Saturday, January 8, 1994 at Volpe Center, North Andover, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
New Hampshire Wildcats (14-4-1, 5-3-1 HE) 0 1 2 - 3
Merrimack Warriors (9-9-1, 2-6-1 HE) 2 1 3 - 6
FIRST PERIOD MC-NH
1. MC1, Cooper Naylor 9 (Dan Hodge), 5:12. PPG 1-0
2. MC2, Hodge 7 (Matt Adams, Rob Atkinson), 7:15. 2-0
SECOND PERIOD
3. NH1, Glenn Stewart 8 (Tom Nolan), 1:03. 2-1
4. MC3, Mark Goble 4 (Ziggy Marszalek, Jim Gibson), 14:52. 3-1
THIRD PERIOD
5. MC4, Adams 9 (Naylor, Hodge), 4:41. GWG 4-1
6. NH2, Nick Poole 8 (Eric Flinton, Mike Sullivan), 10:30. 4-2
7. MC5, Mark Cornforth 2 (unassisted), 13:24. 5-2
8. NH3, Rob Donovan 8 (Jason Dexter), 15:39. 6x5 5-3
9. MC6, Gibson 5 (Claudio Peca), 18:47. PPG ENG 6-3
SHOTS ON GOAL: New Hampshire 13-10-12 = 35
Merrimack 10--6--6 = 22
SAVES: NH, Trent Cavicchi (7:15, 5 sh-3 sv),
Mike Heinke (51:24, L, 7-2-1, 16-13).
MC, Martin Legault (60:00, W, 7-9-1, 35-32).
POWER PLAYS: NH 0 for 7. MC 2 for 5.
PENALTIES: NH 9/26. MC 11/22.
REFEREES: Steve McBride, Rich Fowkes. LINESMAN: Chuck Wynters.
ATTENDANCE: 652.
THREE STARS: 1. G Martin Legault, MC (35 sh-32 sv).
2. D Dan Hodge, MC (1-2--3).
3. RW Matt Adams, MC (1-1--2, GWG).
Defenseman Dan Hodge's goal and two assists helped Merrimack to its
second win of the season over a top 5 ranked team, 6-3 over UNH. The
Warriors were outshot 35-22 in the game, but goalie Martin Legault turned
aside all but three to get the win. Merrimack was unable to move out
of last place in the HE standings because both BC and PC, within 2 points
of the Warriors prior to tonight, pulled off upset wins of their own over
NU and BU respectively. That's either a sign that the top teams are
struggling, or that the weaker HE teams are starting to come on and make a
name for themselves. Probably a little of both.
FIRST
Trent Cavicchi, who has split the action in the UNH net pretty evenly with
the superb Mike Heinke and has similar stats, started the game but was
yanked by coach Dick Umile just 7:15 into the first. Merrimack got on
the board at 5:12 on the power play when Cooper Naylor's shot from the
blue line beat Cavicchi. Just 2:03 later, Hodge blasted one from the
right point that went right through the five-hole, and Heinke quickly
relieved Cavicchi with the score 2-0 Merrimack. He would shut down
the hosts for just over a period.
UNH had several power play chances in the period, including a 5x3 late,
but the Wildcats could not solve Legault. As happened Friday night,
UNH seemed to have trouble getting its line combinations going and
was unable to move the puck well at all.
SECOND
UNH came out storming and it paid off early with a goal by Glenn Stewart
1:03 in. Stewart's shot beat Legault from about 10 feet out. The rest
of the period was pretty uneventful until 14:52, when Merrimack's Mark
Goble wheeled in front and slipped the puck past Heinke to regain the
two-goal advantage. Merrimack had been trapped with three forwards all
behind the net, but they were able to work the puck to Goble who was
allowed to move in front and score.
UNH first line right wing Nick Poole took a heavy hit along the boards
with about 5-6 minutes left and struggled to his bench before having to
be helped off the ice by a teammate. He did not return for the rest of
the period and this seemed to be a severe blow for the Wildcats, who
were still playing without first line center Eric Royal.
