Saturday, December 5, 1992 at Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (5-8-1, 0-6-0 HE)              1     2     1  -  4
Boston University Terriers (5-4-1, 3-3-0 HE)      2     2     1  -  5
FIRST PERIOD                                                          BU-MC
1. BU1, Ken Rausch 1 (Jon Pratt), 6:07.                                1-0
2. MC1, Mark Goble 5 (Mark Cornforth, Alex Weinrich), 15:00.  PPG      1-1
3. BU2, Mike Bavis 3 (Steve Thornton), 18:40.                          2-1
SECOND PERIOD
4. BU3, Mike Bavis 4 (Thornton), 1:37.                                 3-1
5. BU4, Kevin O'Sullivan 1 (unassisted), 2:30.                         4-1
6. MC2, Guy Ragault 3 (Cooper Naylor, Rob Atkinson), 11:59.            4-2
7. MC3, Matt Crowley 2 (unassisted), 15:23.                            4-3
THIRD PERIOD
8. BU5, David Sacco 2 (Jacques Joubert, Jay Pandolfo), 6:20.           5-3
9. MC4, Teal Fowler 5 (Dan Gravelle, Cornforth), 16:34.                5-4
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack              6--9-13 = 28
               Boston University     15-14-18 = 47
SAVES: Merrimack, Mike Doneghey (L, 4-4-0, 59:10, 47 sh-42 sv).
       BU, J.P. McKersie (W, 3-0-0, 60:00, 28-24).
POWER PLAYS: Merrimack 1 for 5.  BU 0 for 6.
PENALTIES: Merrimack 9/26.  BU 8/24.
REFEREES: Frank Cole, Drew Taylor.  LINESMAN: John Jones.
ATTENDANCE: 2,382.
THREE STARS: 1. BU, RW Mike Bavis (2-0--2).
             2. BU, C Steve Thornton (0-2--2).
             3. Merrimack, G Mike Doneghey (47 sh-42 sv).
 
BU got two goals from Mike Bavis to build a 4-1 lead and then held on
for dear life as Merrimack fought back to come within a Dan Hodge shot
with one second left from tying the game.  BU continued to remain unbeaten
at home against Merrimack and kept the Warriors winless in Hockey East
at 0-6-0.
 
Outstanding goaltending from Mike Doneghey of Merrimack was the story of
the game.  The senior made 42 saves, tying his career high which was set
a week ago against Air Force, and was making his first ever back-to-back
starts.  He had played well the night before in losing to BU 5-2, but
he was nothing short of spectacular tonight, holding BU to one goal over
the game's final 37:30 while his teammates mounted their comeback.
 
Special teams, which had done in Merrimack the night before, were great
tonight as Merrimack went 1 for 5 on the power play and held the Terriers
without a goal in six opportunities.  If they could have combined their
even strength play of Friday with their special teams tonight, Merrimack
probably would have come out with a win.
 
For BU, first line LW Mike Pomichter sat out after suffering a knee
injury the night before.  No word on how long he is expected out.
 
BU got on the board at 6:07 of the first as another Terrier notched his
first goal of the season.  Ken Rausch, in on the fourth line with
Pomichter out, was the recipient of an early Christmas gift by Merrimack.
Rausch's linemate, Jon Pratt, picked off a clearing pass and fed Rausch
for an easy 15-footer through Doneghey's pads.  But Doneghey would make
several outstanding saves off of Joubert and Thornton, then made a
beautiful toe save off a point blank shot by Mark Bavis to keep it 1-0.
After Merrimack killed off a penalty, they went on a power play of their
own and were able to tie it at 15:00 as freshman Mark Goble put in the
rebound of Alex Weinrich's shot for his fifth goal of the year.
 
BU dominated play in the first, outshooting Merrimack 15-6, and led 2-1
after one when Mike Bavis scored a big goal with 1:20 left.  Thornton
carried the puck behind the net and centered it to an uncovered Bavis
for an easy goal, his third of the year.  Merrimack was lucky to be down
only one after the period.
 
