Tuesday, December 7, 1999 at Kelley Rink (Conte Forum), Chestnut Hill, MA
BC 4, MC 0 HOCKEY EAST GAME
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MERRIMACK COLLEGE (HE) 0 0 0 - 0 4-5-1 HE (7-8-1 overall)
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 1 1 2 - 4 5-4-0 HE (7-5-0 overall)
Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
MC 9- 5- 7 -- 21 9 - 18 0 - 8
BC 14-15-11 -- 40 11 - 22 1 - 6
MC - Tom Welby 13-14- 8 - 35 saves/4 goals (52:29)
Jason Wolfe x- x- 1 - 1 save /0 goals ( 7:31)
BC - Tim Kelleher 9- 5- 7 - 21 saves/0 goals (60:00)
3 Stars: BC Tony Hutchins, BC Tim Kelleher, BC Kevin Caulfield
COMMENTS
---------
Boston College took a needed step back toward the upper half of Hockey
East with a solid win over Merrimack. Freshman goaltender Tim Kelleher
made a series of great stops on breakaways in the first, then was able
to rely on stingy defense to limit the Warriors chances and provide him
with his first career shutout. This game also saw yeoman work from the
BC 3rd line, whose hard forechecking and solid effort produced the first
2 goals of the game and 2 of the 3 stars of the game.
The first period opened a bit tentatively, with few chances until the 5:18
mark. The puck was worked around the boards by Kevin Caulfield to the
left point. A shot was fired at the net and bounced through; Welby made
the initial stop but the rebound came right back to Tony Hutchins and he
banged the puck home. Kelleher made his first big stop shortly after that
when Greg Classen was set loose down the slot on a break pass, only to have
the goalie kick the leg pads up on a sprawling save. Merrimack continued
to get their best pressure of the evening and had 2 more great chances in
the period, one on a clean break and the other by a breaking winger. Both
were blocked by sliding saves. BC got few good shots in the rest of the
period as both teams played a tough checking game.
Merrimack's fatigue factor may have come into play in the second period;
they had played a full weekend set prior to this game while BC was fully
rested. In any case, a series of penalties and increased BC effort led to
a significant shot advantage for the Eagles. Brian Gionta opened the frame
with a quick shot that was saved, then collected the puck a bit later and
fired a slapper that bounced off a defender at the edge of the net. The
best line of the night for BC then exerted their muscles along the boards,
when Ales Dolinar worked the puck down the right side to Caulfield, who
slid behind the net and quickly centered the puck for Hutchins to bang in
for his second goal of the game (and first 2 of the season.) The Eagles
cranked up the pressure after that, helped by 2 Warrior penalties. Jeff
Farkas banged a shot off the outside of the cage, the Dolinar/Caulfield/
Hutchins group again kept possession with hard forechecking, and several
power play shots almost scored (one when Gionta zipped a quick shot off
the boards as Welby had wandered out of the net to play the puck; he got
back just in time.) A couple of minutes later Welby had to sprawl again
to keep a rebound out of the net after a tough Caulfield slapper. That
BC line was dangerous the whole night.
BC gave Merrimack a chance to get back in the game with 2 consecutive
interference calls later in the period, but a solid kill of the 3:13
power play sent the teams to the locker room with BC leading 2-0. The
Boston College defense, which had been playing well even in their recent
losses, continued to shut down Merrimack, allowing few shots and almost no
rebounds.
The third period opened with 2 BC power plays that kept the pressure on
Merrimack. They were able to clear those, but continued forecheck efforts
led to a Hutchins shot off the left post (foiling his hat trick bid) and
a clean break for Jeff Giuliano, who shot it over the crossbar. The Eagles
put the game away midway through the period. After a 4-on-4 spell, BC got
a brief power play and kept the puck in the zone after a weak MC clear.
Krys Kolanos circled down the right boards to the back of the net, spotted
Gionta in front alone, and gave him a quick pass that was then sent past
Welby before he could react. Kolanos also figured in the next goal when
Merrimack's Sandy Cohen lost control of the puck in his own zone under a
heavy forecheck. The puck slid toward the net, and in the pileup Welby
could not corral the puck; Giuliano tapped the loose disc into the open
net to make it 4-0. Welby came out of the net at that point, giving Jason
Wolfe some time for MC. BC went into a defensive shell at that point, and
tempers flared a bit during the rest of the period, resulting in several
penalties. None of the power plays were effective and it ended quietly.
Following the tough win over Northeastern a week earlier, this continued
BC's good defensive play. That was perhaps expected. The best sign in
this game for the Eagles was the continued emergence of another scoring
threat, the Dolinar/Caulfield/Hutchins group. These are larger, more
physical players, with 2 seniors, that were expected to step up this year.
Until the Northeastern game, they had not been productive at all. The
effort they showed in that matchup continued against Merrimack, with
Hutchins having his best game of the year. Opponents of the Eagles had
been focusing most of their attention on the top line of Gionta/Farkas/
Bellefeuille, with some recent success, and BC needs other production to
stay in games when the top group is not scoring.
Merrimack was a little snakebit in this game when it was unable to score
on their early breakaway chances, and then had to fight the fatigue factor
against a tough opponent on away ice. In the past, this is the type of
game where the Warriors would collapse early and lose perhaps 7-2. They
maintain their competitiveness, now, though, and fight hard through most
games. That is part of the reason that Hockey East has been successful
this year in out-of-conference games -- the 'bottom' half of the league is
now quite competitive with the rest of the hockey world. We are often
noting that there are no easy games in HE, and this year that may be truer
than ever.
There was a good turnout for this game, given another Tuesday night contest
against a less-celebrated opponent. The students enjoyed taunting goalie
Welby (a crowd favorite for some reason) and there is a regular public
attendance. This is true without the traditional youth groups, which have
not yet started coming to games.
BC finished their first third of the league schedule (roughly) and spends
the rest of the year battling ECAC opponents. Merrimack has to look at
their first 10 league games (4-5-1) and feel satisfied that they have a
good season under way. They have played BC 3 times, BU twice, tied Maine,
and are still almost at .500 in the league. It remains to be seen if they
can keep their intensity throughout the season; past years have often seen
them fall into long losing streaks during part of the year. The other side
of it is that they are tough at home and less successful on the road, with
only a win over Cornell in the Syracuse tournament as a road success.
The Warriors step outside the league over the holidays, with a game against
Niagara on 12/28, and a road trip to Minnesota State-Mankato in year 2000.
-------------------- ----------------------
Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask]
"Volunteer reporter" A pleased BC fan. GO EAGLES!
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
|