THIRD
With Merrimack up 3-1, the next goal was bound to be a big one, and it
was sort of a fluke one that went Merrimack's way. At 4:41, Hodge took
a shot from the point that deflected off a defenseman but came right to
Matt Adams. Adams was uncontained and with Heinke caught off guard, he
easily flipped the puck into the open net to make it 4-1.
Play remained pretty even till about the nine minute mark, when UNH
began controlling the puck well and keeping Merrimack bottled up in
their own end. Poole, who had returned for a regular shift, scored a
big goal at 10:30 when he and Flinton carried up on a 2x1, with Poole
beating Legault for his 8th goal. UNH continued to keep the pressure
on, forcing Merrimack to ice the puck several times, and it looked like
the Warriors were going into a defensive shell that might cost them
against a determined Wildcat squad.
But D Mark Cornforth finally got hold of the puck after one harrowing
sequence that saw Legault make three tough saves, and he skated it all
the way to the UNH slot and fired it past Heinke for an unassisted goal
that made it 5-2.
With about five and a half minutes left, Umile pulled Heinke for the
extra attacker, down three, and it paid off at 15:39 when Rob Donovan
scored 6x5 on a scramble right in front. Legault had no chance.
Heinke continued to move back and forth between the bench and the net,
returning to his crease when there was a faceoff and coming out when
his team gained control, but UNH wasn't able to score. Then UNH's
chances for a comeback were all but dashed when freshman Tom Nolan
took a bad elbowing penalty away from the play at 17:08. Nolan ran
Jim Gibson hard into the corner of the glass in front of the penalty
box, putting Merrimack on a power play. Heinke came out to even the
sides at 5x5, but UNH had shot after shot turned away by Legault along
with making too many passes without shooting at some times. Finally,
the game was iced at 18:47 when Merrimack got control and Claudio Peca
fed Gibson for an easy empty-netter to make it 6-3. Donovan was upset
at something and was called for a misconduct right after the goal, but
by that time all was said and done.
POSTGAME
After the Friday game, won by UNH 6-3, I thought that Merrimack had a
good chance to beat the Wildcats back in their home rink where they
usually give UNH fits, and I turned out to be right. Merrimack played
a good game defensively in front of Legault, who made several big saves
along the way to earn the win. The Warriors didn't make the kind of
bad mistakes that they had made the night before in the loss. On
the other side, UNH really had trouble getting its offense going except
for stretches in the second and third. The loss of Royal, forcing
lines to be juggled, seems to have upset the delicate balance of the
forwards that had staked UNH to such an outstanding start. Only time
will tell if they'll get it together again before Royal returns; he
had an MRI on his shoulder today but no results were available yet.
Heinke initially played strong in relief of Cavicchi, but he too gave up
a couple of goals he probably should have had, especially the Adams goal
when he was caught off guard and the Cornforth goal, which he seemed to
see all the way. The move to replace Cavicchi with Heinke so early in
the game really can't be second-guessed since Heinke played so well
for better than a period before allowing his first goal. Goaltending
was not the Wildcats' problem tonight.
For Merrimack, it was yet another example of a strong second performance
against a good team after losing the night before. After getting blown
out at BU 10-4 in December, the Warriors rebounded to only lose 4-3 in
a game that was one of their better performances of the season. This
young team continues to get better and better and doesn't break under
pressure, a good sign with the rest of the HE schedule ahead. Other
than being swept by BU and Maine, Merrimack is 2-2-1 in HE play. Last
season, Merrimack went 0-8-0 against BU and Maine but 8-8-0 against
the rest of HE.
UNH will look to rebound quickly with a big game Wed Jan 12 at
Northeastern, a NESN telecast. The Wildcats will then host NU on Fri
Jan 14. Earlier this season, the two teams battled to a 6-6 tie at NU.
Merrimack meets Valley rival Mass Lowell in a home and home next Fri-Sat,
Friday's game at UML's Tully Forum. Saturday's rematch at Merrimack
between UML and MC will be shown on NESN on delay Sunday night Jan 16.
The last time the two teams met was at Lowell in the final game of the
1992-93 regular season, when Mark Goble scored the tying goal late in
regulation and the winner in OT to allow Merrimack to vault over BC
and finish in 6th place.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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