Some great comments by Tony...rather than take each team one by one,
let me concentrate on the one I am most familiar with, else this could
get quite long (or longer than it is).
 
Tony Biscardi writes:
>Merrimack
> Negatives:  The lack of scoring that some feared is worse than I thought it
>would be.  Wins are very hard to come by if you can't score.
 
Scoring has actually proven to be *better* than I expected.  Kesselring
and Laroche have turned heads with their rookie play, and Adams looks
like he is fulfilling the goal scoring role he was expected to handle.
Goble was the other half of the senior scoring duo but missed several
weeks due to injury (after a three-goal game); he is back now.  Beck
has been the big surprise, suddenly starting to score goals while
Goble was out.  This department should be somewhat improved in the
second half, especially since several other forwards also missed
significant action with injuries which forced Merrimack to go with
only three lines much of the time.
 
The big negatives:
 
* Penalty killing.  The Warriors were so pitiful in this area the
first few weeks of the season that they might as well have given the
other team the goal and taken an extra two minutes to try to get it
back.  But part of that is youth...and in recent weeks, especially
against Maine and NU, the penalty kill has seen a big improvement.
 
* Not being able to put teams away.  Merrimack had chances to win
games with leads against PC, UNH (twice), NU, and Maine, but all ended
up in either losses or ties.  That is the sign of a very inexperienced
team, and only two seniors have been playing in recent weeks.
 
* Cornforth and Hodge, the team's two best defensemen and two of the
better ones in the league, missed most or all of the first semester.
Merrimack has needed someone to get the play started out of their own
end, especially against Maine the second night.  One of these two guys
might have made the difference.
 
> Positives:  The defense and goaltending are young and talented.  Merrimack
>is not an easy win, and they managed to give Maine all they could handle,
>forcing Maine to escape from Volpe with a win and a tie (SO loss), the win
>coming after some Maine 3rd period heroics.
 
Here are my positives (expanded):
 
* IMO, Legault has been the second best goaltender in HE over the
first half of the season.  Tony mentioned Taylor, but Legault has
proven himself to be at least as good.
 
* Defense has likewise been, IMO, the second best in the league to
Maine's.  Weichselbaumer has switched from F to D and been the most
consistent - might he switch back and help out the offense in the
second half?  McKenna and Costa have played much better this year than
last and have made sure few opposing forwards get close enough to
Legault to be a threat.  All Ds have done a superb job of making
Merrimack's physical game one of the best in the league.
 
Note that the above two things happened:
 
1) without Cornforth and Hodge, both of whom should return after the
holidays, and a third D - Chris Ross; and
2) while playing each of the top three teams in the league (current
standings) twice each.  They haven't played BU yet.
 
More positives:
 
* All close games - no losses by more than two goals.  They have had a
legitimate chance to win every game they have not won, except the
second game of the year at Dalhousie, a 4-goal loss.  9 straight games
without allowing more than 4 goals, 6 straight without allowing more
than 3 heading into the RPI game next Thursday.
 
* Outscoring the opponents at even strength - despite the lack of
talent on offense Tony mentioned.  You don't need to score a lot of
goals to win if the other team can't score...although you do need to
score *some* goals.  Even slightly better penalty killing would
probably have put this team in second place right now...they're 6 pts
out of second, and I am thinking of 4 games where poor PK resulted in
losses - a total of 20 league points lost.  Take half of those points
and they are in second.
 
* Of course, "If I'd gone fishing, I'd have caught a whale."  But the
fact that penalty killing *has* improved dramatically in recent games
means that it could make the difference in the second half, when it
may be enough to enable them to win the games they were losing because
of PPGs.
 
> Bottom line:  [fitting title for this section] :-)  Merrimack needs a scoring
>line.  Occassionally upsetting a top team is nice, but to be a top team,
>Merrimack needs either a scoring line, like BU, UNH, NU, Lowell, and even BC
>have, or a power play like Maine has.  With a good scoring line, Merrimack
>could be fighting for home ice in the HE playoffs, but until they get one,
>they won't get it.
 
Looking at the schedule before the season, I initially thought MC
could run out and be in 2nd or 3rd at this point.  After a disappointing
start, I thought they were destined for 8th or 7th.  As it is, they
are right in the thick of things, tied for 5th (ironically, where I
picked them) and a win out of fourth.
 
I did trumpet the virtues of their defense before the season.  Merrimack's
defense and goaltending is that good that they can make a strong run for
home ice or higher the second half by having two things happen:
 
* Continued improved penalty killing, and
* At least one line (likely Beck-Kesselring-Adams) that is able to
generate some offense and get some big goals - doesn't have to be a
big gun scoring line like the teams Tony mentioned.  They had a chance
to sweep Maine even without that offense being there.
 
They might even be able to contend if one of these two things happens
and D/goaltending stays solid.
 
Being a top team along the lines of Maine and BU isn't a consideration
right now, yet this is a team that can legitimately hope to get home
ice, especially with the two best defensemen returning to a blueline
corps that has already established itself as one of the best in the
league without them.  Heck, I might even take Cornforth and Hodge and
make them wingers.  Wouldn't that be interesting.
 
The second half in HE is going to be very exciting.  I only see Maine
and BU as probably being that much better than everyone else.  NU has
looked quite overrated often, and as UNH fans have said, UNH has yet
to run into much of the iron.  Several teams have a great chance to
make a move in the standings starting in January, Merrimack being one
of them.  But they need to get over that hump and finally start
winning those close games.  Cornforth and Hodge could be what they
need to get over that hump.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93