Saturday, January 16, 1993 at Tully Forum, Billerica, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (8-11-2, 2-9-0 HE 8th) 0 1 2 - 3
UMass-Lowell Chiefs (13-9-0, 5-6-0 HE 5th) 0 2 6 - 8
FIRST PERIOD UML-MC
No scoring.
SECOND PERIOD
1. UML1, Mike Murray 11 (Jeff Daw), 1:37. SHG 1-0
2. UML2, Murray 12 (unassisted), 10:48. SHG 2-0
3. MC1, Dan Gravelle 12 (Tom Costa), 12:08. PPG 2-1
THIRD PERIOD
4. UML3, Dave Pensa 6 (Daw, Murray), 3:45. PPG 3-1
5. UML4, Pensa 7 (Daw), 4:12. GWG 4-1
6. MC2, Mark Goble 8 (Dan Hodge, Jim Gibson), 5:27. PPG 4-2
7. UML5, Travis Tucker 1 (unassisted), 8:42. 5-2
8. MC3, Wayde McMillan 13 (Goble, Gibson), 13:37. 5-3
9. UML6, Shane Henry 15 (Dan O'Connell, Scott Meehan), 15:09. 6-3
10. UML7, Murray 13 (Daw, Tucker), 17:06. 7-3
11. UML8, Gerry Daley 5 (Kerry Angus), 18:44. 8-3
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 7--7-14 = 28
UMass-Lowell 18--8-16 = 42
SAVES: Merrimack, Mike Doneghey (L, 7-6-1, 60:00, 42 sh-34 sv).
UMass-Lowell, Dwayne Roloson (W, 13-9-0, 60:00, 28-25).
POWER PLAYS: Merrimack 2 for 9. UMass-Lowell 1 for 5.
PENALTIES: Merrimack 8/16. UMass-Lowell 13/26.
REFEREES: Scott Leavitt, Drew Taylor. LINESMAN: Jeff Bunyon.
ATTENDANCE: 1,283.
THREE STARS: 1. RW Mike Murray, UML (3-1--4).
2. LW Dave Pensa, UML (2-0--2, GWG).
3. C Jeff Daw, UML (0-4--4).
[again, possible changes in scoring...Murray was announced as being
credited with an assist on Pensa's 2nd goal, at 4:12 of the 3rd, and
Tucker's goal at 8:42 of the third was announced as being changed to
Bazin from Tucker. But these changes weren't made on the game sheet, so
I'll go with what is on there.]
UMass-Lowell avenged its Friday night loss to cross-Valley rival Merrimack
by scoring six times in the third period on route to an 8-3 win. Mike
Murray had a hat trick and either one or two assists :-), and Dave Pensa
added two huge goals early in the third to break open a 2-1 game. Two
of Murray's goals were shorthanded and were the only scoring Lowell could
manage through the opening two periods.
The score of the game isn't indicative of the way it went, as Merrimack
actually outplayed Lowell in the third but couldn't convert on its many
chances.
The win left Lowell all alone in fifth place in Hockey East, while
Merrimack remains last, four points behind BC and Providence who are tied
for 6th.
Merrimack goalie Mike Doneghey was the story of the opening period,
turning away all 18 Lowell shots to keep the game scoreless. The Chiefs
came out hitting and shooting the puck and looked like a completely
different team than they were in their 6-3 loss the night before.
After the first period, all of the Lowell players lined up on the blue
line and were given corsages and hats to present to their parents, most
of whom were at the game. This was a nice touch of class by coach Bruce
Crowder's program, although it made the intermission about 25 minutes
long and meant we had more time to kill on the radio. :-) Fortunately,
because of hockey-l, I had all of the results and many details from around
DivI Friday and was able to use much of that to fill the time.
Murray got things started with his first goal, shorthanded, at 1:37 of
the second. Jeff Daw intercepted a pass and fed Murray, whose shot
from the left circle beat Doneghey. Murray would add another shorthanded
goal at 10:48 to make it 2-0 when he stole the puck in the Merrimack
zone and fired it past Doneghey. Murray had a terrible game the night
before and was dropped down from first-line center to RW on the second
line with Pensa and Daw. The new line would combine for 5 goals and
5 or 6 assists.
On the same shorthanded situation, Lowell almost scored again when
Dan O'Connell blocked a shot by Mark Cornforth at the point and raced
down the ice on a breakaway. But Cornforth atoned for his mistake by
catching O'Connell and making a beautiful play to poke the puck away.
Then, off the draw, Merrimack got on the board on the PP when Dan Gravelle
won the faceoff back to Tom Costa. Costa fired a shot from the left
point and Gravelle put in the rebound for his 12th goal of the year.
Earlier in the period, Lowell goalie Dwayne Roloson, who has seen almost
every minute of action for his team this year, suffered with what seemed to
be a groin injury when he stopped a shot by Merrimack's Bryan Miller and
had to be attended to by the trainer. Roloson stayed in but had trouble
moving around, most noticeably when he tried to get to the bench on a
delayed penalty but could only reach the blue line before doubling over.
