In response to Kevin's comments:
 
1) Casale icing the puck:  this speaks for itself.  Again he was quickly
  taken off the ice after this flash of brilliance.
 
2) Merrimack playing all three goalies:  this has been done before, my guess
  is that Anderson wanted to keep #1 goalie D'Amore sharp and also get the
  other two some time before upcoming nonleague games with UAA and Dartmouth.
  I don't believe this had a bearing on the outcome.  Gosselin had a full
  period to get into the game before allowing his first goal at 19:55.  But
  whether another change should have been made with the score only 1-0 into
  the third is certainly debatable.  I learned before the start of the second,
  when it was 0-0, that Gosselin would be coming in for the third, so this
  had already been decided.
 
3) Fowler taking the key draw instead of Gravelle:  in defense of Anderson,
  Gravelle was not having a spectacular night on draws (11 of 18) while
  Fowler was 11 of 17 for the game.  Fowler was above his average for the
  season while Gravelle was below his.  And Gravelle did not have a good
  game while Fowler was playing very well.  I can't fault this move either.
  If you want to know who Merrimack's top faceoff man for the game was,
  Cooper Naylor was an uncharacteristic 70.0% (7 of 10); he is at 53.6% for
  the season.  Gravelle was actually the worst of Merrimack's four centers
  for the game although he is the clear leader for the season.
 
As far as blocked shots went, Merrimack had 14 of their 53 attempts blocked
by ND, while ND had 12 of 49 attempts blocked.  Both teams performed well
in the shot-blocking department.
 
Have a Happy Turkey Day, everyone!
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Mike Machnik        [log in to unmask]       [log in to unmask]