Tuesday, January 3, 1995 at Tully Forum, Billerica, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (5-11-3, 3-6-3 2 HE 6th) 0 0 3 - 3
Mass Lowell River Hawks (8-8-3, 5-3-1 1 HE t4th) 3 2 3 - 8
FIRST PERIOD ML-MC
1. ML1, Bill Riga 4 (Jon Mahoney), 2:38. SHG 1-0
2. ML2, Mahoney 2 (Christian Sbrocca, Marc Salsman), 11:42. PPG 2-0
3. ML3, Greg Bullock 13 (David Mayes), 18:50. 3-0
SECOND PERIOD
4. ML4, Jeff Daw 16 (Ed Campbell, Sbrocca), 15:23. PPG GWG 4-0
5. ML5, Daw 17 (Campbell, Sbrocca), 19:46. PPG 5-0
THIRD PERIOD
6. MC1, Dan Hodge 1 (Mark Cornforth, Gaetan Poirier), 1:35. 5x3 5-1
7. ML6, Mahoney 3 (David Dartsch, Salsman), 7:08. 6-1
8. MC2, Rob Beck 9 (Tom Costa, Casey Kesselring), 7:18. 6-2
9. MC3, Kesselring 10 (Beck, Chris Silvestro), 7:43. 6-3
10. ML7, Daw 18 (Bullock, Sbrocca), 9:21. PPG 7-3
11. ML8, Dartsch 4 (unassisted), 12:24. 8-3
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 8-11-12 = 31
Mass Lowell 15-13-15 = 43
SAVES: Merrimack, Martin Legault (L, 4-10-3, 37:03, 26 sh-22 sv),
Eric Thibeault (22:57, 17 sh-13 sv).
Mass Lowell, Craig Lindsay (W, 4-4-3, 60:00, 31 sh-28 sv).
POWER PLAYS: Merrimack 1 for 7. Mass Lowell 4 for 7.
PENALTIES: Merrimack 10/20. Mass Lowell 11/30.
REFEREES: John Gravallese, Tim Benedetto. LINESMAN: Bill Jones.
ATTENDANCE: 1,044.
THREE STARS: 1. C Jeff Daw, Mass Lowell (3-0--3, GWG, 3 PPG).
2. RW Jon Mahoney, Mass Lowell (2-1--3, PPG).
3. LW Christian Sbrocca, Mass Lowell (0-4--4).
Junior center Jeff Daw's power play hat trick led Mass Lowell to an
8-3 thumping of Merrimack in the return to Hockey East play for both
teams, enabling UML to pull into a tie for 4th with BU. Normally
quiet fourth liner Jon Mahoney added two goals and an assist, while
Christian Sbrocca picked up four power play helpers.
The host River Hawks built leads of 3-0 after one and 5-0 after two
on the basis of 4 special teams goals - 3 PPGs and 1 SHG. For the game,
Lowell tallied 5 special teams goals (4 PPGs, 1 SHG) to Merrimack's 1
(1 PPG), and another Lowell goal came only 4 seconds after a power
play expired.
Some blowouts occur because one team is simply too dominant, while
others occur because one team just plays very poorly. This one was
a result of the latter. It was easily the worst showing by a Merrimack
team this season and perhaps the worst I have seen in at least two
years. There was nothing positive about the way Merrimack played,
either individually or from the team point of view. Head coach Ron
Anderson was clearly disturbed with the performance, and after the
second period, he left three skaters in the locker room and played the
third with only 15. This came after starting goalie Martin Legault
had been replaced with 2:57 left in the second and Lowell up 4-0.
While Lowell might have been expected to come out angry in the first
after the way they have struggled lately (3 game losing streak), they
actually didn't play this way early on. The first period was a morass
of horrendous defense and fundamental breakdowns by Merrimack, and
Lowell simply took advantage of the chances given them. The second
period began to even out a little, but in the final minutes of the
period Merrimack took a couple of bad penalties and couldn't stop the
Lowell power play. That took it from 3-0 and a game that was still
somewhat close, to 5-0 and a game that was over.
FIRST
An early penalty put Merrimack on the power play, but they squandered
the opportunity just 14 seconds into it and allowed a shorthanded goal
to Lowell's Bill Riga. On what looked like a harmless rush, Lowell
skated up ice 2x2, but a Merrimack forward who shall remain nameless
inexplicably stopped skating and didn't cover Riga. Mahoney saw the
chance and fed the open Riga for a quick goal at 2:38.
