Maine 6 Boston College 3 (HE)
Friday, December 6, 1996 at Kelley Rink (Chestnut Hill, MA)
Score By Periods Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
ME 2 - 1 - 3 -- 6 12 - 14 - 11 -- 34 5 - 10 3 - 5
BC 0 - 3 - 0 -- 3 6 - 12 - 8 -- 26 9 - 18 0 - 2
Records: Maine (7-6-1, 2-4-1 HE)
Boston College (6-7-1, 3-4-1 HE)
SCORING
1st Period
ME-1 Bobby Stewart (4) (Larose) 3:57
ME-2 Scott Parmentier (9) (Larose) 19:42
2nd Period
BC-1 Brian Callahan (12) (Reasoner, Bellefeulle) 4:55
ME-3 Dan Shermehorn (6) (Cullen , Roenick) PPG 8:54
BC-2 Marty Reasoner (7) (Mottau) 9:26
BC-3 Marty Reasoner (8) (Mottau, Bellefeulle) 11:59
3rd Period
ME-4 Steve Kariya (8) (Wansborough) PPG/GWG 5:12
ME-5 Scott Parmentier (10) (Kariya, Wansborough) PPG 6:04
ME-6 Brian White (1) (Roenick) 7:13
Goaltenders Saves by Period
ME - Javier Gorriti (60:00) 6 - 9 - 8 -- 23
BC - Greg Taylor (60:00) 10 - 13 - 8 -- 31
OFFICIALS: Referee Tim Benedetto, Bill Dorion; Assistant Referees: Tom
Carpenito;
ATTENDANCE: 3,762
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Maine scored three goals in a span of 2:01 in the
third period to pull away from Boston College 6-3 Friday December 6.
PRE-GAME:
Maine played with their full team for the first time since beating Lake
Superior State 7-4 on October 20. Maine also put all three senior forwards
on the same line to start the game. Boston College goaltender Greg Taylor
(3-2-1, 3.96 GAA, .856 save percentage) returned to the nets for BC after
missing a couple weeks with a broken hand. Javier Gorriti made his first
Division I start. Would the extra time to think about the game have a
negative impact in this game?
FIRST PERIOD:
Boston College really came out and started well, and pinned Maine in testing
Maine starting goaltender Javier Gorriti early. This was probably good for
Gorriti to see the puck early and get comfortable.
It was Maine who would get on the board first. Cory Larose took a shot from
the point, which Taylor stopped but lost the rebound and Bobby Stewart
stepped up and scored his fourth goal of the year at 3:57 to give Maine a
1-0 lead.
BC would continue the edge in play early through the first. Gorriti used
his stick to make a couple good poke checks, and after Ben Guite took a
penalty, made a couple good saves on the penalty kill.
Maine might have been a bit ansy for this game, with Gorriti making his
first Division I start, I'm sure they wanted to protect their own end,
especially early and perhaps ran around a bit too much.
But the Black Bears would settle down, and has the period went on Maine took
over the tempo, turning the game into more of a Black Bear style. In fact
over the second half of the first period, Gorriti was not really called upon
to make many tough saves. He finished stopping all six shots in the period.
His counterpart Greg Taylor looked to be working off the rust of missing a
couple weeks. After allowing the Stewart goal, he stopped Dan Shermerhorn
on a breakaway, and made an amazing stop on the second attempt.
With 17 seconds left in the first, Scott Parmentier took out his terrific
wrist shot. As he went into the BC zone 1-on-3 he let his shot go from the
top of the circle and beat Taylor top corner to extend the Maine lead to 2-0.
It was a solid period for Maine. They put 12 shots on Taylor, and seemed to
get more comfortable as the period went on, as the defense tightened.
Gorriti was solid in net, and things looked good.
SECOND PERIOD:
Maine began the second like they ended the first, controlling the tempo,
keeping the play in the corners of the BC end and in the neutral zone.
But Marty Reasoner can take over a game at times, and he would certainly
show why many feel he will leave BC after this season to go pro. Reasoner
broke into the Maine zone and centered a pass to Brian Callahan who made it
2-1 at 4:55 mark of the second period.
What happened next is one of three very key moments to the Maine win. What
has killed Maine this season is falling apart after allowing a goal,
especially on the road and especially in the second period.
Immediately after the Callahan goal, Jeff Farkas broke into the Maine zone
only to have Gorriti make the save. This was the kind of save Maine fans
have been looking for. In fact this key moment would continue as Gorriti
made another huge save seconds after stopping the Farkas break.
It is plausible to suggest that Maine could have been down 3-2, but kept the
2-1 lead.
Maine extended that lead to 3-1 on the power play. Shermerhorn sent a pass
across the crease looking for Trevor Roenick, but it hit the skate of Brad
Carlson and behind Taylor at 8:54.
