Saturday, November 26, 1994 at Volpe Center, North Andover, MA
NON DIVISION I GAME
Salem State Vikings (1-2-0) 1 0 1 - 2
Merrimack Warriors (2-8-2) 3 1 1 - 5
FIRST PERIOD MC-SSC
1. MC1, Rob Beck 6 (Eric Weichselbaumer, Tom Costa), 3:40. 1-0
2. SSC1, Rob Concannon 2 (David Cunniff), 4:13. 1-1
3. MC2, Matt Adams 3 (Beck), 11:59. 2-1
4. MC3, Adams 4 (unassisted), 18:30. GWG 3-1
SECOND PERIOD
5. MC4, Beck 7 (Tom Johnson), 19:51. 4x4 4-1
THIRD PERIOD
6. SSC2, Ralph Marziale 2 (Jarred Morey), 5:58. 4-2
7. MC5, Adams 5 (Beck), 9:32. 5-2
SHOTS ON GOAL: Salem State 10--7-14 = 31
Merrimack 10--9--6 = 25
SAVES: SSC, Shane Ronan (L, 0-1-0, 60:00, 25 sh-20 sv).
MC, Eric Thibeault (W, 1-1-0, 60:00, 31 sh-29 sv).
POWER PLAYS: SSC 0 for 5. MC 0 for 6.
PENALTIES: SSC 12/24. MC 11/22.
REFEREES: James Doyle, John Gravellese. LINESMAN: Bill Jones.
ATTENDANCE: 557 (capacity 3,617).
THREE STARS: 1. RW Matt Adams, Merrimack (3-0--3).
2. LW Rob Beck, Merrimack (2-2--4).
3. G Eric Thibeault, Merrimack (W, 31 sh-29 sv).
LW Matt Adams scored his first career hat trick to propel Merrimack to a
5-2 win over visiting Salem State in the first meeting between these two
former bitter DivII rivals in five and a half years. RW Rob Beck set up
two of Adams' goals and added two more goals of his own as the linemates
clicked well tonight.
Salem played extremely well and carried the play at times, outshooting
Merrimack for the game 31-25 and 14-6 in the third. I'm not sure whether
this indicates that the 2-8-2 Warriors, who really didn't play any
differently than in all of their one and two-goal DivI losses, belong in
the ECAC East or that Salem belongs in Hockey East. At times it looked
like a little of both.
Salem, which is DivIII and began its season with a win over New England
College and a loss to St Anselm, got good goaltending from freshman
Shane Ronan. Ronan is the third SSC netminder to appear in the team's
three games, as head coach Bill O'Neill (BU '79) is still looking for
someone to replace departed Joe Bonvie, who led the Vikings to the
DivIII Final Four last season.
The difference in the game proved to be that Merrimack had better team
speed and better snipers. Adams and Beck were able to blow by the
Viking defense on rushes and beat Ronan, while both of SSC's goals
came off of rebounds that Eric Thibeault had no chance on. Thibeault
was making his second start of the year, as ironman Martin Legault was
given the weekend off. He was tested most in the first and third
periods and looked very sharp, earning the game's third star.
However, the game ebbed and flowed with the first period being played
evenly, the second dominated by Merrimack, and the third dominated by
Salem. Merrimack held a 3-1 lead after the first on the strength of
two goals by Adams. He made it 2-1 when he took a feed from Beck and
left two defenders in the dust, then he made it 3-1 by stealing the
puck high in the slot and rifling a quick shot past Ronan.
The Warriors only outshot Salem 9-7 in the second, but most of the play
was in the Salem zone with Merrimack having a 27-9 advantage in shots
attempted. Still, Salem nearly escaped without allowing a goal until
Beck was sent in by Tom Johnson on a breakaway and scored with just 9
seconds left in the period to make it 4-1. Salem did a good job of
weathering the attack by blocking shots and forcing shots wide.
In the third, the Vikings outshot Merrimack 14-6 and closed to within
2 on a rebound goal by Ralph Marziale, but Adams answered back with his
third of the game less than 4 minutes later for the 5-2 final.
OTHER NOTES
Salem State has a number of players on its team with connections to
DivI. Jr RW Matt Gallo and Sr D Mike Flaherty are transfers from
Merrimack, and both played well. So C John Vater is the brother of Dave,
who played on the outstanding Merrimack teams of the late 1980s. Sr LW
Rob Concannon is the brother of Lowell's Brendan, and Jr C Rob Beers is
the brother of former Northern Arizona and Maine D Bob Beers. And, Jr C
David Cunniff is the son of former BC star and New Jersey Devils' coach
John; his older brother Chris also played at Northeastern in the late 80s
and then transferred to UMass-Boston.
So, it wasn't surprising to hear from a writer covering the game for a
Salem paper that there has been discussion about upgrading all of the
athletic programs at SSC, including hockey, which could possibly move
to DivI. I've long felt that of the small college programs in Eastern
Massachusetts, Lowell, Merrimack, and Salem State seemed to be the best
candidates to move up. This writer explained to me that within a few
years, Salem could become known as UMass-Salem, following in the footsteps
of Lowell and UMass-Dartmouth (formerly Southeastern Mass University).
Whether the state of Mass wants to support *three* DivI hockey programs
is another question, but it is a situation to keep an eye on.
The Vikings should prove to be one of the better teams in DivIII yet
again this season, especially if a worthy successor to Bonvie is
found in net. Ronan looked like he could be that man, as most of the
goals he allowed were the result of great efforts by the opponents.
Overall, Salem got good play from all areas, and they will be a tough
team to beat.
For Merrimack, it was just good to get back in the win column against
an opponent that proved to be tougher than many people expected. The
Warriors broke a 5 game winless streak (0-4-1) with the win. A bright
spots was Matt Adams with the trick; hopefully this will break him
out of the bad goal-scoring drought he has suffered this season (he
now has 5-7--12). And Rob Beck continued to play well and was the
most impressive forward in terms of playmaking and scoring; his 2-2--4
gives him 7-4--11 on the year.
The Warriors continued to be without several key injured players. Out
were D Mark Cornforth and Fs Mark Goble, Gaetan Poirier, Daryl Krauss,
and Ryan Mailhiot. Cornforth still hopes to return in two weeks for
the Maine series, but we may not see any of the forwards until after
Christmas. That will be a problem for a team that has had trouble
scoring goals already.
Merrimack returns to HE play with a pair of games next weekend at
Mass Amherst, which had assistant coach Bob Deraney on hand to scout
the Warriors. Friday's game will be shown live on NESN. Mass Amherst
was off this past weekend and will look for its first HE points and
win against Merrimack. The teams met twice last season, with Merrimack
taking both games by scores of 8-2 (at MC) and 4-1 (at UMA). However,
the Minutemen looked much better the second time around after being
severely outplayed in the 8-2 game which opened their season. UMA has
played several tough HE opponents thus far and fared well, so Merrimack
will have its hands full in two games they really need to win to remain
in the hunt.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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