New Hampshire 6, Maine 3
 
Friday November 15, 1996 at Whittemore Center (Durham, NH)
 
Maine  2 - 0 - 1 -- 3  (4-3-1, 0-2-1 last in Hockey East)
UNH    0 - 5 - 1 -- 6  (6-2-0, 5-0-0 first in Hockey East)
 
DURHAM, N.H. -- Tom Nolan scored two second period goals, as the Wildcats of
New Hamphshire rode a five-goal second period outburst to blow out the
University of Maine 6-3 Friday night.
 
PREGAME:
 
Maine was severely handicapped in this game missing three starters:  Jason
Vitorino (knee), Scott Parmentier (back), and Jason Mansoff (elbow).  All
three are significant losses, especially Mansoff which means Maine would
have to play two former-forwards at defense since Maine is very weak at the
blue line.
 
FIRST PERIOD:
 
This was one of the strangest games I've witnessed since I've started
following Maine hockey.
 
The first period would start teriffic for Maine, and certainly not the way
Dick Umile drew it up for the Wildcats.  Three seconds into his first shift,
Tom Nolan was whistled for tripping and Maine would go on the power play.
 
UNH's penalty kill has put up incredible numbers this year.  They have
killed off 93 percent of all penalties in Hockey East play, and 91 percent
in all their games total.
 
Shawn Wansborough would take a bite out of that.  Bobby Stewart dropped the
puck to Wansborough who went top shelf for his second goal of the year at
2:09 into the game, and Maine led 1-0.
 
The first period started with both teams playing very physical, especially
UNH.  Neither of these two teams are known for their hitting, but Maine
needed to be able to play the body in order to succeed.  In the first period
they were effective in this department.
 
Alfie Michaud was also oustanding.  Though he was only credited with six
saves, they were all quality shots.  Maine defensemen and forwards were
coming back into their zone and getting in front of many UNH shots.  Leo
Wlasow was very effective in this department.
 
UNH was also keeping the majority of the play in the Maine defensive zone,
despite not getting a lot of shots on goal.  To Maine's credit they were
primarily doing their job because UNH was not getting second shots, which is
key to any successful Maine campaign.
 
After killing off two UNH power plays, the latter being a bad elbowing
penalty by Shawn Wansborough, Maine would score again.  As Wansborough
stepped out of the box, Matt Oliver made a great, diving play and broke in
alone on LaRochelle.  Wansborough attoned wristing a shot by the junior
netminder to put Maine up 2-0 at the 16:28 mark of the period.
 
Jason Price played a good period on defense.  He got some time on the
penalty kill and did a good job, especially when you consider that he had
only one day to prepare for this weekend's contest at defense.
 
Maine generated seven shots on goal, and even though they led 2-0 it was a
cautious lead as UNH had the edge in play and how Maine came out to play the
second period would entirely dictate the rest of the game.
 
SECOND PERIOD:
 
The second period would play out as one of the worst periods that a Maine
hockey team has ever played.  UNH would score five times, and completely
disoriented the Black Bears.
 
The period started well enough, as Maine began on the power play.  However
Reg Cardinal failed to beat LaRochelle when the UNH netminder was down, and
out of position after a great pass from Cory Larose.  After Jason Price
broke up a 2-on-1 break for the Wildcats the play went downhill from there.
 
Tom Nolan went around the Maine net and attempted to pass the puck in front,
but Alfie Michaud didn't see the play knocked it into his own net (either
with his stick or skate) at the 3:25 mark of the period to make it 2-1.
 
From then on Maine was not able to turn it around.  UNH took the goal and
used it as a way to generate momentum, and Maine was unable to handle the
pressure.  Not long after the UNH goal, Brian White took a bad penalty for
elbowing.  The momentum clearly had shifted fully to UNH at this point, and
now going on the power play.
 
Not long after the penalty expired, UNH would get the equalizer.  Michaud
lost his stick and threw his body on the ice and stacked the pads but Eric
Nickulas beat him anyways from the slot at 8:35.  Former Maine goaltender
Blair Marsh said that at this point Michaud seemed to be losing the
confidence he exhibited in the first period, and it would only get worse
from there.
 
Michaud would have more trouble on the next UNH goal.  Michaud tripped as he
came across the crease, but it's not all his fault.  Derek Bekar was all
alone and easily beat Michaud for a 3-2 UNH lead at 12:58.  The goal was a
4-on-4 goal as Reg Cardinal and Jason Shipulski were in the box.
 