After Ben Guite was whistled for a questionable penalty, Reasoner took over
again. This time Reasoner redirected a shot upstairs from a tough ange.
Reasoner was about a foot off the goal line.
Boston College had pulled to 3-2 and was now changing the style of play once
again. The pace was more open and the BC forwards were getting more room to
skate.
Maine was also getting chances on their end of the ice, as he stoned
Shermerhorn again on the doorstep and then made two huge saves on Bobby
Stewart to keep it a one-goal game.
Reasoner would reward Taylor. With the play at 4-on-4, Reasoner picked up
the rebound of a Mike Mottau shot from the point, and like a true
goal-scorer had the poise to take the puck around Gorriti instead of just
pushing it into him to tie the game at 3-3 with about eight minutes left in
the period.
I don't know where the defensemen were on this play, as Reasoner seemed to
have all day to do what he wanted to with the rebound. Nobody was even
close enough to tie him up to begin with, or at least put a body on him once
the shot was taken.
Both of Reasoner's goals were a direct result of faceoff breakdowns by Maine.
The next eight minutes serve as the second of three keys to this game.
Maine could not fault Gorriti as all three goals were high quality goals,
but what Maine needed to do was get out of the period without trailing.
They had played toe-to-toe with BC this period, and didn't deserve to be
trailing.
Maine was able to take control of the tempo, close things up and put some
good pressure on late in the period to keep the score at 3-3 after two. A
wild period saw Maine outshoot BC 14-12, with both goaltenders making some
good saves. It can not be underestimated how important it was for Maine to
stop the bleeding in the second.
THIRD PERIOD:
For the third straight period BC had some good chances right off the bat,
but Gorriti was there for Maine. Likewise, Greg Taylor was still playing
well for BC. He stopped a 2-on-0 by smuthering the shooter and swallowing
up the rebound.
With Ken Hemmingway in the box, Steve Kariya scored a power play goal at
5:12 to give Maine the 4-3 lead, and win the game. Taylor was down and all
tied up on the play as a Maine forward and BC forward were tangled up in
front of him.
The BC people wanted a an "in the crease" call, but the Maine folks
contended that the Maine forward was carried into the crease by the BC
forward and caused the problems with Taylor. The no-call might have
benefited Maine, but it was probably the right call given the ambiguity of
the situation.
The final of the three keys occured seconds after the Kariya goal. BC
captain David Wainwright took it upon himself to run Gorriti -- in
retaliation for Taylor being knocked down. As Gorriti played the puck
behind the net, Wainwright decked him. Wainwright was lucky to not receive
a five-minute major for hitting from behind as he only got too minutes.
This was a poor example set by the senior co-captain. Bluntly put, it was a
stupid play, and BC would be made to pay.
After a BC timeout with the face off in the Maine end, Wansborough won the
draw to Larose who passed to Parmentier who turned on the jets. Eight
seconds later the puck was in the back of the net, and Maine led 5-3 at the
6:04 mark of the third.
Maine would add their third goal in span of 2:01 when Brian White's point
shot made it through a screen and Reg Cardinal missed a deflection attempt.
The play got choppy at the end of the period, as Maine finished the game
two-men up, but escaped without serious injury and with a needed victory 6-3.
COMMENTS:
Javier Gorriti finished with 23 saves on 26 shots. A very solid
performance, and he proved that he can play goal at the Division I level.
He did nothing to assume that Alfie Michaud will replace him Saturday night,
but Maine has been so focused on Friday night's game no one is sure of what
Greg Cronin's intentions were coming in. If he is planning to play the hot
goalie or rotate the goalies. Gorriti deserves another chance to start
Saturday since he played as well as either of them all season. Maine needed
some big saves tonight and he came up with some.
Maine was 3-for-5 on the power play, and really went for the kill tonight
when they caught BC down after the fourth goal. They didn't waste any time
and just put the game out of reach. This is something that Maine teams have
lacked in recent years, and it is certainly something positive.
Greg Taylor really got himself worked up after the fourth goal, and
according to Blair Marsh, former UMaine goalie and color analyist for the
UMaine games, says this happens to Taylor often. He plays well and then
gets upset about something and it all falls apart. That happened tonight,
but he made some great saves to keep this game from being worse. No
question who was the better team.
BC has some real good forwards, and Maine's defense handled them pretty
well. Maine didn't allow too many odd man rushes, and played pretty
solidly. Maine played their game, got solid goaltending and let the rest
take care of itself. They didn't get too high or too low, and this is
something they can build on.
Overall it was a good win for Maine. The real test comes Saturday as Maine
has yet to prove they can follow-up good Friday performances with another
solid performance. Maine is surely capable of beating BC again Saturday,
and they will need to focus on getting the sweep. Another win puts Maine
back into the Hockey East race.
Saturday night will also mark Greg Cronin's last game as head coach, just
another reason for the team to be motivated to play well.
---
Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])
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