I was feeling pretty verbose
tonight. Next report should come sometime Monday morning as we travel to
Maine tomorrow (Sat) for Sunday night's game. Looking forward to seeing
the new and improved Alfond Arena...
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
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