At 10:50 PM 11/29/95, Geoff Howell wrote [on INFO-HOCKEY-L]:
>From the ECAC Press Release, dated 11/27/95
...
>Cooper/ECAC Rookie of the Week
>
>Jason Given, Princeton (Penticton, B.C.) - the Fr LW was 2-2-4 at the Ottawa
>Tournament as the Tigers beat host Ottawa, 5-1, and Merrimack in a shootout
>after a 1-1 overtime tie.
 
Not that it matters, but all of Given's points came in the Ottawa game.  He
wasn't in on the goal Princeton scored against Merrimack.  Along the lines
of the tourney team debate, Given wasn't named to the All-Tourney Team;
teammate Casson Masters was, with a goal against Merrimack and another
against Ottawa.
 
In fact, now that I look at Geoff's box of the Princeton-Ottawa game again,
Given only had 1-2--3 in that game and on the weekend.  Maybe he was
credited later with the goal that Kelley, his linemate, scored in the third
period of that game?
 
>ECAC Honor Roll
...
>Erasmo Salterelli, Princeton - So G had 41 saves and won shootout against
>Merrimack
 
Put this in the nitpicking category if you like, but Saltarelli actually
only had 36 saves in the game.  Going off past experience in Ottawa (last
time they did not keep shots), I was doing the shot chart for both of
Merrimack's games as I do for home games, even though we found out during
the first game that they were keeping track of saves on the official
scoresheet.
 
Most periods were close, but in overtime, I had shots at 4-4 while the
official sheet had Legault for six saves and Saltarelli for a whopping 9.
It took a minute for me to realize that they were counting the saves in the
shootout (Legault had four, and Saltarelli had five).  Our SID agreed with
me and those saves were not counted in the Merrimack stats (as with HE
shootouts), and I didn't include them in the box I sent out Sunday.  I
guess Princeton chose to count them - hey, it makes Saltarelli's
performance look even better, but then you'd have to say he stopped 41 of
43 shots including the shootout goal he allowed.  I wonder if Princeton
counted the shootout goal against him too?
 
BTW, that shootout caused some confusion after the initial round of five
aside resulted in a tie and forced a sudden death shootout.  No one knew
what the rules were as to who should go next.  In HE, the teams start over
again with their first shooter, but apparently in at least some flavors of
Canadian hockey, according to John Edwards, they must continue through the
bench before being allowed to repeat shooters.
 
That was what we thought might happen, but the referee allowed the coaches
to select anyone to shoot next.  Ron Anderson went with his first shooter,
Casey Kesselring, who had been stopped once and was stopped yet again.  Rob
Beck, who had scored Merrimack's only shootout goal and has several such
goals in his career including two sudden death winners, was passed over.
Don Cahoon went with his third shooter, Jeff Halpern, who had beaten
Legault and did so again to win the shootout and tournament.
 
I have no idea what would have happened if Legault had stopped Halpern.
Would the coaches have again been allowed to choose anyone, and if so,
would Halpern have kept shooting till the cows came home?  Guess we'll
never know.
 
BTW, I am not second-guessing the choice of Kesselring over Beck;
Kesselring was MC's first shooter for a reason.  He had a nifty goal
against Northeastern in a shootout earlier this year and has a nice move.
Although, he has now missed on his last four straight shootout
attempts...might be time for him to go back to the drawing board. :-)
 
And so much for the shootout experience benefitting Merrimack.  I don't
think Princeton has been in any shootouts ever (at least not the current
team), while Merrimack was in five last year and one this year in HE.
 
Merrimack didn't go home from the game disappointed.  As Steve McKenna
said, "We gave up only two goals all weekend, and we came in second!"  They
pretty much did their job, and the shootout didn't hurt them in the
standings or in their record.
 
Maine's win over Brown sets up an interesting pair of games between
Merrimack and Maine this weekend.  Both come into the weekend on five-game
unbeaten streaks...Maine is 5-0-0 and has outscored their opponents 21-6,
not allowing more than three goals in any of those games; Merrimack is
3-0-2 and has outscored their opponents 20-8, not allowing more than two.
 
Of course, Maine has had the tougher competition to face...BCx2, UNH,
Vermont, and Brown, while Merrimack faced UNHx2, RPI, Wilfrid Laurier
(8-1), and Princeton.  Maine has also not lost to Merrimack since MC joined
HE, and the last win by Merrimack came almost 16 years ago.  But last year
saw Merrimack gain its first HE points ever against Maine with a tie (SO
win), and their 9 goals allowed in three games to Maine was the lowest
average (3.00) of any other HE team, including BU.  Quite a turnaround from
1992 when Merrimack went to Maine and got whomped, 14-1 and 11-2.
 
CHODR has Merrimack's defense rated 7th in DivI and Maine's 5th, and a
betting man would look for a pair of close low-scoring games.  Without
making such a wager, I'll only say that Merrimack will probably be
disappointed if they come home without at least a split of the series (5
points in any shape or form).  They have reached the stage where it is no
longer satisfactory to lose a close game to teams like Maine.  A loss is
still a loss.  It is time to start getting those points.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
>> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System  <<
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