Friday regional results:
Detroit
6E Wisconsin 3, 3W Miami 1
4W Minnesota-Duluth 7, 5E Brown 3
 
Worcester
6W Northern Michigan 3, 3E Harvard 2 (2 ot)
5W Minnesota 2, 4E Clarkson 1
 
Games for Saturday will be:
Detroit
5:00 6E Wisconsin vs 2W Michigan
8:30 4W Minnesota-Duluth vs 1W Lake Superior
 
Worcester
5:30 6W Northern Michigan vs 2E Boston University
8:30 5W Minnesota vs 1E Maine
 
Thanks to Jon Greene who provided me with a ticket for tonight's action in
Worcester...chances are I will stay home Sat to watch the games on NESN,
but it was nice to be there tonight, see the games and talk some college
hockey with Jon.
 
Two games dominated by defense tonight...Harvard got on the board first but
NMU took a 2-1 lead after one, and that's where I came in.  The Crimson
dominated the second and third but could only get one goal past NMU goalie
Paul Taylor in the second to tie it, that from Steve Martins.  NMU was
officially held to no shots on goal in the third, although they really had
one that wasn't counted for some reason.
 
The Wildcats had trouble generating offense until the overtime, and they
probably should have won it in the first extra session.  Joe Frederick had
more chances than some players get in a season, but he either shot the puck
wide or had Tripp Tracy make big saves off him.  NMU won it 2:43 into the
second ot, didn't catch the goal scorer.  It was a PPG as (Martins?) was
called for a penalty that although legitimate was not much worse than the
CCHA crew had let go earlier in the OTs.  Tracy had no chance as the game-
winner came off a rebound from a guy who was left uncovered; Harvard played
sloppy defense starting from about the ten-minute mark of the first OT.
 
Game length was 82:43, making it the 13th longest game in NC$$ history.  If
anyone can provide the name of the GWG scorer for NMU, it will help me
update the list of long games...thanks.
 
BU had to like the outcome, as the Wildcats will likely be fatigued heading
into their game with the Terriers.  The Terriers watched the game from
seats in the balcony but quickly cleared out once the GWG was scored.  The
Maine team watched from seats in the lower section.
 
Clarkson had their chances to beat Minnesota, including a 2:00 5x3 in the
second in which I don't think they had any shots on net; it was more a case
of the PP dying than Minnesota killing it, as Clarkson fumbled around with
the puck and didn't work on isolating the players down low.  The Gophers
came out and pressed in the third, scoring the winner several minutes in
when Darby Hendrickson fed an uncovered Craig Johnson for a bang-bang goal.
Clarkson called a timeout with about 6 min left and carried the play the
rest of the game, pulling Rogles with a minute left for the sixth attacker,
but they couldn't score.
 
I thought all four teams played excellent defense and got good goaltending,
and both games were very close as shown by the scores.  Harvard looked to
have a chance to beat NMU; the Crimson actually took the physical play to
NMU rather than the other way around, but to no avail.  With the way NMU
dominated the OTs, it wasn't surprising that they won.
 
Although I originally picked NMU to beat BU, the length of the game
combined with the beating NMU took at the hands of the Crimson have to make
it very difficult for the Wildcats to come back tomorrow night and beat BU
in the early game.  But then again, this is an NMU team that played three
straight tough games last weekend and nearly came away with the WCHA title.
They've faced adversity before.
 
The Gophers skated most of the time but I don't think that will work
against Maine.  They had to work for their two goals and things won't get
any easier.  Still, the WCHA goes 4-0 tonight...possible vindication for
the low seedings.
 
Attendance appeared to be right around 8 or 9,000...the crowd was pretty
reserved most of the first game until the overtimes, and many cleared out
after the first game.  But what was more interesting was the way many more
left after the second period of the second game - with Clarkson and
Minnesota tied at 1-1.  There actually weren't many people left by the time
the game ended around midnight even though it went down to the wire.  I got
the impression that even though there were a decent number of locals at the
games, they weren't really that interested.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
alternate address days: [log in to unmask]             *HMN*  11/13/93
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)