Saturday, October 31, 1992 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA
NON-DIVISION I GAME
Alabama-Huntsville Chargers (2-2-0) 0 0 1 - 1
Merrimack Warriors (3-1-0) 1 3 2 - 6
FIRST PERIOD MC-AH
1. MC1, Cooper Naylor 1 (Teal Fowler, Matt Adams), 12:29. 1-0
SECOND PERIOD
2. MC2, Rob Atkinson 2 (Mark Cornforth), 4:26. GWG 2-0
3. MC3, Martin Favreau 2 (Quentin Fendelet, Guy Ragault), 9:39. 3-0
4. MC4, Wayde McMillan 3 (Jim Gibson, Bryan Miller), 9:48. 4-0
THIRD PERIOD
5. AH1, Brian Richard 4 (Stuart Vitue, Logan Lampert), 3:32. PPG 4-1
6. MC5, Gibson 3 (Miller, Alex Weinrich), 9:57. 5x3 5-1
7. MC6, Favreau 3 (Dan Hodge, Gibson), 18:05. PPG 6-1
SHOTS ON GOAL: Alabama-Huntsville 7--7--6 = 20
Merrimack 8-10-26 = 44
SAVES: UAH, Bryan Toffey (L, 1-1-0, 60:00, 44 sh-38 sv).
MC, Dan Millar (W, 1-1-0, 60:00, 20-19).
POWER PLAYS: AH 1 of 6. MC 2 of 6.
PENALTIES: AH 13/26. MC 14/36.
REFEREES: Frank Cole, Matt Good. LINESMAN: Dennis Hughes.
ATTENDANCE: 432.
THREE STARS: 1. Merrimack, G Dan Millar (W, 20 sh-19 sv).
2. Merrimack, C Martin Favreau (2-0--2).
3. Merrimack, LW Rob Atkinson (1-0--1).
Merrimack completed a sweep of Division II Alabama-Huntsville with a
convincing 6-1 win before a disappointing crowd of only 432 on Halloween
night. The Warriors ran their record to 3-1-0 and got good goaltending
for the fourth straight game, this time from freshman Dan Millar who
stopped 19 of 20 shots and allowed only a power play goal early in the
third.
Fourth-line center Martin Favreau finished a great weekend by scoring
two more goals. The freshman had 3-1--4 on the weekend.
The first period was played at a slow pace and neither team had many
solid opportunities to score. Only Merrimack's Cooper Naylor buried the
biscuit in that opening stanza, his first goal of the young season. With
the top two lines struggling, Ron Anderson decided to shake things up a
bit and moved LW Teal Fowler back to center with Matt Adams and Naylor
on his wings, and the result was the game's first goal. Adams stole the
puck and fed Fowler, whose pass to Naylor in front was converted.
Merrimack broke the game open in the second with three tallies, two in
nine seconds. Defenseman Mark Cornforth stole a pass at center ice and
carried into the zone. He wound up for a shot but when a UAH defender
slid in front to block it, Cornforth held the shot and then found a
streaking Rob Atkinson deep in the slot. Atkinson beat Bryan Toffey for
the eventual game-winner at 4:26.
Favreau's first of the game came at 9:39 when he took a pass from Quentin
Fendelet behind the net and batted the puck in the air past Toffey, who
had no chance. Linemate Guy Ragault also assisted as he had dug the puck
out of the corner and passed to Fendelet. Toffey did not play a bad game,
but like his teammate Derek Puppa the night before, Toffey was often the
victim of an overzealous Charger team who decided at times to rush the
puck and not play defense.
Nine seconds after Favreau's goal, Wayde McMillan scored his third goal
of the season to make it 4-0 and all but put the game away. McMillan
now has 3-3--6 in four games and is off to a flying start. His linemate
Jim Gibson, with 3-4--7, is the team's leading scorer, and wing Ryan
Mailhiot has added 2-2--4. The line started the season as Merrimack's
third line, but they've played so well that Anderson moved them up to
first line for this game.
UAH tried to pick up the pace in the third, trailing 4-0, and it started
to pay off with an early power play goal at 3:32. Brian Richard took
a pass from Stuart Vitue and beat Millar from in front for his fourth
goal of the season. The line of Vitue-Richard-Logan Lampert was UAH's
best on the weekend and was able to skate pretty well with Merrimack, but
overall, UAH seemed a little tired in the third and it showed as they
surrendered 26 shots while mustering just 6 of their own.
Ten seconds into a 5x3, Gibson scored from Merrimack to make it 5-1 as
he tipped in a shot from the blue line by Bryan Miller, Alex Weinrich
also assisting. Finally, with UAH down a man due to a too many men call,
Favreau scored his second of the night with 1:55 left for the 6-1 final.
While Merrimack probably didn't play as well overall on the weekend as
they did to open the season at Western Michigan, it was still easily
enough and they earned the sweep. Merrimack outshot the Chargers in
each of the six periods. The best thing about the two-game set from
Merrimack's viewpoint was probably the variety of goal-scorers. Friday's
game saw six different players score the six goals, while five players
accounted for the six goals Saturday. Freshmen scored five of the 12
goals. And goaltenders Doneghey and Millar both played well again in
splitting the weekend's action. Doneghey's GAA stands at 3.50 with a
.868 save %, while Millar's GAA is 2.52 with a .912 save %.
BTW, for those keeping track via the composite, UAH opened its season
on 10-23 with a 16-3 win over Michigan-Dearborn and then followed that
up on 10-24 with a 10-2 win over Dearborn. No scores on the Kentucky
exhibitions that were on the schedule.
Merrimack next travels to Dartmouth on Fri Nov 6th and returns home to
host RPI on Sun Nov 8th at 4 pm. I will have to miss the Merrimack-
Dartmouth game since I'll be in Plattsburgh for the Cardinal Classic,
but I will return for the RPI-MC game. Heather was out here for the
games this weekend and seems to bring the Warriors good luck; they're
3-0-0 with her on hand including an exhibition win. She'll get her first
test at the RPI game, and that will be followed up by a game at Maine,
so I guess we're going to find out just what she's made of. :-)
If anyone is at the MC-Dart game and wants to post a summary/box, I would
encourage and appreciate it since I won't be back until Sunday afternoon.
Thanks!
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.) *HMN*
|
