On Sat, 26 Jan 2002 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> The Dutchmen take three points on the weekend with a 5-2 win over
> Vermont at Achilles.  Jeff Hutchins ,Marc Neron, Chris
> DiStefano,Jordan Webb and Nathan Gillies all scored for Union, who
> rallied from a 2-1 deficit to score the games' final 4 goals.  [I'll
> leave it to someone who saw the game to fill in the details.]

Here are a few details.  Union was all over Vermont in the first, but
the score was tied 1-1.  Vermont took a 2-1 lead in the second, just
as a Union penalty was expiring.  It looked like it might be Vermont's
night.  Union was mostly outplaying them, but goalie Shawn Conschafter
was coming up big for them.  One one Union power play, they hit a
post, Charles Simard hit the bottom part of the crossbar, and
Conschafter stopped a Union chance on the doorstep that pretty much
everyone in the building anticipated as a goal.  It just seemed like a
matter of time before some of these great chances would start going in
for Union.

The turning point came when Union got a power play chance in the
middle of the second and quickly capitalized to tie it at two.  Chris
DeStefano scored his first career goal late in the second to give
Union the lead for good.  After two Union chances were denied by
Conschafter, DeStefano found himself alone in front of the net with
the loose puck and fired it in for the score.

Union's fifth goal, by Nathan Gillies came when Kris Goodjohn sent him
up ice on a breakaway.  Union has had a lot of trouble scoring on
breakaways, so it was good to see Gillies put one in.  Gillies and
Simard had strong games for Union.

It was a very unusual game in that so few penalties were called.  The
second period was especially hard-hitting.  A lot of the big hits were
probably clean, and came on open ice.  Most of the penalties that were
called by referee John Murphy were things like roughing or
unsportsmanlike conduct for some action after the whistle.  We didn't
have the usual tripping/hooking/interference/slashing calls, though
there seemed to be no shortage of potential offenses taking place on
both sides.

Vermont seemed to fall down on the puck a lot, almost as if it is part
of their game plan.

Before the game, a short ceremony honored Union's senior captain Jeff
Wilson, who is one of four national finalists for the 2002 Hockey
Humanitarian Award.  Jeff's parents and several others were on the ice
for pictures.  USCHO has more about this award at
http://www.uscollegehockey.com/news/2002/01/22_003634.php

It was an unusually large crowd at Achilles, announced at over 2000.

--
Jim Teresco - [log in to unmask]
http://www.teresco.org