1/2/91   Lowell              1 at Boston University   4 HE
         Providence          4 at Maine               6 HE
         Alaska-Fairbanks    7 at Merrimack           3 NC
         Notre Dame          3 at New Hampshire       5 NC
 
    ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 7, at MERRIMACK 3
 
    Well, there's usually one of these every year.  Merrimack led the
    Nanooks 3-1 with 14 minutes left in the third period, then surrendered
    six straight goals to lose, 7-3.
 
    The first two periods were relatively uneventful, as the Warriors got goals
    from Jim Gibson (#3) and Dan Gravelle (#10) to counter UAF's Dean Fedorchuk
    (#4) for a 2-1 lead.  Agostino Casale (#14) made it 3-1 at 1:14 of the
    third near the end of a power play, and Merrimack seemed to be on its way
    to winning its ninth game of the season.
 
    When Wayne Sawchuk hauled down MC's Teal Fowler on a breakaway, things
    continued to look up - but inexplicably, Bob Fowkes called MC's Matt Hentges
    for a delay of game penalty, confounding all of us in the press box and
    wiping out a possible Warrior power play after they had already gone 2 for 4
    on the night.  Then, near the end of the 4 on 4, Merrimack's Bryan Miller
    was bringing the puck out of his own end when he was grabbed and thrown to
    the ice by Fedorchuk, who passed in front to Derek Linnell for Fairbanks'
    2nd goal at 6:54.  No call was forthcoming, so instead of a 5-on-3 leading
    into another power play and a 3-1 score, it was now even up and 3-2.
 
    This was really the beginning of the end, since the momentum was really
    shifting to UA-F.  The Nanooks tied it at 11:41 when defenseman Don Lester
    came to the blue line and shot a floater that got under Steve D'Amore's
    arm.  Two more goals followed by Todd Skogland and Kevin Nohr and it was 5-3
    Fairbanks with 5 minutes left.  D'Amore came to the bench for a sixth
    skater with two minutes on the clock, but Nohr tallied the empty-netter at
    18:48, and after D'Amore came back in Shawn Ulrich finished the scoring at
    19:22.
 
    The Nanooks were a team Merrimack had an opportunity to put away and should
    have, but they didn't.  The Warriors need to play 60 minutes against
    everyone, and hopefully this game will make them realize that.  It doesn't
    make sense that they can beat BC and UNH and lose to Kent and Fairbanks.
    Consistency is the mark of a good team, and Merrimack hasn't reached the
    point where they can claim to be a consistent team yet.
 
    at MAINE 6, PROVIDENCE 4
 
    I caught the end of this on tv; Maine jumped out to a 5-1 lead as Martin
    Mercier and Scott Pellerin each scored twice in the first period.  Kent
    Salfi scored to break a 1-1 tie halfway through the first to start the
    outburst.  The Friars didn't play badly in the third period, from what
    I saw, but Maine held them off until Mike Boback got a late goal for PC
    to make it 6-4.  Both teams were without their top goalies, as freshmen
    Mike Dunham (UM) and Mike Heinke (PC) were playing with the junior team.
 
    at NEW HAMPSHIRE 5, NOTRE DAME 3
 
    Riel Bellegarde snapped a 2-2 tie late in the second period and UNH went
    on to the win.  ND led 1-0 after the first on a goal by Dan Marvin, but
    Kevin Thomson and Steve Morrow put NH ahead 2-1 in the second.  David
    Bankoske tied it for UND.
 
    Coach Ric Schafer's Fighting Irish can be seen by local hockey fans
    tomorrow night (Friday) when they play at Boston College at 7 pm.
 
    at BOSTON UNIVERSITY 4, LOWELL 1
 
    Shawn McEachern had a goal and two assists and Ed Ronan had two goals to
    lead BU.  Lowell hung tough at 2-1 after two periods before finally
    succumbing.  Lowell is 2-54-2 when trailing after two periods since
    1987-88.  The Terriers were without Amonte (shoulder), Tkachuk and
    Lachance (both with US Juniors) and Petteri Koskimaki (with Finnish
    Juniors).
 
 
    - mike