Maine 6, Mass Amherst 4 (HE)
Friday, February 14, 1997, at Mullins Center (Amherst, MA)
Score By Periods Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
ME 4 - 2 - 0 -- 6 8 - 15 - 6 -- 29 11 - 22 2 - 6
UMA 1 - 1 - 2 -- 4 7 - 5 - 8 -- 20 12 - 32 1 - 7
Records: Maine (19-10-1, 11-7-1 HE)
Mass Amherst (12-18-0, 7-14-0 HE)
SCORING
First Period
ME-1 Cory Larose (Guite) 4:19
ME-2 Cory Larose (Guite) 6:32
ME-3 Shawn Wansborough (Libby, Cullen) PPG 12:24
ME-4 Paul Zinchenko (Larose, Guite) 17:02
UMA-1 Gerry Cahill (Fawcett, Norton)
Second Period
ME-5 Jason Mansoff (Kariya, Shermerhorn) GWG 1:16
UMA-2 Warren Norris (Wright) 9:37
ME-6 Reg Cardinal (Larose, Mansoff) PPG 17:44
Third Period
UMA-3 Judd Smith (MacKinnon) 6:40
UMA-4 Chris Fawcett (Cahill, Perry) 17:35
Goaltenders Saves by Period
ME - Alfie Michaud (60:00) 6 - 4 - 6 -- 16
UMA - Brian Regan (60:00) 4 - 13 - 6 -- 23
AMHERST, Mass -- One day after the NCAA Infractions Appeal Committee upheld
the penalties given to the University of Maine on July 31, the Black Bears'
freshmen served notice that the future remains bright in Orono leading Maine
to a 6-4 win Feb. 14
PREGAME:
Maine had some lineup changes before Friday's contest:
* Javier Gorriti didn't make the trip due to the flu
* Jason Vitorino was pulled from the lineup due to a "coaches
decision". Freshman Jim Leger took his place on the fourth line.
* Paul Zinchenko played defense in place of Robert Ek who received a
concussion in practice Wednesday and had a stay in the hospital.
FIRST PERIOD:
Maine came out of the gates fast, putting a couple quick shots on UMass
goaltender Brian Regan and forcing the Minutemen to take a penalty just 21
seconds into the contest.
Maine was unable to get anything going on the power play, and when Trevor
Roenick got his elbow up on a hit on Dennis Wright with 26 seconds left in
the power play, the man advantage was over for Maine.
Maine got on the board first when Cory Larose tallied at the 4:19 mark of
the period. On the radio broadcast, Blair Marsh noted that Regan couldn't
close his legs as the shot went five-hole. Marsh also suggested it may have
been a soft goal.
Larose and Guite, who assisted on the first goal, owned the first period.
They continued to pressure with fellow fourthliner Jim Leger before they got
another goal.
This one came 2:13 after the first goal as Larose took the original shot and
Regan lost the rebound. With Leger and Larose in front, Larose scored the
goal, his 10th of the season to make it 2-0 Maine just 6:32 in.
UMass would get their chance to come back. Tom Perry had a great chance as
he skated in on Alfie Michaud on a breakway just to shoot the puck over the
net with about 12 minutes to go in the period. Then with Guite in the box
for intereference, UMass had a power play and a chance to cut the Maine lead
in half.
But the best chance on the power play was Maine's short-handed. Scott
Parmentier and Steve Kariya came into the zone where Parmentier fed Kariya,
then circled back behind him to set himself up for the open shot. Kariya
got him the puck but Parmentier fanned on the shot.
UMass almost put one in the net after the penalty expired when Rob Bonneau,
who at times was both dominant and invisible, shot the puck through the
crease and was leveled by Jeff Libby.
Bonneau responded by retailating against Libby and received a penalty. It
would prove costly since UMass went from pressuring for a goal, to losing
their best player for two minutes and giving up a goal.
Shawn Wansborough backhanded the rebound of a David Cullen shot for the
score at 12:24. Marsh criticized Regan on the air for not catching what he
deemed an "easy shot", but instead leaving a rebound for Wansborough to
score on.
Despite trailing 3-0, UMass was still generating offense and playing good.
Bonneau and Warren Norris, arguably UMass' best two players, single-handedly
were applying pressure to Alfie Michaud.
With less than five minutes left in the period, Maine would score yet again.
This time it was Paul Zinchenko getting his first collegiate goal on a great
play by Larose. Larose was behind the net and Zinchenko walked down from
the point and Larose fed him for the goal.
With 1:36 left in the period UMass scored. Gerry Cahill made a great play
as he batted a rebound into the net out of mid-air to make it 4-1 after one
period.
It wasn't a dominating period in terms of offensive pressure for Maine. The
Black Bears only mustered eight shots but lit the lamp on four of them. In
fact, they scored four goals on their first six shots of the game. UMass
had seven shots with Michaud making six saves.
Freshmen Ben Guite had three assists in the period, Cory Larose had two
goals and an assist for Maine.
