Friday, November 20, 1992 at Matthews Arena, Boston, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (4-4-1, 0-3-0 HE) 2 1 3 - 6
Northeastern Huskies (4-3-0, 2-1-0 HE) 2 3 2 - 7
FIRST PERIOD NU-MC
1. NU1, Jason Melong 1 (Danny McGillis), 1:43. 1-0
2. NU2, Bob Kellogg 1 (Dino Grossi, Darryl MacNair), 13:27. 5x3 2-0
3. MC1, Wayde McMillan 7 (Jim Gibson, Mark Cornforth), 15:33. PPG 2-1
4. MC2, McMillan 8 (Gibson, Cornforth), 19:53. 2-2
SECOND PERIOD
5. MC3, Ryan Mailhiot 4 (Tom Costa, Mike Doneghey), 1:09. 2-3
6. NU3, Jason Kelly 1 (unassisted), 6:29. 3-3
7. NU4, Grossi 2 (Jay Schiavo, Adam Hayes), 10:14. 4-3
8. NU5, Sebastien Laplante 1 (Jean-Francois Aube), 16:20. 5-3
THIRD PERIOD
9. NU6, McGillis 1 (Francois Bouchard, Laplante), 1:32. PPG 6-3
10. MC4, Martin Favreau 4 (Cornforth, Mark Goble), 8:28. PPG 6-4
11. NU7, Hayes 2 (Schiavo, Grossi), 8:46. GWG 7-4
12. MC5, Goble 3 (Alex Weinrich, Favreau), 9:52. 7-5
13. MC6, Gibson 5 (Dan Hodge, Bryan Miller), 14:42. PPG 7-6
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 14-17-13 = 44
Northeastern 12-10-10 = 32
SAVES: Merrimack, Mike Doneghey (L, 3-2-0, 58:57, 32 sh-25 sv).
Northeastern, Mike Veisor (W, 3-0-0, 60:00, 44-38).
POWER PLAYS: Merrimack 3 of 8. Northeastern 2 of 4.
PENALTIES: Merrimack 6/12. Northeastern 10/20.
REFEREES: Rich Fowkes, Bob Fowkes. LINESMAN: Chuck Wynters.
ATTENDANCE: 1,725.
THREE STARS: 1. NU, RW Dino Grossi (1-2--3).
2. MC, C Wayde McMillan (2-0--2).
3. NU, LW Sebastien Laplante (1-1--2).
THE GAME
I'm not sure, but I think Northeastern head coach Ben Smith and Merrimack
head coach Ron Anderson may have aged a collective ten years or so between
them after this game tonight.
In a game filled with defensive mistakes, inconsistent goaltending, and
general sloppy play, Northeastern built a 6-3 lead and withstood a furious
Merrimack assault to chalk up its second straight Hockey East win. Smith
must have thought he was watching a replay of the last meeting between
these two teams on February 22nd, when Merrimack scored three goals in
the final 2:45 after being down 5-2 to force overtime, although the
Hounds prevailed in that extra session, 6-5.
Entering the game, Merrimack had a 9-4-0 record against the Huskies over
the last five years, 5-2-0 at Matthews Arena (the world's oldest hockey
rink), and was 6-3-0 against NU since joining Hockey East. The Warriors
were looking to bounce back after their rough weekend at Maine, while Ben
Smith hoped freshman Mike Veisor would again come up big in net as he had
last weekend against BU.
A little of both happened. Veisor played well in making 38 saves, but
after a weak start, Merrimack got in gear and put 44 shots on Veisor and
managed six goals. But it wasn't enough.
NU went up 2-0 in the first and was playing solid two-way hockey. Just
1:43 into the game, Jason Melong banged in the rebound of Danny McGillis'
shot from the left point off the draw. Then, at the tail end of a 5-on-3,
Bob Kellogg came in from the point and scored from the right circle to
make it 2-0. But Merrimack came back with two goals before the end of
the period, both by Wayde McMillan, who leads the team with 8-6--14 (tied
with Jim Gibson's 5-9--14). At 15:33 on the power play, McMillan set up
in front and banged in the 2nd rebound of Mark Cornforth's blast from the
point, Gibson also assisting. Then, with just seven seconds left in the
period, McMillan again was there to follow up shots by Cornforth and
Gibson, and it was 2-2 after one.
Merrimack had played a good second half of the first period after its slow
start, and this carried over into the second when the Gibson-McMillan-
Mailhiot line clicked again at 1:09. Defenseman Tom Costa got the puck
from Doneghey and carried up the left side to his blue line, then fired a
bullet pass to Mailhiot streaking up the right side at the Huskie blue
line. Mailhiot went in and stuffed it by Veisor for the freshman's fourth
goal of the season, and the assist by Doneghey was the senior goalie's
first in his college career.