The Warriors had a chance to tie soon afterward, but Matt Adams shot
a rebound wide on an open net. Then after a Merrimack penalty,
another mistake led to a Lowell rush and a goal. Two penalty killers
carried into the zone on a 2x2 with all four players bunched up, but
instead of being content to dump it in and return to their positions,
Merrimack tried a pass that was stolen. Mahoney took a feed from
Sbrocca on the return 3x2 rush and fired a shot that trickled through
Legault's legs at 11:42 for a 2-0 UML lead.
A too many men penalty on Lowell gave Merrimack another power play,
but it appeared as if the Warriors would have been better off declining
penalties with the way their power play was so disorganized. Lowell
made it 3-0 soon after the penalty expired when Legault seemed to be
caught out of position and Greg Bullock deflected a shot from David
Mayes past the netminder with just over a minute left in the period.
This was probably the worst period I have seen Merrimack play in
quite a long time.
SECOND
Merrimack came out a little stronger, but they weren't able to get
much going. Still, it remained 3-0 until a penalty to Martin Laroche
and an ensuing PPG by Daw, who tipped a shot by Ed Campbell past
Legault at 15:23 to make it 4-0. Just about two minutes later,
Legault was replaced by Eric Thibeault, but this did little to spark
the visitors. A bad penalty with 27 seconds left in the period gave
Daw another chance to set up in front on the power play, and again
he deflected a Campbell shot into the net, this time with only 14
seconds left in the period. Lowell carried a 5-0 lead into the third.
Merrimack's frustration showed as they left the ice, with one Warrior
smashing the light in the hallway leading into the locker room.
THIRD
As mentioned, Ron Anderson chose to leave three forwards in the locker
room heading into the third, and probably the only surprise was that
there were only 3. Merrimack did finally have a golden opportunity
with a 5x3 following two separate Lowell penalties, and they cashed
in at 1:35 as senior defenseman Dan Hodge, playing only his second
game since returning, blasted a shot from the point past Craig Lindsay
to make it 5-1.
A pair of hitting after the whistle penalties and an extra minor to
Merrimack gave Lowell another power play at 5:04, but while the River
Hawks were unable to score up a man, they did get one 4 seconds after
the penalty expired at 7:08 when David Dartsch found Mahoney alone
in front. But some serious line juggling found MC defenseman Eric
Weichselbaumer playing forward, and the result was an MC goal 10 seconds
later as Rob Beck banged in the rebound of Tom Costa's shot. 25
seconds after that, Casey Kesselring scored his tenth of the year to
make it 6-3, and there was still hope.
But Lowell buckled down and regained the momentum, scoring 19
seconds into another power play at 9:21 to effectively shut the door
for good. Daw completed his hat trick, all on the power play. 3
minutes later, Dartsch picked up a loose puck and fired a shot that
went in off Thibeault's glove to give Lowell an 8-3 lead and close the
scoring.
POSTGAME
Although Lowell didn't look too good in opening up the 3-0 lead after
one, the lead allowed them to pay more attention to defense and contain
Merrimack as they tried to fight back in the second. Lowell got
stronger as the game went along and the win was a good way of breaking
out of the slump in which they had lost 3 straight and scored only 8
goals during that losing streak. Lowell's special teams were superb
and helped stake them to the big lead. Daw's trick gives him 18 on
the year with 14 on the power play, a new Lowell record.
Merrimack has some serious regrouping to do in all aspects of the
game after this horrible loss. The team defense was more porous than
it has been all year, and it is disturbing that the team which had
been playing so well in their end of the ice has dropped 2 of 3 since
Christmas and allowed 7 and 8 goals in those losses. The Warriors
are still entertaining hopes of gaining home ice for the playoffs,
but if they continue to play this way, the only way they'll get home
ice is if they finish 8th and host the play-in game vs the 9th place
finisher. With the fact that there are several players waiting in
the wings to play, like Ryan Mailhiot, Tom O'Grady and Karl Infanger,
I have to think that they will get their chance after this outing.
NEXT
Lowell plays at Northeastern Saturday night in a game which will be
shown live on NESN - this is an add to the NESN schedule. A win
could gain Lowell another spot or two in the standings. Merrimack
will try to bounce back in a nonconference game Friday night at Army,
followed by a home game with UNH Sunday evening, also a NESN telecast.
The Warriors could find themselves in 8th by that time, as they
are only a point ahead of 7th place PC and 3 points in front of BC.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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