Taken from the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, Monday, March 13, 1995.
 
MERRIMACK HUSTLE ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH
by Bill Burt
Eagle-Tribune Writer
 
BOSTON - It was a typical Boston University-Merrimack College hockey
game in the winter of 1994-95.
 
Talent, maybe twice or even three times worth, overcoming team defense
and a hot goalie.
 
Barely.
 
The second-ranked BU Terriers, now 26-6-3, advance to the Hockey East
semifinals at the Boston Garden against UMass-Lowell on Friday night.
 
Merrimack finishes the season at 14-18-5.
 
"Can you tell we don't like playing these guys?" said BU star forward
Jacques Joubert, who scored his first hat trick in the final home game
of his career.  "Merrimack just doesn't give up.  It is one of the
hardest working teams I've ever seen.  There was pressure on us to win
because of their past record, but they are a lot better than a lot of
people think."
 
BU beat Merrimack three times (4-1, 5-3, and 4-3) and lost once (3-2).
Every game was in doubt in the third period.  In fact, Merrimack,
which was the only team to beat BU at home, led one game 3-1 before
losing 5-3.
 
Last night, when BU jumped to a 4-1 lead after a short-handed goal by
Shawn Bates four minutes into the second period, it had blowout
written all over it.
 
But Merrimack junior Daryl Krauss scored twice, once at 8:04 of the
second period and then at 1:49 of the third period, to turn what
appeared to be the mismatch of 1995 into a thriller.
 
Merrimack was outshot 18-3 in the first period.  And then 14-10 in the
second period.  Worse, in 11 minutes of power play in the first two
periods, it got off only six shots on goal.  At one point, BU outshot
Merrimack 4-2 while a man down, including Bates' short-handed goal.
 
But Merrimack wouldn't go away.
 
"I told people we didn't want to play Merrimack because they match up
well against us," said BU coach Jack Parker.  "They have big aggressive
defensemen that don't allow second shots.  Merrimack has a lot of
confidence in its defense and goaltending."
 
Merrimack's sophomore goalie Martin Legault, the team's co-MVP in 1995
with Mark Cornforth, struggled early, giving up the four goals within
the first 25 minutes.  But the final 35 minutes, he kept the Warriors
within striking distance.
 
Twice he stopped Joubert, who scored three goals, from point blank range.
 
"I made some pretty good saves, but it wasn't enough," said Legault, who
broke a Hockey East quarterfinal record with 42 saves.  "We almost beat
these guys a few times, but almost doesn't count.  We lost."
 
A bright spot was Krauss' mini-explosion and the play of another junior,
Ryan Mailhiot, who scored once and helped create three other good
scoring opportunities.
 
Opportunities, though, that went for naught.
 
"Scoring goals was our problem all season," said Merrimack coach Ron
Anderson.  "You can't score as little as we did (about 3 goals per game)
and do well in this league.  You can't do it.  We have to find a way
to get people who can put the puck in the net...But it won't be easy."
 
END
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Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93