Friday, January 8, 1993 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
New Hampshire Wildcats (9-7-2, 4-3-1 HE t4th) 1 2 4 - 7
Merrimack Warriors (7-9-2, 1-7-0 HE 8th) 2 3 0 - 5
FIRST PERIOD NH-MC
1. MC1, Mark Goble 6 (Jim Gibson, Alex Weinrich), 7:11. 0-1
2. NH1, Glenn Stewart 8 (Bob Chebator), 9:54. 1-1
3. MC2, Gibson 7 (Goble, Wayde McMillan), 19:09. 1-2
SECOND PERIOD
4. NH2, Eric Royal 6 (Jesse Cooper, Eric Flinton), 0:38. 2-2
5. MC3, Dan Gravelle 10 (Teal Fowler, Mark Cornforth), 12:43. PPG 2-3
6. MC4, Matt Crowley 3 (Matt Adams, Ryan Mailhiot), 17:05. 2-4
7. NH3, Sean Perry 2 (Stewart), 18:01. 3-4
8. MC5, Cornforth 2 (Cooper Naylor, Gibson), 19:59. PPG 3-5
THIRD PERIOD
9. NH4, Rob Donovan 12 (Greg Klym, Nick Poole), 2:55. 4-5
10. NH5, Flinton 9 (Jason Dexter), 3:51. 5-5
11. NH6, Dexter 7 (Kevin Thomson), 9:22. GWG 6-5
12. NH7, Flinton 10 (Royal, Dexter), 11:55. 7-5
SHOTS ON GOAL: New Hampshire 12--7-13 = 32
Merrimack 8--9--5 = 22
SAVES: UNH, Brett Abel (W, 6-5-1, 60:00, 22 sh-17 sv).
MC, Mike Doneghey (L, 6-5-1, 60:00, 32-25).
POWER PLAYS: UNH 0 for 3. MC 2 for 3.
PENALTIES: UNH 8/16. MC 8/16.
REFEREES: Ned Bunyon, John Gravallese. LINESMAN: Matt Good.
ATTENDANCE: 1,487.
THREE STARS: 1. UNH C Jason Dexter (1-2--3, GWG).
2. UNH LW Eric Flinton (2-1--3).
3. MC LW Jim Gibson (1-2--3).
New Hampshire bounced back from a 5-3 deficit after two periods to score
four unanswered goals in the third and beat Merrimack at home, 7-5. The
win moved UNH into a tie with UMass-Lowell and Providence (which tied BU)
for fourth place in Hockey East, just one point behind third-place
Northeastern (which tied BC) and three behind second-place BU.
The second line of Eric Flinton, Jason Dexter and Eric Royal led the way
for the Wildcats as each player had at least one goal and the line
combined for 4-4--8, including three of UNH's four third period goals.
Early on, the Wildcats had the decided edge in shots but most were from
far out. UNH would outshoot Merrimack in the period, 12-8, but Merrimack
had the edge in quality shots, 6-3.
Freshman Mark Goble, who is the leading rookie scorer for Merrimack with
6-8--14, got the Warriors on the board 7:11 in as he took a feed from
Jim Gibson behind the net and shot it past UNH goalie Brett Abel before
Abel could move across the crease. Glenn Stewart tied it for UNH at 9:54
when he took a pass from behind the net by Bob Chebator, put a point-blank
shot on Mike Doneghey that was stopped, and then shoved his own rebound in.
Gibson scored with just 51 seconds left in the period to put Merrimack
up after one, 2-1. Wayde McMillan broke up an attempt by UNH to break out
and passed to Goble, who jumped around a defender and put a shot on, and
Gibson was all alone at the left post to put in the rebound. Gibson,
with a goal and two assists, now has 7-11--18 and is tied with McMillan
for second in scoring for the Warriors.
Just 38 seconds into the second, UNH tied it at 2-2 when off the draw,
Jesse Cooper fired a shot from the right point that was deflected by a
defenseman and came to Eric Royal, who fought off another defender and
redirected it past Doneghey.
Merrimack went on the first power play of the game at 10:59, and they
capitalized with their first PPG in four games with 16 seconds left
on the man advantage. John Barron got the puck off the boards and gave
it to Mark Cornforth high in the slot, who backhanded it to Teal Fowler
down low. Fowler drew Abel to him and then passed across the crease to
Dan Gravelle who had the easy open net. It was Gravelle's 10th goal and
6th PPG of the year, giving him 10-13--23.
Merrimack went up 4-2 at 17:05 when UNH had trouble clearing the zone.
