Last night, in front of 921 fans in the Volpe Complex, the Merrimack Warriors
lost the season series with Providence College by coming up on the short end
of a 5-3 decision.
 
Providence scored first.  Mike Boback fired a shot from the top of the right
circle.  Merrimack goalie Yannick "The Goose" Gosselin got a piece of it with
his pads, but it broke through and into the net for the one to nothing lead.
The assists went to Shaun Kane and Chris Therien at 10:47 of the first period.
 
Providence made it 2-0 at the 15:25 mark.  Unfortuately, I must have heard the
announcement wrong, because I thought they said #26 scored the goal, but there
is no 26 on the Friars roster.  Anyway, whoever it was fired a wrist shot from
between the two circles about 30 feet out.  It wasn't a particularly hard shot,
but Goose didn't get all of it, and it rolled in the net for the 2-0 lead.  The
only assist went to Brian McCarthy.
 
Merrimack cut it to 2-1 before the end of the period.  Howie Rosenblatt took a
Teal Fowler pass out in front of the net and wasted no time in putting it on
net.  Providence goalie Brad Mullahy got piece of it, but it bounced in for the
goal.  It came at 17:50.  The assists went to Fowler and Agostino Casale.
 
In the second, Merrimack scored the first two goals.  John Barron, a sophmore
who has shown a lot of promise at times, poked in his own rebound on a third
try.  The assists went to Brendan Locke and Jim Gibson at the 4:16 mark.
 
Teal Fowler put Merrimack ahead on a power play goal at 12:58.  Just five
seconds earlier Rob Gandreau was called for holding.  Fowler won the draw
back to Tim Doyle.  Doyle passed it to the right point for Claude Maillet.
Maillet fired the shot in.  The ref said that Fowler got a piece of it.  I
thought it went straight in, but I was partially screened by a Providence
defender.
 
Providence evened the score on a goal by Gary Socha.  Socha picked up the
rebound of a Rob Gandreau shot and fired it into an open net for the tie.
The other assist went to Pat Madigan at 15:35.
 
Providence went ahead for good on a power play goal at 17:58.  Mike Boback
fired a shot from the left wing.  I don't know if Goose never saw it, or just
missed it, but it found it's way into the net.  The assists went to Shaun Kane
and Larry Rooney.  It came while Jim Gibson was in the box for an elbow.
 
There was only one goal in the third period.  Bob Cowan for Providence fired
a wrist shot from the blue line.  Goose misplayed it, it hit his glove and went
in the net at the 17:19 mark.  The assist went to Mario Aube.
 
 
Scoring by Periods:
 
Merrimack     1   2   0     -     5
Providence    2   2   1     -     5
(Yes I can add, the Merrimack total should be three, I can't edit in this
 mailer.  Sorry)
 
 
Shots:
 
Merrimack    12  13   9     -    34
Providence   15   7  13     -    35
 
 
Saves:
 
Mullahy (PC) 11  11   9     -    31
Gosselin(MC) 13   5  12     -    30
 
 
Pipes:
 
Merrimack     0   0   0     -     0
Providence    0   1   1     -     2
 
 
Some observations:
 
Period 1 and 3, the ref (Taylor) didn't call any penalties at all (Period one
there were penalties called at 20:00.)
 
Merrimack really missed Dan Gravelle who has injured a shoulder.  This is
nothing personal against Rob Kelley, but he and Rob Atkinson didn't click
near as well as Dan Gravelle and Rob Atkinson did.  Not to mention that
Gravelle is by far the Warriors best face off man, the Warriors will miss him
until he returns.
 
Agostino Casale has been in a bit of a goal scoring slump.  Last night he
was stoned twice by Mullahy right in close.  COME ON AUGIE, THE WARRIORS NEED
YOU!
 
 
Merrimack next plays Friday night when the high powered and talented Terriers
of BU come to town.  This game is going to be a tough one for Merrimack with
this Warrior fan predicting a very one sided affair for the boys in red.
 
Kevin
 
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"You can still Rock in America"  - Night Ranger