Friday, January 21, 1994 at Volpe Center, North Andover, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Providence Friars (9-12-1, 4-8-0 HE) 2 1 0 - 3
Merrimack Warriors (9-11-2, 2-8-2 HE) 0 0 1 - 1
FIRST PERIOD PC-MC
1. PC1, Chad Quenneville 11 (unassisted), 6:12. 1-0
2. PC2, Quenneville 12 (Joe Hulbig, Russ Guzior), 13:53. PPG GWG 2-0
SECOND PERIOD
3. PC3, Erik Peterson 1 (George Breen), 11:36. 3-0
THIRD PERIOD
4. MC1, Rob Atkinson 14 (Mark Cornforth), 11:54. PPG 3-1
SHOTS ON GOAL: Providence 12-13--7 = 32
Merrimack 4-16-12 = 32
SAVES: PC, Bob Bell (60:00, W, 5-6-0, 32 sh-31 sv).
MC, Martin Legault (58:18, L, 7-11-2, 32-29).
POWER PLAYS: PC 1 for 5. MC 1 for 6.
PENALTIES: PC 6/12. MC 5/10.
REFEREES: Frank Cole, Drew Taylor. LINESMAN: Bill Jones.
ATTENDANCE: 722.
THREE STARS: 1. G Bob Bell, Providence (32 sh-31 sv).
2. C Chad Quenneville, Providence (2-0--2, GWG).
3. G Martin Legault, Merrimack (32 sh-29 sv).
Chad Quenneville scored twice in the first period and goalie Bob Bell
stopped 31 of 32 shots to lead Providence to a 3-1 road win over
Merrimack. The win broke a three-game losing streak for the Friars
against Merrimack and enabled PC to move into a tie for 6th with BC.
Quenneville's two points on the night gave him 99 for his career
(43-56--99).
The game overall was pretty uneventful and very boring for the most
part. Providence's defense played well and Bell made some key saves
to preserve the win, but the Friars also weren't able to get much going
on offense despite the win.
FIRST
Quenneville got credit for the first Friar goal at 6:12 when he was
the last to touch the puck after Merrimack defenseman Mark Cornforth
inadvertently tapped the puck through goaltender Martin Legault's pads.
Then, on PC's second power play of the period, Quenneville fired a
rocket past Legault from the top of the right circle at 13:53 to give
PC a 2-0 lead. The Friars outshot Merrimack 12-4 for the period, and
none of the 4 Merrimack shots were testers.
SECOND
Merrimack had the edge in play over the first half of the period due
mainly to 5 minutes of power play time, including one minute of 5x3,
but there were only a few serious scoring chances.
The Friars upped their lead to 3-0 at 11:36 on a goal Legault probably
wishes he had back. Erik Peterson fired the puck in from the left side
and Legault made the save, kicking it out to the opposite side. George
Breen was there to pick it up, and he quickly centered it while Legault
was lazily driftin back towards the net. Unfortunately for him,
Peterson had not been picked up by a defender and he easily rapped the
pass in for only his first goal of the season.
Merrimack outshot PC 16-13 for the period, but again much of that was
due to four power plays on which Merrimack moved the puck well but most
shots came from the outside. Rob Atkinson had the best chance but for
the second straight game, he hit the post.
THIRD
Merrimack being in trouble, they came out flying to start the final
stanza. Early on, Matt Adams fed Ryan Mailhiot but Mailhiot shot the
puck over the net from 10 feet out. On the power play, Jim Gibson found
Adams in front for a one-timer, but Bell was right there to make a nifty
point blank save.
It was starting to look like Bell might throw his third shutout of
the season, but Atkinson finally got Merrimack on the board at 11:54
on the power play. Cornforth intercepted a clearing pass at center ice
and skated it all the way into the slot where he found Atkinson off to
the side, and Atkinson had an easy goal. That broke a shutout streak
of 208:16 for Bell, who had shut out Air Force and SLU and then
blanked Clarkson for 35 minutes in relief of Dan Dennis in a 6-4 loss
last weekend.
Merrimack probably played its best hockey of the game over the final
10 minutes, but it was too little too late. For two and a half periods,
the Warriors were much too slow on the transition and instead of
moving the puck up to forwards, the defense would try to skate it up
and nearly always get broken up at center ice by the Friars, who played
very good defensively. They started moving the puck around in the
last ten minutes and controlled the play much of the time, but again,
either the defense broke up the play or Bell made a big save. Only
Cornforth seemed like he wanted the puck every time out and he logged
Ray Bourque-like minutes down the stretch - but one man can't do it
alone.
Legault was pulled with 1:42 left for the extra attacker, but it
didn't pay off. The Friars almost had an ENG but Kramer shot the
puck wide from the Merrimack blue line with no one contesting him.
POST GAME
Again, it was a very boring game and not well played by either team,
except for the Friars' stellar defense when it counted. Merrimack
might have played the poorest game I've seen them play this season,
which is difficult to understand since this game was so important.
Still, they had a chance to come back and win if they could have
converted on a couple of their golden opportunities. Legault played
well except for the two bad goals, which were really the difference -
so maybe he didn't play that well after all.
The teams meet again in Providence Saturday night. Merrimack is in
the tough position of needing a win on the road, else they will fall
deeper into last. Providence can take sole possession of sixth if
they win and BC ties or loses, or if they tie and BC loses.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
<<<<<< Color Voice of the (9-11-2) Merrimack Warriors WCCM 800 AM >>>>>
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