Sunday, February 6, 1994 at Mullins Center, Amherst, MA
NONCONFERENCE GAME
Merrimack Warriors (12-14-2) 1 2 1 - 4
Mass Amherst Minutemen (17-8-0) 0 0 1 - 1
FIRST PERIOD MC-MA
1. MC1, Chris Ross 3 (Quentin Fendelet, Eric Weichselbaumer), 5:44. 1-0
SECOND PERIOD
2. MC2, Jim Gibson 7 (Tom Johnson, Cooper Naylor), 10:19. PPG GWG 2-0
3. MC3, Rob Atkinson 16 (Martin Legault, John Jakopin), 14:42. PPG 3-0
THIRD PERIOD
4. MA1, Rich Alger 2 (Warren Norris, Tom Sheehan), 11:05. PPG 3-1
5. MC4, Matt Adams 13 (Atkinson, Naylor), 16:49. 4-1
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 9--7--7 = 23
Mass Amherst 10--5-13 = 28
SAVES: MC, Martin Legault (W, 10-13-2, 57:31, 28 sh-27 sv),
Matt Poska (2:29, 0-0).
MA, Rich Moriarty (L, 5-4-0, 23-19).
POWER PLAYS: MC 2 for 3. MA 1 for 8.
PENALTIES: MC 9/18. MA 4/8.
REFEREES: John Melanson, Frank Cole. LINESMAN: Drew Taylor.
ATTENDANCE: 2,632 (capacity 8,389).
MIKE'S THREE STARS: 1. G Martin Legault, Merrimack (28 sh-27 sv).
2. C Warren Norris, Mass Amherst (0-1--1).
3. C Rob Atkinson, Merrimack (1-1--2).
In a rare Sunday afternoon tilt played at the gorgeous new William D.
Mullins Center in Amherst, Merrimack handed the host Massachusetts
Amherst Minutemen their first home loss of the season, 4-1. UMass was
12-0-0 in the Mullins Center prior to the game, but Merrimack is the
only full time DivI team to make a trip to Amherst this season. The
loss ended UMass's slate of games against full time DivI teams, and
they finish with a mark of 1-6-0, scoring 16 goals and allowing 50.
But UMass, which skated 17 freshmen, one junior and one senior today,
is clearly a vastly improved team from the one which lost 8-2 at
Merrimack on October 23. The Minutemen skated right with Merrimack for
most of the game and had more quality scoring chances. The big
difference was special teams and goaltending. Merrimack had only 3
power plays and scored on two of them, while UMass went 1 for 8. And
while UMass outshot the Warriors 28-23 including 13-7 in the third,
Merrimack G Martin Legault stopped 27 of 28 shots. His counterpart
in the UMass net, Rich Moriarty, had a decent game but still stopped
only 19 of 23 Merrimack shots.
UMass was also without steady defenseman Jaynen Rissling (5-14--19
in 16 games, he is a computer science major btw), who is out indefinitely
with a knee injury suffered in practice January 12. Rissling is the
team's captain. Also, Blair Manning (7-20--27) was hurt at some point
during warmups (or maybe was injured, tried to give it a go and could
not) and his first line center spot was filled by Warren Norris and
Mike Evans on various shifts.
FIRST
UMass had the better of the chances in the first, but it was Merrimack
that went to the locker room with a 1-0 lead. Early on, UMass's
Warren Norris (brother of former MSU star Dwayne) skated the puck out of
the corner and nearly beat Legault. Soon afterward, Merrimack's
fourth line capitalized on a bang-bang play deep in the zone. Eric
Weichselbaumer dug the puck out of the corner and fed Quentin Fendelet,
who redirected it to Chris Ross for a one-timer that beat Moriarty at
5:44. It was Ross's third goal of the year; his first also came
against UMass earlier in the season.
UMass's Rob Bonneau (23-17--40) had a great chance on the power play
when he picked up a loose puck in front, but he shot it right into
Legault. Evans did a nice job of running over Merrimack's Jim Gibson
when Gibson tried to make a move out of the corner, and later Bonneau
and Evans (2) had good bids but shot wide.
