Friday, February 12, 1993 at Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (11-15-2, 5-13-0 HE 8th)         2     0     0  -  2
Boston University Terriers (20-6-2, 13-4-1 HE 2nd)  3     0     3  -  6
FIRST PERIOD                                                          BU-MC
1. BU1, Jay Pandolfo 9 (Jon Pratt), 4:50.                              1-0
2. MC1, Mark Goble 10 (Jim Gibson, Mark Cornforth), 9:42.              1-1
3. MC2, Teal Fowler 12 (Rob Atkinson), 10:31.                          1-2
4. BU2, Pratt 8 (Jon Jenkins, Bob Lachance), 11:24.                    2-2
5. BU3, Stephen Foster 2 (Kaj Linna, Mark Bavis), 14:48.  PPG  GWG     3-2
SECOND PERIOD
No scoring.
THIRD PERIOD
6. BU4, David Sacco 17 (Pandolfo, Doug Friedman), 0:21.                4-2
7. BU5, Pandolfo 10 (Sacco, Friedman), 5:05.                           5-2
8. BU6, Pandolfo 11 (Friedman, Doug Wood), 6:25.  HAT TRICK            6-2
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack           9--8--4 = 21
               Boston University  19-15-12 = 46
SAVES: MC, Mike Doneghey (L, 10-10-1, 46:25, 38 sh-32 sv),
           Matt Poska (6:19, 2-2), Mike Cox (7:16, 2-2).
       BU, J.P. McKersie (W, 6-0-1, 60:00, 21-19).
POWER PLAYS: MC 0 for 6.  BU 1 for 5.
PENALTIES: MC 12/32.  BU 13/34.
REFEREES: Bob Fowkes, John Gravellese.  LINESMAN: Jeff Bunyon.
ATTENDANCE: 1,369.
THREE STARS: 1. LW Jay Pandolfo, BU (3-1--4).
             2. RW Doug Friedman, BU (0-3--3).
             3. D Stephen Foster, BU (1-0--1).
 
Jay Pandolfo had a hat trick and an assist and goalie J.P. McKersie
remained unbeaten on the season as BU broke open a 3-2 game with three
goals early in the third to go on to a 6-2 win at home over Merrimack.
A snowstorm caused the Merrimack bus to take 2 hours for the trip to
North Andover to Boston (normally a half hour), but despite the conditions,
a crowd of 1,369 showed up for the game.
 
Merrimack had 5 or 6 great opportunities to score in the second with
the game still 3-2, but each time they either shot the puck wide or
McKersie came up with a big save.  That set the stage for BU to blow the
game open in the third.
 
THE GAME
The Terriers got on the board at 4:50 when Pandolfo scored his first of
the night.  Jon Pratt got the puck behind the net and fed Pandolfo in
front on a bang-bang play that Mike Doneghey had no chance on.  BU
was to put 19 shots on net in the period to Merrimack's 9, but would only
come out with a one-goal lead.  Merrimack's defense did not play well in
the period and BU took advantage to score three times.
 
However, the Terriers also didn't play very well, and mistakes allowed
Merrimack to score twice in 49 seconds and take a 2-1 lead.  At 9:42,
Mark Cornforth sent Jim Gibson and Mark Goble out on a 2x1, and Gibson
drew the defenseman and fed Goble for a 20-footer that was his 10th goal
of the year.  Then at 10:31, with Merrimack pressuring in the BU end,
Rob Atkinson stole the puck and fed Teal Fowler alone in front and Fowler
beat McKersie upstairs for Fowler's 12th.  BU argued that Atkinson had
knocked the puck down with a high stick, and they may have been right, but
there was no call.  That was to be all the scoring Merrimack would do in
the game.
 
The Terriers regrouped to score again just 53 seconds later.  Jon Jenkins
dumped the puck in and it hit the backboards and came out to Pratt who
quickly shot it in.  BU went on the power play after dodging a few bullets,
as McKersie had robbed Dan Gravelle and then Bryan Miller and then Goble
carried the puck, blew by Kevin O'Sullivan and put a shot on that McKersie
stopped.  The Terriers clicked just 30 seconds into that PP when Stephen
Foster's shot from the left circle went through Doneghey's pads for
Foster's 2nd of the year, and BU led 3-2.
 
