Merrimack Tops Maine In OT, 5-4
Orono, Maine -- Casey Kesselring's goal with 29 seconds remaining in
overtime snapped a 4-4 tie and gave Merrimack a 5-4 come-from-behind win
at Maine in a rare Sunday afternoon Hockey East game between two of the
conference's hottest teams.
Maine had won a faceoff deep in the Merrimack zone, but the puck bounced
over the stick of David Cullen at the point and out to center ice, where
Rob Beck picked it up and skated in one-on-one with Maine defenseman
Jason Mansoff. Beck beat Mansoff and cut in, putting a shot on net that
was stopped by goaltender Alfie Michaud. But Kesselring trailed the play
and put the rebound past Michaud to end the game, with the entire Warrior
bench pouring onto the ice to pile on Kesselring and Beck in celebration.
Merrimack (10-15-1, 6-9-1 Hockey East), which had tied the game with 57
seconds remaining in the third period on a goal by Rejean Stringer while the
goaltender was on the bench, won at Maine (18-10-1, 10-7-1 Hockey East) for
the first time in over 18 years. The win gave the Warriors the season
series against the Black Bears for the first time ever, two games to one.
Before this season, Maine had gone 27-0-1 against Merrimack in the teams'
last 28 meetings and had not lost to the Warriors since 1980.
Maine, which scored three power play goals on the afternoon, had a six-game
winning streak broken. The Black Bears are 9-2-0 in their last 11 games,
but both losses have come against the Warriors, now 7-4-0 in their last 11
and winners of their last three straight.
Stringer's two goals led the Warrior offense, with Beck setting up three
goals including the game-winner and Kris Porter adding a goal and two
assists. Maine was paced by Steve Kariya's goal and an assist, including
the go-ahead goal with 5:14 to play. Cullen also had two assists.
Eric Thibeault recorded his second straight win with 36 saves, including 21
over the final two periods and overtime. Michaud stopped 28 shots in his
first loss since Nov. 30, ending a six-game winning streak for the Black
Bears' rookie goaltender.
Merrimack moved into seventh place in Hockey East, just two points behind
fifth-place Boston College and Providence and five points behind fourth-place
Mass Lowell. The Warriors have a game in hand on all three teams. Maine
remained in third place, three points ahead of Mass Lowell.
Maine dominated play early on, but Merrimack scored twice on two rushes to
open up a 2-0 lead six minutes in. Jayson Philbin's shot from the blue
line was deflected past Michaud by Daryl Krauss, and then on a 3-on-2,
Porter followed up shots by Beck and John Jakopin for his team-leading 11th
goal.
But the potent Maine power play got going and scored twice in 2:36 to tie
the game at 2-2. Cullen's shot from the right point went wide and off the
end boards, where Kariya collected it and quickly fed Dan Shermerhorn in
front for a one-timer, Shermerhorn's 13th goal of the year. Then just
eight seconds into another power play, the Black Bears won a faceoff and
Shawn Wansborough converted a rebound for his 13th goal.
Maine continued to carry the play, outshooting the visitors 17-9 in the
period, and when a late flurry forced another Merrimack penalty with 10
seconds remaining in the period, the Black Bears were in good position
to take the lead with 1:50 of power play time set to carry over into the
second.
Merrimack nearly escaped the power play attack, but with just 10 seconds
left on the man advantage, Maine finally went ahead as Reg Cardinal knocked
in a rebound off a shot by Trevor Roenick after Jason Mansoff had put the
puck on net from the left point.
A key to the game turned out to be Merrimack staying out of the box for
the last 42:51 of the game, as Maine had scored on all three of its power
plays thus far and wound up a combined 7-for-9 on the weekend in games
against Boston College and Merrimack.
The Warriors got two power plays of their own soon after Cardinal's
go-ahead goal, and although Maine did an effective job killing the
penalties, Merrimack was able to tie the game at 3-3 midway through the
second man advantage when Beck got the puck behind the net and fed Stringer
in front for Stringer's first goal of the game.
Thibeault and Michaud took over after that, setting the stage for a
defensive and exciting third period. Play was kept along the boards
and neither team had much in the way of a good scoring chance until
Merrimack began to pressure Michaud midway through the third. With
9:56 left in a 3-3 game, Maine coach Shawn Walsh called time out to
settle his team down, and the strategy worked as the Black Bears were
able to open the game up again, resulting in Kariya's go-ahead goal
with 5:14 remaining. Kariya made a nifty move at the right circle
and used the defenseman as a screen, beating Thibeault inside the far
post as the Warrior goalie moved from right to left.
Maine effectively killed a late penalty and appeared to be on its way
to a close, hard-fought home win. But as Thibeault came off the ice for
a sixth attacker in the final minute, Stringer banged in a rebound
after shots by Darrel Scoville and Porter to tie it up at 4-4, sending
the game into overtime and setting up Kesselring and Beck's heroics on
Merrimack's only two shots of the overtime period.
Maine is off until Feb. 14-15 when the Black Bears will travel to play
a weekend set at Mass Amherst. Merrimack, 2-0 thus far on a five-game
road trip, continues to play the part of Hockey East road Warriors with
games at Beanpot participant Northeastern and Providence Feb. 7 & 8
which will probably go a long way towards helping to decide the league's
playoff picture.
BOX SCORE
Merrimack 5, Maine 4 (OT) (HE)
Sunday, February 2, 1997 at Alfond Arena (Orono, Maine)
Score By Periods Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
MC 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 -- 5 9 - 9 - 13 - 2 -- 33 3 - 6 1 - 3
ME 2 - 1 - 1 - 0 -- 4 17 - 13 - 8 - 2 -- 40 3 - 6 3 - 3
Records: Merrimack (10-15-1, 6-9-1 HE)
Maine (18-10-1, 10-7-1 HE)
SCORING
First Period
MC-1 Daryl Krauss (2) (Sandy Cohen, Jayson Philbin) 2:44
MC-2 Kris Porter (11) (Rob Beck, John Jakopin) 5:57
ME-1 Dan Shermerhorn (13) (Steve Kariya, David Cullen) PPG 9:17
ME-2 Shawn Wansborough (13) (Jeff Libby, Cullen) PPG 11:53
Second Period
ME-3 Reg Cardinal (12) (Trevor Roenick, Jason Mansoff) PPG 1:40
MC-3 Rejean Stringer (9) (Beck, Porter) PPG 6:45
Third Period
ME-4 Kariya (16) (Scott Parmentier, Brian White) 14:46
MC-4 Stringer (10) (Porter, Darrel Scoville) 6x5 19:03
Overtime
MC-5 Casey Kesselring (7) (Beck) GWG 4:31
Goaltenders Saves by Period
MC - Eric Thibeault (64:27) 15 - 12 - 7 - 2 -- 36
ME - Alfie Michaud (64:31) 7 - 8 - 12 - 1 -- 28
OFFICIALS: Referee Drew Taylor; Assistant Referees Steve Arnold,
Dan Wiswell.
ATTENDANCE: 4,779.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93
***** (Part-Time) Color Voice of Merrimack Hockey WCAP 980 AM *****
***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: *****
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