SECOND
UMass continued to play well, nearly tying the game when Tom Sheehan
tipped a shot from the point and the puck hit the post and went wide.
Merrimack answered back when Claudio Peca sent Rob Beck in alone,
but Moriarty made a nice save after sticking with Beck. Beck drew a
slashing call on Tom Perry, putting the Warriors on the power play,
and they capitalized at 11:29. Cooper Naylor started the play in his
own zone, feeding Tom Johnson at center ice, and Johnson gave it to
Gibson at the blue line. Gibson skated to the left circle and his
slap shot got a piece of Moriarty's right pad and went in to make it
2-0, Gibson's 7th of the year.
Soon after the goal, UMass's Dennis Wright drew a hitting from behind
penalty (more like hitting from the side) when he nailed Tom Costa at
center ice, and Merrimack would score again to go up 3-0 at 14:42.
Legault picked up an assist, his second in two games, as he fired
the puck up to John Jakopin who sent Rob Atkinson in alone for the
goal, Atkinson's 16th.
THIRD
Again, the best early chances belonged to UMass, with Norris having
two good bids from in close and Perry going in alone on a breakaway
but shooting it right into Legault. The Minutemen delighted the
crowd at 11:05 on the power play by finally getting on the board,
defenseman Rich Alger scoring his second of the year to make it 3-1.
Evans started the play by passing to Norris at center ice, and Norris
skated in and passed across to Alger. Alger's first shot was stopped
by Legault, but the rebound came right back to Alger and he easily
put it in. UMass would pick up some momentum after the play and
Alger nearly scored another, firing a hard shot from the left point
that Legault flashed the glove on.
Merrimack regained the three goal lead at 16:49 on Matt Adams' 13th
as the first line got in the act, Adams depositing a feed from Atkinson.
With 2:29 left, Legault came out for senior Matt Poska who would not
see a shot the rest of the way despite UMass being up a man in the
closing minutes. And in a strange twist, defenseman Mark Cornforth
swapped places with Chris Ross and played forward on the fourth line
for most of the period. Cornforth rushes the puck so much as it is,
why not let him try it out up front, I guess.
POSTGAME
Most people expected UMass to be better but that Merrimack would still
dominate the game, so it is a tribute to the Minutemen that they played
pretty evenly with the Warriors and even outplayed them in stretches.
I recall the questions that were raised when Joe Mallen got the job,
supposedly ahead of guys like Jeff Jackson and Shawn Walsh, but I am
very impressed with the job Mallen is doing. He is constantly
encouraging his young team, taking time out to explain things to them
and doing as much teaching as coaching. UMass is clearly well coached,
disciplined and with a solid enough nucleus to be competitive in HE
before long. Forwards like Norris, Wagar, Bonneau, and Wright are all
solid skaters and move the puck well, and defensemen like Alger,
Rissling when he returns, and Latulippe are going to be good players.
The two freshman goalies, Moriarty and Kilduff, don't get fooled much
and will give the Minutemen dependable netminding. No one expects
UMass to be contenders right away and they may not win many if any
league games next season, but they are clearly DivI material and
can look forward to building a program that should be among the tops
in the nation before long.
If you can be happy with a loss, I'd think Mallen is happy with this
one. His team was always in the game and could have made it
interesting in the third; a PPG would have made it 3-2 at one point.
They need work on their special teams, but at even strength, Merrimack
only outscored them 2-0.
Merrimack seemed a bit sluggish this afternoon, playing its third
game in five days, but two points is two points and they did what they
had to do to win. Especially on the larger ice surface, it looked
like the Warriors were tired and Ron Anderson was changing up lines
much more quickly than usual.
Merrimack is off till Friday night, when they play their third
straight HE game vs BC at Chestnut Hill and then travel to UNH
Saturday. UMass is off till Feb 15 when they play at DivII St Anselm,
and they return home to host DivIII Sacred Heart Feb 19. UMass
closes with games at North Adams Feb 22 and home vs RIT Feb 25.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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