With goals by sophomores Jason Shipulski and Mike Souza late in the third
period, UNH overcame a two goal deficit (and, dare I say, the refereeing of
John Gravallese) to gain a 4-4 tie with BU. UNH came into the game facing
BU goalie Michel Larocque, who had won five straight game against the
Wildcats, the latest coming in the 1997 Hockey East title game last March.
The first period was played at a some what tentative pace, with BU probably
getting the better of the chances. The only goal of the period was scored
by Tommi Degerman when he tipped a Chris Kelleher center point slap shot
past Sean Matile at 6:26. While the shots were even for the period (7
apiece), Matile was forced to make more quality saves, including a
breakaway by Scott Perry at the 18 minute mark.
Jason Krog, the nation's leading scorer, tied the came at 33 seconds of the
second period when he blistered a 35 foot slap shot from the right wing
past Larocque. At this point, the crowd got more into the game and UNH
stepped up the pressure. At the five minute mark, the appeared to have
scored off a scramble in close, however Gravallese blew a quick whistle and
seemed to ignore a BU defenseman who had covered the puck up in the crease.
BU took the lead at 6:22 when Juha Vuori scored after Mike Sylvia had
come down the left wing and turned a UNH defenseman to set up the goal. At
13:06 another UNH "goal" was disallowed as Larocque attempted to cover up a
rebound. From my vantage point, 4 rows from the ice in the UNH zone, the
puck was not frozen and, after several swipes, UNH did put it in the net.
However, Gravallese was again too quick with the whistle, a decision that
proved costly 15 seconds later. After Dan Ronan had been whistled off for
interference as a result of this scrum, UNH turned the puck over at center
ice and BU's Carl Corazzini scored on a slap shot that eluded Matile. So,
instead of being tied, UNH found themselves down by two as the period
ended.
3rd Period
UNH started the period with a 5-on-3 power play for 1:16 but BU killed it
off rather easily. As the period went on, BU seemed to be doing a pretty
good job holding UNH off just as they had done in their 4-2 victory at
Walter Brown rink last month. However, UNH caught a break midway through
the period when Shipulski took a pass from Christian Braganolo at center
ice, deked a BU defenseman at the blue line and went in all alone to score
on a backhander at 10:18. The crowd came to life but were quickly shut
down when a Joe DiPenta slap shot was deflected in front off a UNH defender
to give BU a two goal lead again. If a poll of the crowd had been taken at
this point, I am sure most would have said that the game was gone. At the
fifteen minute mark, Derek Bekar was taken down as he attempted to execute
a give-and-go with Krog but, this time, the whistle did not blow as
Gravallese apparently saw nothing. This led to a retaliation slash by Bekar
and a subsequent 10-minute misconduct, called by a linesman. With less
than five minutes to go and UNH without Bekar (and Mark Mowers who sat out
his third straight game due to a concussion), the game seemed over. At
this point, however, Tom Nolan came to the fore. First, he broke out of
the UNH zone on the right wing, got the angle on the defense and fed
Shipulski with a perfect pass which was one-timed past Larocque at 16:04.
With crowd in a frenzy, UNH took the puck right back into the zone off the
face off, with Shipulski drawing a holding penalty on Jeff Kealty at 16:32.
On the ensuing face off, a Nolan shot rebounded off Larocque and, after a
couple of swipes, Souza put it in to tie the game at 16:44.
The remainder of the period and the overtime remained scoreless, although
Krog had an excellent tip chance with just 10 seconds to go in OT.
Overall, a great, great college hockey game. And, without a doubt, the
noisiest crowd I have ever heard at the Whit.
Greg Ambrose, UNH '72
GO UNH BLUE!!!
JASON KROG FOR HOBEY!!!
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