Matt Adams broke up the play and got it to Ryan Mailhiot, who gave it
back to Adams for a shot on goal and Matt Crowley crashed the net to
knock in the rebound. The Wildcats scored 56 seconds later on a line
change when the rebound of Stewart's shot was blasted home by fourth-
liner Sean Perry. That fourth line of Perry, Mike Sullivan and Tom
O'Brien is an all-freshman line and has a ton of speed. They'll be
the future for UNH and although they aren't seeing much time now, all
three look like they'll be good for a few years to come.
Merrimack had yet to surrender a power play when a penalty to UNH's
Scott Malone at 18:41 gave the Warriors their third power play of the
period and game, and hard work paid off as a goal with one second left
in the period gave Merrimack a 5-3 lead after two. Cooper Naylor, Gibson
and Goble dug in the corners and the puck came to Naylor, who got it out
to Gibson; it was deflected to Cornforth who had rushed in from the point
and the sophomore defenseman cut to Abel's left and stuffed it underneath
him. Things looked good for Merrimack at this point, but to win takes
three periods of play, not two, as Merrimack was about to find out.
For the third straight period, UNH came out and dominated shots on goal
early on, but this time they capitalized on the Warriors' mistakes just
as Merrimack had on theirs in the second. Rob Donovan, who leads UNH
in scoring with 12-13--25 but had been quiet so far, blew by a defenseman
and snapped a 10-footer past Doneghey at 2:55 to bring the 'Cats within
one. 56 seconds later, Flinton scored his first of two in the period
to tie it at 5-5 when he got the puck out of the corner, walked in
front and drew Doneghey off the post just enough to beat him to the
short side.
UNH's first power play of the game came at 7:06 of the third, and although
the Wildcats didn't score on it, the momentum carried over as they scored
the eventual GWG 16 seconds after the penalty expired. Kevin Thomson
fed Dexter at the top of the left circle, and Dexter's slapshot through
traffic sneaked just under the crossbar as Doneghey tried to see it. The
last nail in the coffin came at 11:55 on Flinton's second of the period,
10th of the year, as Dexter dumped it in and Royal flew in to beat a
defenseman to the puck. Royal quickly fed Flinton, who was trailing the
play, and he had an easy goal. Merrimack shot themselves in the foot with
two unnecessary penalties over the game's final 7:26, and although the
Warriors successfully killed them off, they weren't able to mount much of
an offensive threat nor could they even get Doneghey out of the net for
a sixth attacker. UNH outshot Merrimack in the period, 13-5, and 32-22
for the game.
POSTGAME
A disappointing third period for Merrimack was the story from their view,
and Coach Ron Anderson was clearly not happy with the breakdowns in his
team's zone that resulted in all of the third-period goals. I would not
be surprised to see a number of changes for the rematch Saturday night at
UNH, possibly including the return of Dan Millar to the net since
Doneghey did not look too sharp on several of the goals. A win would have
brought Merrimack within two points of 7th-place BC, with a chance to tie
BC with a win Saturday. As it stands, another loss at UNH combined
with a BC win at home against NU Sunday would dig the Warriors a very
deep hole in the drive to not finish last as they'd be six points out
of 7th.
Just as Merrimack played worse and worse in its own zone as the game
went on, UNH gradually tightened up and played smart in the third. Brett
Abel was not outstanding in the UNH net, but he certainly played well
enough to win. The first line of Donovan-Klym-Poole (Klym and Poole
were switched for this game, with Klym moving from RW to C and Poole from
C to RW) was pretty quiet, accounting for just one goal, although that
was a big one as it kicked off the comeback. With the loss of all the
high scorers from last year, UNH is not nearly as talented a team now,
but they are getting some scoring from each of the top three lines and
perhaps more importantly, they played with a lot of heart and refused to
give up. This is where the experience of the seniors like Thomson, Klym,
McGrath, and Cooper comes in. UNH still has a great chance to make a
run at home ice in the playoffs, and if they get it, I suspect they'll
point to this game as keying their drive. The Wildcats have now won
three straight and 5 of the last 7.
The teams battle again at UNH's Snively Arena Saturday night. UNH ran
its record in the all-time series with Merrimack to 18-4-1, 9-1-0 since
Merrimack joined Hockey East. It was UNH's first win of the year when
trailing after two; the 'Cats are now 1-5-2 in that situation. Merrimack
lost for the first time when leading after two, as they are now 5-1-1.
Merrimack had its three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) broken and has yet
to win a home game in Hockey East play (0-3-0).
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.) *HMN*
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