Wednesday, November 13, 1991 at Tully Forum, Billerica, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (3-3-0, 0-2-0 HE) 2 1 1 - 4
UMass-Lowell Chiefs (3-3-0, 1-0-0 HE) 0 3 2 - 5
FIRST PERIOD UML-MC
1. MC1, Agostino Casale #10 (Dan Gravelle), 3:40. 0-1
2. MC2, Matt Crowley #3 (Teal Fowler, Matt Hayes), 16:39. 0-2
SECOND PERIOD
3. UML1, Mike Murray #9 (Jeremy Tabb, Tim Smallwood), 6:03. 1-2
4. MC3, Bryan Miller #4 (unassisted), 13:28. PPG 1-3
5. UML2, Dave Pensa #3 (Don Parsons, Shane Henry), 15:22. 4x4 2-3
6. UML3, Henry #2 (unassisted), 16:36. 4x4 3-3
THIRD PERIOD
7. UML4, Parsons #1 (Henry, Tabb), 4:10. 4-3
8. MC4, Fowler #7 (Gravelle, Casale), 15:09. 4-4
9. UML5, Gerry Daley #2 (Parsons, Smallwood), 16:26. GWG 5-4
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 11-13-13 = 37
UMass-Lowell 8-12--5 = 25
GOALIES: Merrimack, Steve D'Amore (3-3-0, 59:30, 25 shots-20 saves).
UMass-Lowell, Dwayne Roloson (2-1-0, 60:00, 37 shots-33 saves).
POWER PLAYS: Merrimack 1 of 3, UMass-Lowell 0 of 3.
PENALTIES: Merrimack 4/8, UMass-Lowell 4/8.
REFEREE: Steve McBride. LINESMEN: Bill Jones, Dennis Hughes.
ATTENDANCE: 1,187 (capacity 3,200).
THREE STARS: 1. Don Parsons, UMass-Lowell (1-2--3).
2. Dwayne Roloson, UMass-Lowell (37 shots-33 saves).
3. Agostino Casale, Merrimack (1-1--2).
After falling behind 2-0 and 3-1, Lowell played tough defense the rest of
the way and goalie Dwayne Roloson had a sparkling 33-save performance to
lead the Chiefs to the win. Third-line center Don Parsons scored one of
his line's three goals and assisted on two others including the game-winner
with 3:34 left. It was a cleanly played game that turned into yet another
in the long list of exciting battles fought by these Merrimack Valley
rivals. Both are former NCAA Division II Champions who have made the
transition to the big time.
For Merrimack, Agostino Casale had a great game with a goal and an assist
to run his totals to 10-9--19 in six games. Casale is the second leading
scorer in Division I to North Dakota's Greg Johnson, who has 4-18--22 in
8 games. Casale's good showing in a televised game should start to get
him some consideration for All-America honors if he continues to play well.
He was stoned by Roloson several times or else he might have had his third
hat trick of the young season.
The Warriors had a superb first period, taking a 2-0 lead. The first line
of Gravelle-Casale-whoever (usually Fowler) controlled the puck most of
the time they were on the ice and play rarely entered the Merrimack end
while they were out there. I was impressed with Merrimack's willingness
to take the body in their own end and this helped them hold Lowell to only
four quality scoring chances in the period. But they didn't play that way
the rest of the game and it was to hurt them.
Casale opened scoring early on with his tenth goal. He picked up the puck
out of the corner, went to the net uncovered and beat Roloson through the
five-hole. With 3:21 left in the first, Crowley made it 2-0 when he
rapped Fowler's centering pass in.
But the old second-period woes continued to plague Merrimack. Leading
Chief scorer Mike Murray made it 2-1 at 6:03. Smallwood's shot from the
top of the left circle was stopped, but D'Amore was down and after Jeremy
Tabb took a whack at it, Murray, who was camped at the post, knocked it
in. With Ian Hebert off for hooking, Merrimack's potent power play
cashed in just 25 seconds into the man advantage at 13:28. Claude Maillet's
shot was stopped, but Keith Carney (no relation to the one from Maine)
couldn't clear and Miller blasted a shot from the right circle that found
net just inside the crossbar. It looked to be a big goal because Lowell
had been carrying the play to Merrimack for much of the period, but now
Merrimack had a chance to go to the locker room still ahead.
Then Alex Weinrich of Merrimack and Dan O'Connell of UML went off to make
it 4 on 4, and Lowell scored twice during the two minutes of man-down
play to quickly tie the game. An uncovered Dave Pensa converted the
rebound of Parsons' shot at 15:22, then at 16:36 Shane Henry grabbed the
puck off the draw in Merrimack's end after the Warriors couldn't get a
handle on it, and he shot it by a helpless D'Amore.
Early in the third, the Chiefs went ahead 4-3 as Parsons put in a rebound
of Henry's shot. Merrimack started to press and finally got the equalizer
with 4:51 left. Casale got the puck off the boards and fed Gravelle,
who spotted the trailer Fowler flying into the zone uncovered. Fowler
beat Roloson point-blank, again through the 5-hole, for his 7th goal to
tie it up. But Merrimack was pretty lackadaisical on defense the next
couple of minutes and allowed three 3-on-2's, with the last one being
the charm for Lowell. Parsons carried up the left side, blew by a
defenseman and threw it in front where Gerry Daley deflected it in before
another defenseman could get to him, and that was the game-winner.
Bruce Crowder had to be pleased with the way his Lowell team bounced back
from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 and played pretty consistent hockey all the
way through to earn the win. Even when Merrimack was threatening to
break it open in the third, Lowell blocked passes, tied up men near the
net, and took advantage of the few scoring chances given them. On the
other side, Merrimack looked at this game as a game they should win, but
again they fell into the trap of letting teams back in the game when they
had built up a lead. This is a difficult team to figure out, as they
have the potential to either win a lot of games or lose a lot. They
are 3-3 but could be 6-0.
Merrimack next hosts American International (DivIII) in a nonleague game
on Friday, while UMass-Lowell travels to Providence Saturday night. I
should add that while Casale is the leading goal-scorer in the nation with
10, Lowell's Murray is right behind with 9 and is also off to a great
start. Lowell can be expected to play tough defense, but if players like
Murray, Parsons, Pensa, O'Connell, and Gatti all come through - players
without big names but who are dangerous nonetheless - they will surprise
a lot of teams who look at them as the team picked to finish last.
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
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