But Roloson would stay in to finish the game and played very well with
25 saves.
With the score 2-1 into the third, Merrimack came out storming and
Roloson was forced to make several big saves off of Atkinson and Fowler.
It looked like Merrimack would tie the game, but when Dan Hodge went
off for hitting from behind at 3:37, the Chiefs were quick to capitalize,
scoring just 8 seconds later. Pensa put in a rebound off the draw for
his 6th of the year and a 3-1 lead. 27 seconds later, the Chiefs took a
commanding 4-1 lead when the Chiefs stole the puck in the Merrimack end
and Pensa again scored. Merrimack had the heavy edge in play but was being
outscored 2-0 in the period.
Roloson was playing well, but again Merrimack continued to storm the net
and the result was a PPG by Mark Goble at 5:27. Jim Gibson fed Goble,
who carried behind the net and wheeled in front, shot the puck and then
poked in his own rebound through Roloson's pads for his 8th of the year.
The Warriors went on another power play at 6:09 and the pressure
continued, but Lowell defenseman Scott Meehan broke up a 2x1, and soon
after the power play ended, Travis Tucker stole the puck in the Merrimack
end and fired a shot from the right circle that found its way through
Doneghey's pads for Tucker's first of the year and a 5-2 lead. The goal
was later announced as having gone to Normand Bazin on a tip, but again
that's not official.
The Warriors had several more great chances to score on yet another power
play, but Goble missed an open net when Roloson was down and out and
Goble's shot from five feet went just wide, and Roloson later robbed
Fowler twice and also Wayde McMillan. But McMillan would bring Merrimack
within two goals at 13:37 when his line clicked again on a 3x2. Gibson
fed Goble, who gave it to McMillan for a flip in and his team-leading 13th
goal.
At this point, Merrimack was in a great position to continue the comeback
with the way it had been controlling the puck in the offensive zone, but
just as happened in the two UNH games last weekend, the defense completely
broke down and Lowell took advantage to score three unanswered goals for
the 8-3 win. Shane Henry was left untouched in front of the net to put
in the rebound of O'Connell's shot at 15:09, Henry's team-leading 15th,
and Murray completed his hat trick at 17:06 with a shot from the left
circle. Finally, with the score 7-3 and Merrimack clearly having already
mentally begun the trip back to North Andover, Gerry Daley took a shot
from the right point that Doneghey waved at with his glove and the puck
sailed into the net for the 8-3 final.
As the Chiefs lined up after the handshakes to salute their fans a la BC
(tapping their sticks on the ice and raising them to the crowd), some
pushing and shoving broke out between the Merrimack players still on
the ice and some of the Lowell players. It was unclear what started this,
although some frustrations were being expressed by some of the Merrimack
players as well as some taunting by the Lowell players. The coaches had
to help separate the players, and Lowell senior Gerry Daley showed some
maturity by helping push his teammates back and defusing the situation.
POSTGAME
Lowell continued its home winning streak against Merrimack with its 8th
straight win on home ice in the series. The last Merrimack win at Tully
Forum came in 1985. As I suspected, the Chiefs played a much stronger
game than they had the night before and deserved to win this game. The
mark of a good player is bouncing back from a poor performance to lead
his team to victory, and Murray did just that with his two SHG and hat
trick. The win was the Chiefs' first home win in HE.
Despite playing a poor first period and hanging Doneghey out to dry,
Merrimack was in a position to win this game, but poor defense on the
power play in the second led to Murray's 2 SHGs. Still, down only 2-1
into the third, the Warriors again folded with a very poor performance
in their own end, and Merrimack has now been outscored 16-6 in the third
period alone in its last four games. After allowing 11 goals to Lowell
on the weekend, Merrimack has the worst conference goals-against per game
in all of DivI, allowing 81 goals in 11 games for an average of 7.36 -
and that came down this weekend. The Warriors play their best when they
attend to duties in their own end, as is shown by the wins over Lowell
and Providence, but when they leave Doneghey to fend for himself for much
of the game, the results are just not pretty.
Next weekend, Merrimack will play a home-and-home with Providence, a team
Merrimack has already beaten on the road this year. Friday's game will
be at PC, with the return engagement coming at Merrimack Saturday night.
The next five games will tell us whether Merrimack has what it takes to
avoid Maine in the first round. All five will be against the two teams
just ahead of Merrimack in the standings, PC and BC. Merrimack is four
games into the stretch of 10 games against teams they can beat, but they're
a disappointing 1-3-0 in those four games. That means they have to make
up for it with at least 3, probably 4 wins in the next 5-6 games.
UMass-Lowell has a home-and-home with Northeastern on tap. Friday's game
at UMass-Lowell will be shown live on NESN, and the teams will do battle
again Saturday night at Northeastern's Matthews Arena. With NU all alone
in 4th place, one point ahead of UML, this series could go a long way
towards deciding if either of these teams can gain home ice.
---
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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