On Friday, April 7, 1995, Merrimack held its annual hockey banquet at
DiBurro's Restaurant in Bradford, Mass., with a crowd of about 125 in
attendance.
Award recipients were:
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Rob Beck, So, F.
Beck finished with 12-19--31 this season after just 5-5--10 his freshman
year. His +12 was second highest on the team.
FRANCIS "BUZZ" MILLER UNSUNG HERO
Karl Infanger, So, D.
Infanger tallied only 5 assists and no goals, but he played a key role
in the Warriors' strong defensive presence all season long.
FANS' AWARD
Steve McKenna, So, D.
Matt Adams, Sr, F.
McKenna was noted for his heavy hitting, while Adams racked up 22-22--44
as the team's leader in goals, assists, and points.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Martin Laroche, Fr, F.
Laroche finished strong with 10-9--19 after a slow start and was one of
only 5 Warriors to reach double digits in goals. He was noted for his
strong two-way play and ability to win key faceoffs near the end of games.
COACHES' AWARD
Chris Davis, Jr, F.
Eric Thibeault, So, G.
Davis played 31 games (2-5--7) after only 3 career games played entering
the year, and he filled a badly needed role at center and on the penalty
kill. He was listed as a senior this year, but it was just announced
that as he has only played in two seasons (missed 1992-93), he will return
to Merrimack next season as a fifth-year senior and complete a double
major.
Thibeault was recognized for his commitment to the program despite not
getting much playing time his first year and a half, until he finally got
to play in the second half and backstopped a win at BU (then-record 54
saves) and a tie against UNH. He finished with a GAA of 4.09, sv% .893.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Martin Legault, So, G.
Mark Cornforth, Sr, D.
Legault was named All-Hockey East, All-New England, and twice as HE Player
of the Week. He appeared in 28 games with a GAA of 3.39 (3.32 HE) and a
sv% of .903 (.902 HE). Ron Anderson commented that Legault has established
himself as one of the most exciting and best goaltenders in HE and in the
country.
Cornforth missed 7 games due to injury in the first half but still finished
with 8-20--28 and 5 PPGs. He anchored the strong defense down the stretch
and provided superb leadership as captain.
1995-96 TEAM CAPTAINS (year is for 94-95 season)
Steve McKenna, So, D.
Rob Beck, So, F.
SENIORS
Matt Adams, F.
Mike Ceppi, F.
Mark Cornforth, D.
Mark Goble, F.
Dan Hodge, D.
Chris Ross, D/F.
Along with the two team managers, these seniors were thanked for their
commitment and dedication to Merrimack over the last four years or so,
and as is the custom, Adams, Goble, Hodge, and Ross were all presented
with inscribed Merrimack College chairs. (Cornforth was not present as
he is playing with Syracuse of the AHL, and Ceppi never played a game
for Merrimack but was still honored. Ross was sidelined for all but two
games this season with an injury after being named the Unsung Hero last
season.)
COMMENTS
In his remarks, Athletic Director Bob DeGregorio challenged the returning
players to shoot for an appearance in the HE Championship Game next season
along with an NCAA tournament bid. DeGregorio also paid tribute to coach
Ron Anderson by saying that in speaking with other HE coaches near the end
of the season, Anderson's team was the one that top coaches continually
said they did not want to face in the playoffs.
DeGregorio went on to point out that with a win over BC this year, Anderson
became the all-time winningest coach in Merrimack history, passing the late
and respected J. Thom Lawler.
Anderson took the podium and pointed out several of the things that the
team had to be proud of this season:
* A 13-10-4 finish after starting out 1-8-1. Merrimack ended up 14-18-5,
7-12-5 in HE.
* 7 solid games played against the two teams in the NCAA Championship
Game, Maine and BU. Merrimack had the lowest GAA in HE against each of
these two quality opponents and despite only gaining a win and a tie,
they had a good chance to win all 7 games.
* Honors of All-HE and All New England for G Martin Legault, All-Rookie
Team for Casey Kesselring, 2 HE Player of the Week awards for Legault,
and 2 HE Rookie of the Week awards for Kesselring.
* Only team to beat NCAA Champion BU at home this season.
* Sudden death shootout wins over Maine and UNH.
* A four game winning streak in January and pair of wins over BC a
couple of weeks later.
* Best winning percentage in HE since joining the league in 1989.