SECOND PERIOD:
Maine got things going early in the second period, as they got the eventual
game-winner just 1:16 in. Jason Mansoff scored the goal off a Steve Kariya
pass to make it 5-1. Kariya was allowed to make the play when two UMass
defenders fell down allowing Maine essentially a 5-on-3. Mansoff roofed the
puck from the slot to score his 9th goal of the season.
But then play would slow down as Maine gave UMass several great chances to
get back in the game with some uncharacteristic undisiplined play.
Penalties to Shawn Wansborough, Brian White, and Jason Price gave UMass two
5-on-3 advantages and several minutes of straight power-play time.
To the Black Bears credit, they were never really threatened during the time
spend down men. UMass hit one post for their only real chance of the power
plays.
UMass would score on a 4-on-4 when Trevor Roenick and Tiger Holland were
sent off for a matching penalty. Warren Norris notched his 17th goal of the
season off a great pass from Wright sent him in all alone on Michaud. The
goal came at 9:37 to make it 5-2 Maine.
Maine really had the majority of the chances from here on in and took
control of the game further.
After another UMass power play which again saw Maine with the better of the
chances, Tiger Holland put Maine on the power play. The Black Bears came
into this weekend operating at over 28 percent on the power play, and UMass
killing less than 80 percent of all man advantages.
The Black Bears blitzed the Minutemen during this man advantage, only Brian
Regan kept Maine from doing real serious damage. Regan kicked out a Trevor
Roenick bid, then used his leg to cover an empty net and stone Dan
Shermerhorn, then Kariya shot it over the net, and another rebound of a
Regan save hit the post. Several high percentage chances but all for not as
the penalty expired.
Marsh noted on the broadcast how Maine had "amazing passing" on the power play.
Warren Norris really hurt his team taking another penalty soon after Maine's
last power play expired.
This time the Black Bears would score. Right from the start of the power
play Maine took three very quick shots on Regan, all high percentage, and
the fourth one went in off the stick of Reg Cardinal. The Maine captain
scored his 13th goal of the season by using some patience to put the puck
past Regan at 17:44 to make it a 6-2 game after two periods.
Maine did dominate this period more offensively than the last. Maine
outshot UMass 15-5 in the period, even though UMass at times played better
in the second than the first.
Brian Regan was a shadow of his first period self. Regan was spectacular at
times. This has been the story of his career, Regan is inconsistent at
times but the skills are there to be a good goaltender.
THIRD PERIOD:
Unfortunately for Maine fans, Maine didn't keep up the same kind of pressure
in the third period. Maine did not score, and only came up with six shots
on Regan for the entire period while allowing eight shots and two goals.
UMass got their first goal at the 6:40 mark from Judd Smith. Steve
MacKinnon made the play from the back of the net to Smith who was left all
alone by the Maine defense. Michaud would have had to come up with a big
save as Maine's defense went to sleep on the play.
Maine would get a couple chances on Regan as he stopped Cory Larose and
David Cullen with good saves, then Roenick after the UMass goal.
Things got a little rough, and Maine continued the trend they started in the
second of losing their displine. After a Paul Zinchenko penalty, Wright and
Roenick went at it. Wright and Roenick did a lot of pushing and shoving and
Roenick even dropped his gloves. Evidently the play started when Wright
interfered with Roenick, since he received the extra two minutes for
intereference.
In addition Wright and Roenick each received two minutes for roughing, but
Roenick could have received more for his dropping of the gloves.
As the game winded down, Paul Zinchenko was called for another penalty and
this one led to UMass' second goal of the period.
Maine's defense was again unable to clear rebounds and Chris Fawcett scored
from Cahill and Perry with 2:25 left in the game.
Another fracas broke out later in the game as Brad Norton pounded Reg
Cardinal into the boards then decided to start beating on him. Cardinal
retailated and several players jumped into the mix. Again, Drew Taylor took
the high road giving Norton a 10 minute misconduct, two minutes for
intereference and two for roughing, while Maine received just the two minute
penalty to Cardinal when others could have been called.
Maine finished the period with the man advantage and skated to a 6-4 win at
UMass earning Shawn Walsh his 299th victory as a head coach.
COMMENTS:
Maine had ths game won in the first 20 or 30 minutes. They were clearly the
better team and built leads of 4-0, 5-1 and 6-2 just to see it evaporate to
a 6-4 win.
A win is a win, but it is unfortunate to give up four goals, especially two
in the final period where UMass had the better of the chances. Maine's
defense went to sleep on a couple of ocassions and Michaud couldn't always
make the save.
It was a great game for Cory Larose and Ben Guite. The two combined for
seven points on the night as Larose had two goals and two assists and Guite
adding three assists.
It was also good for Maine to come out and play so well on the larger ice
surface that they are uncustomed to, after a week layoff, and the appeal
being denied. Walsh said on the radio prior to the contest that he talked
to all 23 players on the bus and only one expressed disappointment about the
appeal. This was something they all were expecting.
Maine (19-10-1, 11-7-1 HE) and UMass (12-18, 7-14 HE) will meet again
Saturday as Walsh goes for win number 300.
---
Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])
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