Saturday, October 23, 1993 at Volpe Center, North Andover, MA
NONCONFERENCE GAME
Massachusetts Minutemen (0-1-0) 0 0 2 - 2
Merrimack Warriors (1-0-0) 1 4 3 - 8
FIRST PERIOD MC-MA
1. MC1, Chris Ross 1 (Quentin Fendelet, Ryan Mailhiot), 10:28. 1-0
SECOND PERIOD
2. MC2, Matt Adams 1 (Rob Atkinson, Dan Hodge), 0:44. PPG 2-0
3. MC3, Jim Gibson 1 (Tom Johnson), 1:05. GWG 3-0
4. MC4, Atkinson 1 (Mailhiot, Hodge), 2:56. 4-0
5. MC5, Adams 2 (Atkinson, Cooper Naylor), 3:35. 5-0
THIRD PERIOD
6. MC6, Atkinson 2 (unassisted), 3:01. 6-0
7. MC7, Mailhiot 1 (unassisted), 5:40. SHG 7-0
8. MC8, Naylor 1 (Adams, Atkinson), 7:23. 8-0
9. MA1, Armand Latulippe 1 (Tiger Holland), 12:18. 8-1
10. MA2, Latulippe 2 (Warren Norris), 18:46. PPG 8-2
SHOTS ON GOAL: Massachusetts 5--8-11 = 24
Merrimack 16-20-18 = 54
SAVES: Massachusetts, Dave Kilduff (L, 0-1-0, 23:35, 24 sh-19 sv),
Rich Moriarty (36:25, 30-27).
Merrimack, Martin Legault (W, 1-0-0, 60:00, 24-22).
POWER PLAYS: Massachusetts 1 for 10. Merrimack 1 for 5.
PENALTIES: Massachusetts 9/18. Merrimack 13/26.
REFEREES: Jim Fitzgerald, Ned Bunyon. LINESMAN: Andy Hennigar.
ATTENDANCE: 1,419.
THREE STARS: 1. C Rob Atkinson, Merrimack (2-3--5).
2. RW Matt Adams, Merrimack (2-1--3).
3. LW Cooper Naylor, Merrimack (1-1--2).
Merrimack opened up with an 8-2 win over the newest DivI program,
UMass, as senior center Rob Atkinson led the way with two goals and
three assists for his best night ever. The win was a relatively easy
one for the Warriors, who outshot the Minutemen 54-24, but UMass also
impressed many with their determination. It's just the first step
down that long road for Joe Mallen and his team, and after seeing them
tonight, I think they'll be all right.
There was clearly a difference between the teams in experience and
talent. UMass skated 19 freshmen (and one senior), compared to Merrimack's
six. And while UMass's first line of Dennis Wright-Warren Norris-Armand
Latulippe ended up scoring both goals, the rest of the lines had trouble
generating offense. That inexperience was something Merrimack took
advantage of all night. After Merrimack dominated the first period but
saw UMass goalie Dave Kilduff turn away 15 of 16 shots (lone goal by Chris Ross on the short side), the Warriors came out storming in the second.
Merrimack scored four times in the first 3:35 of the period to blow the
game open. 44 seconds in, Matt Adams wheeled around the net to beat
Kilduff on the power play. 21 seconds after that, Jim Gibson fired a
shot from the left circle, and then Atkinson and Adams followed up with
two more from right in front to make it 5-0. That resulted in Kilduff
being replaced by Rich Moriarty, and Mallen called a time out to settle
his team down. It worked, as the rest of the period went scoreless and
UMass started to look a little better at both ends of the ice. But the
damage had already been done. One characteristic of this Warrior team
seems to be that if opponents don't play tough every shift, they'll
jump on the lapses quickly and put some goals on the board.
The third period saw Merrimack score three more times in the first
7:23, chiefly due to more UMass mistakes. Both Atkinson and Ryan
Mailhiot put pressure on the defensemen trying to start the play behind
their own net and it paid off with unassisted goals, Mailhiot's on
the shorthand. Atkinson posted his fifth point of the night when he
fed Cooper Naylor to make it 8-0.
When Armand Latulippe took a feed from defenseman Tiger Holland (All-
Name Team?), broke through the defense and beat Merrimack goalie Martin
Legault with 7:42 left, the several hundred UMass fans erupted in cheers
for the team's long-awaited first goal. It also broke Legault's shutout,
but the freshman continued to impress with his game play and although he
was not tested much until the latter half of the game, he stayed sharp and
looked very good. Latulippe would follow that up with his second of
the game with just 1:14 left on the power play.
Overall, both Kilduff and Moriarty played well in the UMass net, and
they should help ease the baptism by fire that all these kids will be
getting this season. Kilduff had that one bad stretch early in the
second, and Moriarty only surrendered three goals in 36:25 - two as a
result of bad turnovers. UMass looks like they might win many of their
games against DivII-III teams, and though they may struggle in their
remaining DivI games (SLU, Princeton, UAF, Merrimack), I am sure they
will continue to improve and make fewer mistakes. There's no substitute
for experience.
Merrimack's defense did a nice job of keeping most of the shots Legault
saw to the outside, and the size mismatch (especially McKenna vs everyone)
was also a factor. On one play, McKenna nearly put a Minuteman into
the Merrimack bench, and when a teammate followed that up by coming at
the Twin Tower, he bounced off McKenna and landed on the ice. Dean
Capuano played a very steady defense as McKenna's partner.
Merrimack has one of its toughest games of the year coming up Friday
night when the Warriors travel to RPI; they'll return home to host Army
on Sunday (Halloween) at 4 pm. UMass will play its first home game of
the season next Saturday against Villanova (ECAC South) at 7 pm.
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors *HMN* 11/13/93
(All opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)
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