At 1:42 PM -0500 11/11/96, Paul Gentile wrote:
> Friday night - Lowell 6, Merrimack 3
> ...
>     It was nice to see Fillion back between the pipes. According to
> Donovan, he was nervous as the game got going but eventually settled
> down. He looked solid enough and the goals were clean. Merrimack's
> forwards worked hard for all three. Fillion barely stood a chance on any
> of them.
 
Agreed...Saturday night he had also no real chance on any of the goals, as
Merrimack was more effective at scoring off their chances from right in
front.  Fillion might have liked to have had the sixth goal back, after
Beck took a whack at it from behind the goal line and it went in off
Fillion's back, but the game was pretty well decided by that time.
 
Lowell's inability to capitalize on the power play hurt them this
weekend...only 2 for 14 in the two games against a Merrimack PK unit that
came into the weekend last in HE.  On the strength of that showing, MC PK
is now 4th in HE (but still last overall).
 
Merrimack is only 1 for 28 on the season on the PP, believed to be last in
DivI.
 
> Saturday's game - Merrimack 6, Lowell 2
...
>    Merrimack looked real good. They looked fairly good Friday night.
> Philbin's goal was real pretty!
 
Bill Fenwick wrote about Cornell,
> The freshmen for the Big Red continued
> to impress, particularly forward Ryan Moynihan, who showed he's the Real Deal
> with a four-point weekend that included a pair of goals against Brown.
 
Looks like both Moynihan and Merrimack's Jayson Philbin, high-scoring
linemates at New England prep champion Cushing Academy, are off to a great
start.  Philbin has worked himself onto the top line and scored in each
game vs Lowell; both were nice goals.  His goal Friday got Merrimack on the
board first for the first time this season, when he took a feed from Casey
Kesselring down low and roofed it past Fillion.  Saturday, he got another
nice pass from Kesselring, who leads Merrimack in scoring, walked around a
defenseman and put a nice fake on Fillion to score.  One for the highlight
reel.
 
Kesselring-Philbin looks like a combo that is going to be tough to break
up.  Kesselring is the shifty playmaker and Philbin is now playing that
"smash-mouth" style he talked about before coming to Merrimack.  The guy
loves to get in there and make things happen.  He's already shown signs of
being one of those players who likes to play the physical game but can also
score the pretty, goal scorer's goals.  When Sandy Cohen returns from his
injury, he and Philbin are going to have a lot to say with regard to how
the Merrimack offense fares.
 
>    Looked like Lowell still had a shot in this one despite being outplayed.
> Libbett's goal brought them to within one at 3-2 before the second period
> ended.
 
It sure was still tight entering the third.  The big differences for
Merrimack, and maybe it was playing at home that did it, were that 1) they
didn't make the mistakes they made on the small ice surface at Lowell, and
2) they got the scoring they needed from their upperclassmen.
Upperclassmen scored five of the six goals Saturday.  And
Weichselbaumer-Stringer-Porter, who were put together for the first time
ever, responded with three goals all earned on hard work deep in the zone.
 
>     It turns out I was sitting next to ... and conversing regularly with
> Warrior Tom Johnson's parents down from Canada for the game. Mrs.
> Johnson reminded me a lot of my mom and we talked about the special
> breed that hockey mom's are cut from. Mr. Johnson mentioned getting
> regular news from Mike Machnik's Warrior page. It turns out its quite a
> resource to them up in Canada, Mike. They have access to all the various
> Hockey East web pages. I turned them onto HOCKEY-L. I also got some
> inciteful info about the Canadian University squads, "T.J's" possible
> future hockey plans and the motivation behind Canadian skaters coming
> "down south".
 
I've talked to Tom Sr. and he has told me of being able to follow the team
through the page.  This is one reason why doing the page is so
worthwhile...the parents and friends of players from far away are able to
keep up on what's happening even if they cannot make it to the game.  That
is good to know and worth remembering for others who keep up those
unofficial (or official) pages.
 
T.J. has had a good season thus far...he set up Weichselbaumer's winner at
Union and also set up Martin Laroche's goal Saturday with some hard work
behind the net to dig the puck out.  And on the penalty kill, he was a big
reason why Lowell couldn't score with the success other teams have had
against Merrimack...he was constantly forcing the play deep in the zone and
making it hard for Lowell to break out.  He's going to be a key this season.
 
Lowell is going to be all right...their freshmen have some kinks to work
out and the upperclassmen like Donovan, Salsman, Sandholm, and Basaraba
have to keep scoring, but the rookies showed me a lot in terms of talent
and effort.  Merrimack had to play very well on Saturday to carry the play
the way they did.
 
Thibeault looks like he is setting a standard for Warrior netminders this
season...his overall GAA (2.36) and save% (.931) are tops in HE at this
early stage after games against PC, Union, and Lowell.  We will see if that
continues with games in upcoming weeks against UMass, BU, and UNH among
others.
 
---                                                                   ---
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