At 3-2, that was the last time the Warriors would lead, as Northeastern
roared back for the next four goals of the game. Defenseman Jason Kelly
scored his first goal of the season at 6:29 when he stole the puck,
carried into the zone and let go a slapshot from the point that beat
Doneghey to the stick side. At 10:14, Dino Grossi put NU up to stay at 4-3
by taking a cross-ice pass from Adam Hayes and blasting the puck by
Doneghey from about 30 feet. Six minutes later, Jean-Francois Aube, who
is tied for the Northeastern lead in scoring with eight points (5-3--8),
carried the puck up the right side and behind the net, then found
Sebastien Laplante alone in front and Laplante banged home his first goal
of the season, making it 5-3 NU after two.
The Huskies went on the power play early in the third and got what looked
like a devastating goal just 1:32 in when McGillis' shot from the right
point eluded Doneghey for a three goal lead. But Merrimack hung tough
and began chipping away, starting with Martin Favreau's power play goal
at 8:28 when he pounced on a loose puck and flipped it into the net before
Veisor could move across the crease. NU got a big goal, the eventual
winner, just 18 seconds later when Hayes' slapper from inside the blue line
beat Doneghey to make it 7-4. Doneghey had some trouble with the long
shots tonight, but suddenly he buckled down in the final 11 minutes or
so and made some truly brilliant saves while the Warriors continued their
comeback.
The most effective lines for Merrimack in the game were the previously
mentioned McMillan line, and a new line put together by Ron Anderson in
the third period consisting of Dan Gravelle and fourth-line freshmen
Mark Goble and Martin Favreau. Both lines saw extensive power play action
in the third (after NU's PPG early in the period, Merrimack got the
final four man advantages of the game) and the new Gravelle line looked
extremely good, despite the fact that Gravelle was kept off the scoresheet.
Goble scored his third goal just 1:06 after Northeastern went ahead 7-4,
as he tipped Alex Weinrich's shot from the point past Veisor. With the
freshmen scoring three more goals tonight, they have accounted for 11
goals on the season. Then, ten seconds into a power play at 14:42, Gibson
tipped in Dan Hodge's shot from the point on an identical play, and it
was 7-6.
Merrimack had another power play late and pulled Doneghey with about a
minute left to have a 6-on-4 advantage for about thirty seconds, but
Veisor made several big saves and got some breaks, such as when Favreau
fired the puck just wide with one second left. It wasn't pretty, but
Northeastern held on for the win.
COMMENTS
Two stats loom big for Merrimack: a 44-32 shot on goal advantage, and
eight power plays as compared to Northeastern's four. Merrimack definitely
got its offense back in gear after struggling at Maine last week, but
the total defensive play was pretty sloppy, although it was that way for
both teams. Passes from point to point were getting broken up, shots
being blocked and returned for 2-on-1's, and so on. Both teams will
likely look to play a little tighter defense tomorrow night.
Northeastern has an interesting blend of skill and size. SID Bill Doherty
told me that when he came to NU, Ben Smith hoped to implement the
European style of play he learned when coaching with the US national teams,
but he learned that in a small home rink like NU's Matthews Arena (187x85),
you can't neglect the physical play too, and he has a huge defense to go
with speedy forwards. They're as exciting as any of the Huskie teams from
several years ago, and players like Hayes, Schiavo, Grossi, Laplante,
Taylor, and Aube can skate with the best of them. NU's third and fourth
lines are inexperienced and couldn't put together as many chances as
Merrimack's bottom two lines, but the first two will give opponents fits.
If Veisor can continue to play well and the Huskies can cut back on the
number of shots he has to see, they should pull some surprises and will
do well.
The Huskies aren't making any excuses, but I had heard that a team-wide
bout of influenza the weekend of the North Country trip may have contributed
to their one-sided losses at Clarkson and SLU. After seeing them tonight,
I am amazed that this team was so handily blown out of the rink up there.
It's interesting that both Merrimack and Northeastern have suffered
weekend demolitions early in the season, but I think both are better than
they appeared in those games and will probably learn from the experience.
NEXT
The two teams battle again Saturday night at the Volpe Complex at 7 pm
in the return engagement of their home-and-home set. Northeastern will
look to sweep the series and establish a strong 3-1-0 record in HE, while
at 0-3-0 and in danger of falling far off the pace early, Merrimack hopes
some home cooking will net them their first league win.
---
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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