* Although not an accomplishment for just this season, Anderson also
noted that each of the last two years, Merrimack has placed 9 players
on the HE All-Academic Honor Roll - more than any other HE school - and
that each of the last 4 years, Merrimack has had the player with the
highest GPA in HE.
Anderson also relayed to his players the comments of BU assistant coach
Bill Berglund at the New England Hockey Writers Dinner this past week,
as Berglund said that BU's 3 games with Merrimack down the stretch were
the toughest games BU had all season and prepared them to win the NCAA
championship. Merrimack's one-goal playoff loss to BU proved to be the
closest game BU had in the postseason other than the HE championship
win (3-2) over Providence.
Anderson went on to paint an optimistic picture of next season, noting
that the team will return 21 players from this year's squad including
nearly all key players. Combined with the unofficial six new recruits
(3 F, 3 D), Merrimack should have a team at least as good next year and
one that will be more experienced against top competition.
OTHER
Other moments to remember:
* The stellar as always highlight tape produced by team video man John
Savastano, which included Part 2 of the Steve McKenna show. Last year's
tape had a segment in which the Twin Towers (McKenna, 6-8/225, and John
Jakopin, 6-5/225) were supposed to be considering trying out for
basketball, to Anderson's feigned dismay. This year, the segment began
with the note, "When last we left the Twin Towers, they were coming off
a basketball tryout." (or words to that effect) Then McKenna was shown
in his "new" job - sports marketing. He was hawking his "new" sports
video, McKenna's Greatest Hits - showing some of his heaviest hits on
opponents over the last few years. The ones on BU's Mike Grier drew
the most applause. :-) McKenna finished his hard sell by offering to
viewers "who call NOW" a special sample of "El Sid, the cologne of
Merrimack SID Jim Seavey."
* In his speech, school President Richard Santagati drew laughter by
saying that junior D Tom Costa had asked to have a La-Z-Boy lounger
permanently installed in the Merrimack penalty box for his own personal
use. Costa had 118 PIM this season and his three-year total of 318 is an
all-time school record.
* In a very classy move, President Santagati asked the parents of the
players to rise and be recognized, and they received a round of applause.
* As captain Dan Hodge began his speech, fellow senior Matt Adams rushed
to the podium and interrupted him by offering a slice of birthday cake to
assistant coaches Stu Irving and Andy Heinze. I know it wasn't Andy's
birthday, and it probably wasn't Stuie's either.
* Hodge went on to give a moving tribute to Anderson for the way the
Warrior coach stood by him through several difficulties he had faced
in his college career. Hodge came to Merrimack in 1990 and after 11 games
was sidelined for the remainder of the year with an injury. He left
school for a year to play for Omaha of the USHL, then returned to
Merrimack in 1992 and in his junior year, 1993-94, his 6-19--25 in HE
play ranked him 10th and first among HE defensemen. Academic difficulties
last summer caused him to be sidelined again the fall semester this year,
but he returned in the spring more determined than ever both on and off
the ice, and Anderson rewarded him by returning to him the position of
captain. Hodge was clearly grateful to Anderson, and the entire situation
is perhaps indicative of what kind of coach Anderson is.
In a release recapping the season, Anderson was quoted:
"I'm pleased with the way we played after an inconsistent start. We were
able to overcome that in the final two-thirds of the season after making
some adjustments in our game style. We became more defensive conscious
and consequently, we were involved in tighter, low-scoring games, and that
style of play is reflected in our final statistics, as we had our best
winning percentage in Hockey East since joining the league."
"I'm happy with the development of our existing personnel, and I expect
our returning players to maintain or exceed their current levels of
performance. We need to take our game to a MORE competitive level."
"Being able to beat the eventual national champion in their own arena
is part of the process of gaining confidence and building credibility,
and it is all part of taking our game now to the next level. Our
returning players must come back focused and ready to accept the challenge
of exceeding their past performances if that is to happen."
Congratulations to the award winners and to all of the players for what
was the best season in Merrimack hockey in six years. As was echoed
often throughout the evening, this is a team with the potential to really
do something in the next year or two, and it will take hard work in the
offseason to reach the next level. Their performance this season, capped
by a near-successful attempt at knocking off BU in the HE tourney, gave
us reason to be proud.
And as was also echoed often by various people, any amount of success in
the future will be in large part due to the contributions made by the
players graduating this season. They will not be forgotten.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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