In a game played Saturday night at the Volpe Complex at Merrimack, the
Merrimack Warriors extended their losing streak to eight games by losing
to the ULowell Chiefs 5-3.  The crowd of 1751 saw a game that was ULowell
Coach Bill Riley's last regular season game.  It was also the last
regular season game for Merrimack seniors Ben Lebeau, Doug Greschuck,
Tim Doyle, and Howie Rosenblatt.  Other Merrimack seniors on the roster
were Steve Cardosi and Sean Dooley.
 
A big surprise, Dwayne Roloson, not Lowell's star goalie Mark Richards
started in net.
 
Lowell opened the scoring.  In the first, at 9:26, Greg Carter scored a
goal from Normand Bazin.
 
Merrimack tied it early in the second.  At :46 of the second, Agostino
Casale scored a power play goal from Howie Rosenblatt.  David Gatti was
off for a trip.
 
It didn't last long though.  Dan O'Connell got the puck when Matt Hentges
gave it away at his own blue line.  O'Connell skated in on a break away
and beat Yannick Gosselin high to the glove side at 1:37.  It was unassisted.
 
At 8:38, Merrimack tied it up at 2.  Howie Rosenblatt scored when Roloson
got lost behind the net.  Agostino Casale put the puck on Rosenblatt's
stick out front for the tie.
 
Again though, it didn't last long.  Dave Pensa scored on a breakaway from
Mike Murray at 9:09.
 
At 11:49, Dave Stevens scored a power play goal from Mike Erickson and
Scott Wenham.  Erickson's shot was deflected home by Stevens.
 
In the third period, Lowell opened the scoring at 8:21.  David Gatti
scored from Tomi Maarni and Don Parsons.
 
Rob Atkinson closed it to 5-3 on a short handed goal.  Two great individual
efforts by Atkinson and Dan Gravelle led to mass confusion in front of
the Lowell net.  Atkinson picked up a loose puck and lifted it into an
open net for the goal.
 
 
Scoring by periods:
 
Merrimack       0   2   1   -   3
Lowell          1   3   1   -   5
 
 
Shots:
 
Merrimack       5  11  12   -  28
Lowell         13   9   4   -  26
 
 
Saves:
 
Gosselin (MC)  12   6   3   -  21
Roloson  (UL)   5   9  11   -  25
 
 
Personal Notes:
 
Merrimack is on an 8 game losing streak starting the playoffs against Boston
University.  Yes, BU lost tonight, and they needed to win and Maine won and
they needed to lose for Merrimack to play Maine.  BU lost 6-5 to Boston
College, and Maine beat UNH 4-2.
 
Rob Atkinson - Dan Gravelle - Jeff Massey line played great, but couldn't
put the puck in the damn net except for the one goal.  They had about
12 chances to do it.
 
Agostino Casale - Teal Fowler - Howie Rosenblatt line clicked twice tonight
Merrimack will need them to do more if they stand ANY chance against BU.
 
Gosselin needs to stand on his head if Merrimack is to beat BU.
 
Merrimack must tighten up on defense, and the defense has to play much
better.
 
Merrimack may have found an interesting new powerplay unit.  Atkinson, Gravelle
another winger, with Casale at left defense and Rosenblatt at right defense.
It came VERY close to scoring.
 
GOOD LUCK WARRIORS, TERRORIZE THE TERRIERS!!!!!!
 
HE matchups are :  BC vs. Northeastern, Maine vs. Lowell, BU vs. Merrimack,
and Providence vs. UNH.  With the exception of the Providence game I can
say for certain that the team on the left of the vs has home ice.  I can't
be sure, but I think PC has home ice.
 
Kevin
 
E-mail MIGHT reach me at:
 
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"You can still Rock in America"  - Night Ranger