Wednesday, January 1, 1992 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA
NONCONFERENCE GAME HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Air Force Falcons (7-8-0) 1 0 1 - 2
Merrimack Warriors (9-8-0) 1 1 4 - 6
FIRST PERIOD MC-AF
1. MC1, Teal Fowler 13 (Agostino Casale, Mark Cornforth), 5:05. 1-0
2. AF1, Terry Courtney 5 (unassisted), 18:11. 1-1
SECOND PERIOD
3. MC2, Dan Gravelle 9 (Matt Hayes), 13:30. 2-1
THIRD PERIOD
4. MC3, Fowler 14 (Casale, Cornforth), 2:12. GWG 3-1
5. MC4, Claude Maillet 5 (Don MacLeod, Bryan Miller), 9:21. 5x3 4-1
6. AF2, Eric Rice 16 (unassisted), 12:00. SHG 4-2
7. MC5, Gravelle 10 (Rob Atkinson, MacLeod), 12:39. PPG 5-2
8. MC6, Jeff Massey 6 (Gravelle, Miller), 16:44. 6-2
SHOTS ON GOAL: Air Force 6-15-14 = 35
Merrimack 15-12-16 = 43
GOALIES: Air Force, Mark Liebich (5-8-0, 60:00, 43 shots-37 saves).
Merrimack, Steve D'Amore (7-7-0, 60:00, 35 shots-33 saves).
POWER PLAYS: Air Force, 0 of 4. Merrimack, 2 of 7.
PENALTIES: USAF, 10/20. Merrimack, 7/14.
REFEREE: Steve McBride. LINESMEN: Chuck Wynters, Hans Baker.
ATTENDANCE: 930 (capacity 3,617).
THREE STARS: 1. Merrimack, Steve D'Amore (35 shots-33 saves).
2. Dan Gravelle, Merrimack (2-1--3).
3. Teal Fowler, Merrimack (2-0--2).
While the attention of most of the sports fans of the nation was directed
towards the eight bowl games, Air Force and Merrimack rang in the New Year
with a 2 pm game that saw Merrimack complete a sweep of the two-game series,
6-2. Merrimack was led by Teal Fowler and Dan Gravelle with two goals
each and goalie Steve D'Amore who made 33 saves to bring his GAA down to
a solid 3.66. The win moved Merrimack back over the .500 mark (9-8-0) for
the first time since a 5-4 win over Kent on Nov 22 made their record 5-4-0.
Air Force dropped its fifth straight game and eighth straight DivI game
since a season-opening 8-4 win over Notre Dame. The Falcons are struggling
on the road, having won only once in their last 14 road games dating back to
late last season. They never led in the two-game series.
As was the case with the series opener that Merrimack won, 8-2, this game
remained close until the third period when Merrimack scored four of the
period's five goals, two on the power play, to break open what was a 2-1
game. USAF goalie Mark Liebich played another fine game but didn't get
much help from his defense, seeing 43 shots.
Each team scored once in the first period. Fowler opened the scoring with
his 14th goal when he took a feed from Agostino Casale on a 2x1 and banged
it in at 5:05. Air Force tied it with 1:49 left in the period when the
Warriors gave up the puck in their own end. Terry Courtney, who had a good
series, intercepted a cross-ice pass in the slot and got D'Amore to go down
before flipping a backhander over him for his fifth goal.
Gravelle scored the only goal of the second period at 13:30 when he won a
draw to Liebich's left and went to the net. Matt Hayes' shot was deflected
and was headed wide, but Gravelle was there to take the puck and put it
by Liebich for his 9th goal and a 2-1 lead after two. Air Force had been
outplayed in the first but rebounded to play a good second and even had
the edge in shots, but D'Amore stopped all 15 shots and his defense was
able to clear the rebounds. The period (and game) were a little chippy as
referee Steve McBride wasn't sure if he wanted to call penalties early on
(Casale got away with an obvious slash to a Falcon player's facemask that
was seen and heard by everyone in the rink - including McBride). Then only
when things started to get out of hand with a lot of hitting after the
whistle did McBride start to make calls; he was too inconsistent on the
night. Both coaches were clearly upset at the way the game was being called.
