Saturday, February 12, 1994 at Snively Arena, Durham, NH
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (13-14-2, 5-11-2 HE 7th) 2 1 1 - 4
New Hampshire Wildcats (16-11-1, 7-10-1 HE 5th) 1 0 1 - 2
FIRST PERIOD MC-NH
1. NH1, Mike Sullivan 10 (Rob Donovan, Glenn Stewart), 5:32. 0-1
2. MC1, Rob Beck 4 (Claudio Peca), 15:14. 1-1
3. MC2, Chris Ross 4 (Quentin Fendelet, Eric Weichselbaumer), 18:46. 2-1
SECOND PERIOD
4. MC3, Daryl Krauss 4 (Peca, Beck), 1:57. GWG 3-1
THIRD PERIOD
5. NH2, Donovan 13 (Sullivan), 13:56. 3-2
6. MC4, Peca 9 (Mark Cornforth), 19:52. ENG 4-2
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 12-12--4 = 28
New Hampshire 14-11-11 = 36
SAVES: MC, Martin Legault (60:00, W, 11-13-2, 36 sh-34 sv).
NH, Trent Cavicchi (59:09, L, 7-4-0, 27-24).
POWER PLAYS: MC 0 for 2. NH 0 for 3.
PENALTIES: MC 7/14. NH 6/12.
REFEREES: Jim Fitzgerald, Bob Fowkes. LINESMAN: Dennis Hughes.
ATTENDANCE: 3,530 (sellout).
THREE STARS: 1. RW Claudio Peca, Merrimack (1-2--3).
2. G Martin Legault, Merrimack (36 sh-34 sv).
3. C Mike Sullivan, UNH (1-1--2).
Merrimack scored a pair of goals late in the first and added another
early in the second to take a 3-1 lead over host UNH, and goaltender
Martin Legault played yet another outstanding game and got superb play
from his defense to hold on to a 4-2 win. The all-freshman line of
Rob Beck, Claudio Peca and Daryl Krauss accounted for three of the
four goals (Peca's an ENG). The win was Merrimack's 4th straight,
third straight in Hockey East.
This was the first time Merrimack had ever won at "Lively" Snively
Arena, built in the mid 60s. UNH had run a home streak of 11-0-0 over
the Warriors since that time. Perhaps coincidentally, it also came
in what could be the last game Merrimack ever plays at Snively barring
a playoff meeting. It was the first Merrimack road win over UNH in 33
years, the last coming on 2/17/61 at the Batchelder Rink. Finally,
the win meant Merrimack took the season series two games to one, the
first time Merrimack has ever taken the season series from UNH since
joining Hockey East.
As well, Merrimack escaped the HE cellar with the two points, dropping
Boston College into last by a point. BC has a game in hand; the teams
have yet to play their final head to head meeting of the season, which
was postponed Friday and hasn't been rescheduled yet. Merrimack
pulled within two points of sixth place Maine, which tied Lowell 4-4.
UNH dropped its 4th straight and has lost 7 of 8 after starting out
15-4-1.
UNH actually did not look bad IMO; the line of Stewart-Sullivan-Donovan
was outstanding and came up with two goals. They were dangerous every
time they hit the ice, and I'd have named Donovan a star over Sullivan.
He had a superb game. However, the first line of Flinton-Dexter-
Boguniecki struggled. Since UNH only gets offense from its first two
lines (bottom six forwards have combined 8 goals as compared to 19 for
Merrimack's bottom six), that meant trouble. Merrimack's defense played
as well as it did in the RPI win back in November, poking the puck
free, running the puckcarrier off the puck or into the boards, and
clearing the rebounds left after Legault stopped the initial shot.
Legault did not see more than a handful of rebound shots tonight.
UNH was also without two key players, which is why there's such a
dropoff from their second line to third line. Eric Royal, who had
missed seven straight games earlier in the season, suffered a severe
thigh bruise in last Saturday's loss at Maine. And Nick Poole, who
injured his knee back in the second Merrimack game, reinjured it back
on 1/29 vs PC.
FIRST
Having struggled lately, UNH was bound to come out strong in the first
before a sellout crowd, and they did. Legault stopped Flinton's
one-timer just 30 seconds in. At 5:32, the Wildcats got on the board
when Donovan and Sullivan worked a give and go, Sullivan receiving
the final pass in the slot and beating Legault for his 10th goal. That
would be the only goal UNH would score for the game's next 48:24.
UNH was skating well and making things happen, catching Merrimack on
their heels for much of the start of the game, but the Warriors slowly
picked things up and began to match the pace. Finally, at 15:14, that
all-freshman line clicked on a 3x2. Peca carried up the right side
and fed Beck in front. Beck waited for a defenseman to slide by,
turned and wristed it past Cavicchi from about ten feet out to tie it,
1-1.
Late in the period, Ron Anderson sent his fourth line out and they
surprised with a nice tiebreaking goal after some great work deep in
the zone. First Eric Weichselbaumer, a walkon who has looked more and
more impressive each game, hit the post; then Quentin Fendelet crashed
the net to try for the rebound but had it knocked away at the last
second. They kept plugging, and Fendelet was able to move the puck
cross ice to Chris Ross for the goal, Ross's 4th at 18:46.
SECOND
An early goal by the Kid Line gave Merrimack a 3-1 lead at 1:57. After
working the puck well in the zone, Peca fed Krauss for a one-timer
that eluded Cavicchi for Krauss's 4th of the year. There would be
no more scoring in the period, but play was even and both teams had
good chances. With 2:45 left, Legault slid across the crease to
stop Stewart's point blank shot with his pads, possibly the best save
of the night. Merrimack had a 4x1 late in the period, but they
bungled the opportunity.
THIRD
Fourth line center Chris Ross, a swingman, switched to D for Merrimack
as Tom Costa didn't see any ice time at all as far as I could tell.
All of UNH's 3 power plays had come off of Costa penalties, but I
do not know if Costa was injured or if this was the reason for the
change.
UNH would carry the play for almost the entire period, but Merrimack's
team defense was amazing. The Wildcats finally scored again at 13:56
when Donovan took a pass from Sullivan, skated to the left circle and
rifled a shot over Legault's shoulder to cut the lead to 3-2. It
was a nailbiter the rest of the way but Legault and his D did the
job, and Peca added the empty netter with 8 seconds left to seal the
huge win.
POSTGAME
Merrimack stays on the road, playing a Thursday night game at
Northeastern before returning home to face the Huskies Saturday night.
The next two games will tell us where this team is headed.
UNH tries to bounce back with a home and home Fri-Sat vs BC, Fri's
game at BC. The 'Cats probably need nothing less than a sweep if
they are to get back into the race for home ice, not to mention the
race for an NC$$ berth which seemed very likely earlier in the year.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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