The Terriers came out determined to put the game away in the second and
it looked like they would do just that with two goals in the first three
minutes.  Mike Bavis scored again at 1:37, again from Thornton, and
defenseman Kevin O'Sullivan scored his first of the year (only the second
of the year by a BU defenseman) at 2:30 when he beat Doneghey to the
stick side from the high slot.  But the Warriors would tighten up and
play solid defense the rest of the way, along with getting a little luck.
 
Guy Ragault scored his second goal in as many games at 11:59 when Rob
Atkinson fed him from behind the net to cut the lead to 4-2 BU, and
with 4:37 left in the period, right after killing off a penalty, Matt
Crowley intercepted a pass, carried to the bottom of the right circle
and fired a shot that just got by McKersie to the short side.  The puck
just crossed the goal line by a matter of inches and McKersie was quick to
sweep it out of the net, and he argued vehemently with referee Frank Cole,
but the red light went on and Cole immediately signaled the goal.  BU
fans were not pleased, but from the perfect angle we had above and behind
the net, it was clearly in.
 
Down 4-3 after two, Merrimack was in place to come back and tie it if they
continued to play well, and although they did, one mistake proved to be
the difference.  After Merrimack killed an early penalty off some more
great saves by Doneghey and big plays by Goble, David Sacco found himself
with an open net off a rebound and easily flipped it in, his second goal
of the year to make it 5-3.  That goal could have killed Merrimack, but
the Warriors hung tough and BU hung on.  Teal Fowler was robbed by
McKersie on the doorstep with four minutes left, but he got his revenge
just half a minute later when he took a feed from Dan Gravelle and fired
a quick shot from the left circle to make it 5-4.  A penalty 16 seconds
after the goal gave Merrimack a power play with 3:10 left, but the
Terriers did a nice job of killing it off and it came down to Hodge's
shot from the point with one second left, the extra attacker on, but
McKersie somehow made the save despite being screened by about 100
players to preserve the win.
 
POSTGAME
BU again did not look that impressive and I can't see them as a top 10
team right now.  However, if not for some great goaltending by Doneghey,
it could have been a blowout early.  McKersie looked shaky most of the
time but made the big saves when he had to in order to keep his team
ahead (and keep his job!).  BU's team defense is very good, however,
as they held Merrimack to 23 shots Friday and 28 Saturday
 
In between the second and third periods, BU held one of those shoot
the puck contests with three fans.  I didn't see it, but I guess two
of the three scored, earning free airline tickets anywhere in the US.
 
Steve Thornton of BU will probably get some consideration for Player
of the Week.  He played two great games and despite entering the series
with only two assists, he had 3-2--5 on the weekend to help BU to the
sweep.
 
Merrimack has now lost 6 of its last seven games and is 1-6-1 in its last
8.  The Warriors have their last chance at a HE win before the break on
Wednesday, December 9th as they travel to Providence; that game will be
their last before the holiday break until a New Year's Day clash with
Union.  The team seems to be just recovering from the blowouts suffered
at the hands of Maine and NU and was unfortunate enough to both play four
of their first six HE games on the road (5 of 7 counting Wed at PC) and
also had to play all six against what I believe to be 3 of the top 4
teams in the league.  It will be interesting to see if the break helps
them get their house in order and if they can pull out some wins against
some of the weaker teams in HE in January.  As Dan said, Merrimack might
deserve to be 0-6 right now, but they aren't as bad of a team as that
record shows.
 
BU, now 3-3-0 in HE, looks to get over .500 in the league in a game also
on Wednesday as they host rival BC.  The Terriers will then close out the
first semester when they travel to Dartmouth Sat, Dec 12th; they will
next be in action after Christmas at the Badger Showdown Dec 28-29.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)    *HMN*