Fowler scored his second of the night 2:12 into the third to give Merrimack
a two-goal lead when he knocked in a short pass from Casale. Merrimack's
Weinrich & Cornforth and USAF's Jason Mantaro (perhaps the Falcons' most
impressive player of the two games) all went off at 5:49 with Mantaro getting
a double minor and the Warriors each getting minors, so first Air Force had
a 4x3 and then Merrimack was on the power play. The Falcons took a number
of shots, most from defenseman Bob Ingraham, but they were all from the
outside and D'Amore was able to see and stop them. Right after the two
Merrimack penalties expired, Tony Roe went off to give the Warriors almost
two straight minutes of 5x3, and they capitalized at 9:21 to make it 4-1.
Claude Maillet, a former defenseman, scored his third goal of the series
when he put in the rebound of Don MacLeod's shot from the point.
The Falcons' leading scorer, Eric Rice, had been kept off the scoresheet
in the series until he picked off a pass in front of D'Amore and rifled it
past the Warrior goalie before he knew what hit him. It was Rice's 16th
goal of the season, shorthanded, and brought the Falcons within two. But
just 39 seconds later on the same power play, Gravelle netted his second of
the game to put the game out of reach. Jeff Massey closed out the scoring
with 3:16 left, Gravelle and Bryan Miller assisting.
EPILOGUE
Air Force clearly came into the series hoping to get at least a split, but
Merrimack broke from tradition to play two great third periods and
outscored USAF 9-2 in the two thirds. The Falcons' downfall was not playing
strong defense towards the end of the game, and Merrimack's big guns like
Fowler, Gravelle and Casale were able to take advantage of this. The size
advantage that Merrimack had over the Falcons was also a big factor as Air
Force seemed to tire a bit towards the end of both games.
It was a good way to get back into play for Merrimack, with two wins and
14 goals in the series. Merrimack closes nonconference play at 9-3-0 and
now will finish the season with 16 Hockey East games. Coach Ron Anderson
was a little distressed with his team's apparent tiredness early on in this
game, but they picked it up as the game went along. Merrimack will next
play at New Hampshire Fri Jan 3 in a NESN game, and they'll need to play
even better to get a win up at Lively Snively. UNH will have been off
since Sunday's ALS Championship while Merrimack will have played two games
already in the week. The next three games with UNH, BC (Jan 10) and
Northeastern (Jan 11) should show if this team is ready to get over the
hump and win those close league games, else they'll be headed to Maine in
early March for the HE Quarterfinals.
Air Force is off Thursday, then plays at Northeastern Fri Jan 3 at 7 pm
and Sat Jan 4 at 2 pm. The two teams played out in Colorado Springs last
season with NU winning the first, 11-3, then squeaking out a tough one in
OT, 5-4, to sweep. The Huskies have been idle since winning the RPI Inv.
Consolation over Union, 8-5, on Dec 28. NU has struggled at home this
season and the Falcons could pull one out there this weekend; defense has
been a problem for the Huskies and we might see USAF players like Decker,
Rice, Mantaro, and Ingraham break out.
I got a chance to meet longtime HOCKEY-L member Charlie Shub this week as
he made the trip out to see Air Force's four games here - that's devotion!
I'm just glad my directions didn't get Charlie lost on the way to
Merrimack. :-) We had a nice pregame conversation today about his son, who's
a goalie, and about the first game here Monday night. Charlie's a really
nice guy and I hope some of you get to meet him if he gets to come out in
a few weeks for Air Force's trip to Vermont or if any of you Cornell fans
are making the trip to Colorado Springs Jan 24-25. I was also happy to
meet one of Air Force's local players, sophomore Jeff Barlow from Pembroke,
NH, and his mom, and I hope to get to see their afternoon game at NU this
coming Saturday.
NEXT YEAR
It looks like this is Merrimack's nonleague schedule for 1992-93: a series
each at Air Force and Western Michigan (hope to make those trips), games
at Dartmouth and Vermont, and home games with Union and RPI. Oh yes, Union
fans, I think you get to be next: early plans have Merrimack hosting the
Dutchmen on New Year's Day, 1993. (Original date of early 1992-93 is in
jeopardy with Union having a schedule conflict.)
MERRIMACK LEADING SCORERS
GP G A P Avg
Dan Gravelle, SO C 17 10 23 33 1.94
Agostino Casale, SR RW 14 15 13 28 2.00
Teal Fowler, JR C 17 14 5 19 1.12
Rob Atkinson, SO LW 14 1 15 16 1.14
Claude Maillet, SR D-RW 17 5 9 14 0.82
Bryan Miller, Jr D 17 5 8 13 0.76
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Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
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