Friday February 24, 1995
Northeastern 7 UMass 3
Mullins Center-Amherst
Attn. 4,176
1 2 3 T
NU (14-13-5, 9-8-5) 2 3 2 7
UM (5-25-2, 3-19) 1 0 2 3
First Period:
Scoring
NU Melong (Shields) 10:46
NU Shields (Bouchard, Campbell) PPG 15:42
UM Manganaro (Perry) 17:14
Penalties
UM Perry (Interference) 5:43
NU Bench (Too Many Men) 6:31
NU McGillis (Roughing) 9:16
UM O'Connor (Interference) 10:18
UM O'Connell (Holding 16:05
UM Wright (Roughing) 18:38
Second Period:
Scoring
NU Aube 3:27
NU Melong 9:27
NU Melong (Lupo, Bouchard) PPG 19:03
Penalties
UM Bench minor 3:51
UM Gaffney (Slashing) 7:36
NU Parlon (Slashing) 7:36
UM Wright (Slashing) 17:35
Third Period:
Scoring
NU Aube (Collett, Carmody) 1:20
UM Perry (Evans, Norris) 13:49
NU Shields (Klyn) 14:37
UM Smith (Jacques) 15:42
Penalties
UM Moriarty (Interference) 4:46
NU Petersen (Hooking) 9:08
NU McGillis (Roughing, Roughing) 13:01
UM Campanale (High Sticking) 13:01
UM Wright (Misconduct) 13:01
Saves by Period 1 2 3 T
Veisor-NU (50:06) 8 9 2 19
Reynolds-NU (9:54) 2 2
Moriarty-UM (60:00) 9 10 9 28
Penalties/Minutes
NU 8/16
UM 12/30
Powerplays
NU 2/8
UM 0/6
Three Stars
Melong (Hat Trick)
Aube (2 goals)
Shields (2 goals, assist)
=============================================================================
For the first of three games with the Northeastern Huskies, the
Minutemen started Rich Moriarty in net. Moriarty's last start was in a
3-2 victory over Army exactly one month ago. In that game he stopped 20
of 22 Cadet shots, and since has only played in mop up duty during a 7-0
game at Maine. He stopped all four shots he faced there.
The fresh goalie however was not the solution for the Minutemen
this evening as they slid to 5-25-2 against a strong Northeastern squad
(14-13-5), by a 7-3 final before a Senior Day crowd of 4,176 at the
William D. Mullins Center.
Jason Melong opened the scoring 10:46 into the game, as he
collected a loose puck behind the UMass net and circled the net at about
a 15 foot radius before firing it past Moriarty. Jordon Shields made it
2-0 on a powerplay at 15:42 as he knocked home a rebound from a high slot
position.
The Minutemen wouldn't play dead in their final home game this
season. Tom Perry, just outside the defensive zone, along the boards,
used every inch of the Olympic ice in threading a pass between a pair of
Husky defenders and right on the tape of a streaking Sal manganaro
against the opposite boards, just before the offensive blue line. The
pass as a thing of beauty, completely across the ice and right on the
tape, Managanaro never broke stride. Manganaro walked in alone, beat Veisor,
and UMass trailed 2-1 at the break.
J.F. Aube made it 3-1 for Northeastern 3:27 into the period as
after a face off to the right of Moriarty, he collect a puck out of a
scrum and put it in as the puck broke through the five hole. It was the
definition of a soft goal, and as often is the case after a softie like
that, it snowballs.
Melong scored a pair of goals from twenty feet out, one on the
powerplay, to complete his hattrick. Northeastern took that 5-1 lead into
the locker rooms after the second.
Perry had the setup of the night, but 1:20 into the third, Aube
scored the goal of the night. twelve feet or so in front of Moriarty, he
span 180 degrees and slid it along the ice, off his backhand, just inside
the far post. It was a thing of beauty, not entirely unlike Cam Neely's
goal against Ottawa last season.
The Third period was mostly played in the neutral zone wih a lot
of dumping and chasing, and few shots. In this stretch Rich Moriartuy did
turn in the save of the night though. Moriarty was down when Criag's
Cormarty's shot tricked past him, but Mo was able to sweep the puck out
of the crease just inches before crossing the goal line.
UMass then tried to make a game of it, with Tom Perry scoring on
a wraparound at 13:49. By this point, Reynolds had replaced Veisor, who
saved 19 0f 20 shots he faced. The comeback attempt was squashed though
when Shields slipped by the Defense for a clean breakaway which he
converted, putting NU up 7-2. Judd Smith scored his first goal for the
Minutemen off of a nice Jon jacques pass to close out the scoring.
Moriarty, although not spectacular was all too bad considering
waht was in front of him. UMass' Defensive corps are weak enough already,
but three of their regular six were out tonight. Brad Norton is still
suffering from a concussion suffered last Friday at Lowell, Dale Hooper
was a scratch by coaches decision and Brian Corcoran received a game
misconduct in the 104 PIM game against Lowell saturday. Corcoran will be
back tomorrow night along with Hooper. Nortan skated today put is
unlikely to see ice tomorrow.
For Northeastern tonight was the Melong-Aube-Shields show.
Scoring all seven goals, and winning all three stars, they controled this
game from the get go. A sweep of the series is pivitol for NU's NC$$ bid.
A loss to UMass at this point would virtually require them to get win the
playoffs to qualify. In a pressure game credit Ben Smith's stars for
coming up big in the clutch. His big three forwards and goaltender Mike
Veisor controled the game from start to finish.
SIGN OF SUPPORT: While UMass's 3-19 Hockey east mark is not
incredible one thing has been, their fans support. In their 12 Hockey east
games at Mullins, UMass averaged 3,975 fans per game. Higher than any
other team except for Maine. That number would be SRO at five of the
league's arenas (MC, UML, BU, PC and UNH). The season high was the 6,834
who witnessed the Maine upset, while the low was a respectable 2,147 for
a Sunday night game with UNH, the day after a storm dumped 8 inches of
snow on Amherst, with temps around zero. If 1 3-19 team can average 3,975
for league games (3,417 overall at Mullins) what will that figure be when
we're 19-3 instead? I just can't wait.
Leigh
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