After Doug Friedman hit Merrimack's Tom Costa with a high stick and Costa
took a minute to get up, Friedman skated by Costa and made a comment to
him.  This could have earned Friedman a penalty for either high-sticking or perhaps unsportsmanlike conduct, but referee John Gravellese chose to call
neither and just pointed for Friedman to go to the bench.
 
Despite being outshot 15-8 in the second, Merrimack had the majority of
the better chances but didn't score.  Five minutes in, Gravelle fed Matt
Adams in front but Adams shot it just wide; he had an open net.  The Costa-
Friedman battle saw round two as Costa was called for a rough on Friedman
away from the play, but the Terriers didn't score on the man advantage.
 
Later in the period, on two power plays, Merrimack's Gibson and Gravelle
shot the puck wide, then McKersie stopped Cooper Naylor from the left point
and Atkinson on the rebound, and then he made a nice glove save on Miller
after Miller took a pass from Gravelle, but it also appeared that Miller
didn't get a good shot off as the puck was on edge.  McKersie was not
outstanding, but he did play better than he had in his previous two
outings against Merrimack and also got a little luck.
 
In between periods, Merrimack assistant Scott McPherson said that the team
would try to hold the fort early in the third, but they couldn't as three
early goals blew the game open for BU.  21 seconds in, Pandolfo stole
the puck deep in the zone and fed David Sacco for a shot that Doneghey got
a piece of with his glove, but the puck bounced into the net for Sacco's
17th.  The goal seemed to take the wind out of Merrimack's sails. Then
Pandolfo scored twice in 1:20, at 5:05 and 6:25, to complete his hat trick
and make it 6-2.  First he was fed by Sacco deep in the slot for a goal,
then he put in the rebound of Wood's shot from the point.  That gave the
freshman 11 goals on the season.
 
After the 6th goal at 6:25, Merrimack called timeout and Doneghey was lifted
from the game.  Freshman Dan Millar, who had been the only other goalie to
see action for Merrimack this season, was not dressed for this game after
being injured in practice this week (day-to-day), and it was time for
backups Matt Poska (junior, transfer from Holy Cross) and Mike Cox (senior)
to see their first varsity action.  Poska came in at 6:25 and stopped both
shots he faced, and Cox came in at 12:44 and stopped all 6 shots he faced.
That made Poska and Cox the only Merrimack goalies to have GAAs of 0.00. :-)
 
The game got a little chippy over the final ten minutes, with 50 minutes
in penalties being called over the final 5:58.  Part of this was due to
frustration on the part of Merrimack, and part was due to simple cheap
shots by BU which didn't make sense as they had a four-goal lead, but both
teams were probably trying to set the tone for the next night's rematch.
 
First, at 15:56, Pratt and Merrimack's Guy Ragault engaged in a wrestling
match in which Pratt earned two points for the takedown.  This was probably
set off by Ragault's cross-check in the corner.  Cornforth and BU's Bob
Lachance did a little pushing and shoving of their own and were hit with
misconducts, but BU came out of it on the power play.  At 17:16, Mark Bavis
and Merrimack's John Barron did some stick-swinging after Bavis hammered
Barron with a cross-check in the back (uncalled), and they went off.  Then,
when Pratt came out of the box, he went straight for Costa and crushed him
with a high-stick into the boards - again no call, although Costa appeared
knocked out for several seconds.
 
The final battle of the night came at 18:41 when Gibson checked Dan Donato
into the boards near the BU bench, and Donato gave Gibson a few rights to
the head.  That nearly touched off an ugly situation, as while Gibson and
Donato were being separated, Miller and Pratt started to get into it and
McKersie left his crease to join in (McKersie received nothing for leaving
the crease during an altercation).  Wayde McMillan and Jenkins were also
waltzing together, and they went off as well.  Only minors were called and
everything cancelled, except for an extra bench minor to the BU bench
which was probably because of at least one player reaching over to join
the Gibson-Donato battle.  All of this might have been headed off had the
infractions committed earlier been called, but they weren't - then again,
the teams didn't seem on friendly terms anyway near the end, so who knows.
 
It was too bad because the game was a good and exciting one until the
early stages of the third, and then it degenerated into a lot of cheap
shots that weren't necessary.
 
POSTGAME
The win was BU's 20th of the year and well-earned as the Terriers weathered
Merrimack's strong second - however, they probably could have put this one
away early but took until the third to do it.  BU improved to 29-2 all-time
against Merrimack.
 
See also my recap of the Saturday BU-Merrimack game.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)    *HMN*