Maine had the chances to get back in this game at this point.  Reg Cardinal
missed another quality opportunity, and with 5:35 Maine went on the power
play.  This very key moment started poorly as Maine had trouble getting
anyone in front of LaRochelle to make it difficult to see, but it ended even
worse.
 
As the power play expired freshman John Sadowski had a partial breakaway but
was pulled down by Cory Larose.  Referee Frank Cole awarded Sadowski a
penalty shot.  Maine disagreed passionately, most likely citing the idea
that Sadowski did not have a clean breakaway and he was not shooting.  Maine
assistant captain Dan Shermerhorn landed himself in the box with a 10-minute
misconduct pleading Maine's case.
 
The game went on, and Sadowski converted his penalty shot at 16:37 to make
it a 4-2 game.  The penalty shot ended up being the game winning goal.
 
Maine was completely shell-shocked by this point in time, and UNH would
tally once more for good measure.  Once again with the play 4-on-4 Maine
allowed another break as Tom Nolan snuck behind the defense and beat Michaud
for a 5-2 lead after two periods of play.
 
The second period was characterized by crucial lapses by the Black Bears.
In the first period Maine gave the puck away several times but Michaud held
them in and the defense got back into the play to take away second chances.
In the second, Maine gave the puck away more and UNH capitalized this time.
Michaud's quick found confidence in the first, broke just as quick in the
second and UNH just came at Maine in waves.  UNH didn't pummell Maine with
shots, but they got several odd-man rushes and made them count.
 
THIRD PERIOD:
 
Maine had a power play to begin the third, and a quick goal might stop the
bleeding and put Maine on the right track.  That would not happen as only
seconds into the third, Jeff Libby took Derek Bekar down and evened the play
off at 4-on-4.
 
Michaud gained a little confidence at the beginning of this period as he
made a couple good saves, but the odd-man rushes continued and UNH netted
one more goal.
 
On the rush, Eric Boguniecki scored at 3:53 of the third to extend the UNH
lead to 6-2.  Maine couldn't control the rebound on the original save, and
Boguniecki put it home for the goal.
 
UNH would continue to outskate Maine for most of the beginning part of this
period, and did generate a few more odd-man rushes.  UNH had almost had a
couple more goals as a tip by Nickulas just went wide, and Boguniecki hit
the post.
 
Maine was clearly frustrated, and Wansborough would get assessed Maine's
second 10-minute misconduct.
 
Once again Maine would get the chance to stop the bleeding.  Rob Gagnon
buried Reg Cardinal in the corner and was given the gate for a 5-minute
hitting from behind major and a game misconduct.  On the ensuing five minute
power play, Maine generated no quality chances and UNH easily killed it off.
 
The latter stages of the period featured several matching penalties, and
Maine got their final goal when Steve Kariya and Matt Oliver just went to
the net.  Oliver was key to the goal as he just went to the net, but Kariya
got the goal, his team leading sixth, with just 12 seconds to go.  Oliver
had two assists in the game.
 
UNH club goaltender Nate Armstrong, on the roster after Eric Soltys left the
team, played the final 12 seconds.
 
POSTGAME -- UNH:
 
Dick Umile has to be happy with his team's performance tonight.  Many people
criticize the Wildcats for folding after going down by a few goals.  It was
ironic that it was Maine who folded when the going got tough, and it was UNH
who stepped up and got the job done.
 
This is also sweet justice for UNH.  UNH played poorly during stretches last
year, finished sixth, and got swept out of the Hockey East playoffs handily
by the Black Bears.  Tonight, they were clearly the better team.
 
Greg Cronin has been talking about UNH this year, and Maine fans can now see
why.  UNH still has some of the best forwards in Hockey East, and while they
might not have 4 scary lines, they do have two lines that can score on
anyone and everyone in Hockey East.  They are fast and they can finish.
 
What makes it worse for opponents is that UNH's defense is improved from
last year.  And if Hockey East fans needed more to worry about, highly
touted goaltender Sean Matile becomes eligible next week.  UNH is a top
quality team, and they are going to challenge for the Hockey East title.
 
New Hampshire is now 6-2-0, and off to their best start in Hockey East at
5-0-0, tied for first with Boston University who beat Northeastern 5-2 tonight.
 
POSTGAME -- MAINE:
 
Maine had times last year (6-2 loss to BC, 7-3 loss to NU) where they got
blown out, but tonight's case was entirely different from those.  Maine
played a good first period, and had the lead and the opportunity to increase
that.  It was not like Maine showed up and UNH beat them into the ground
from the start.
 
Because of that it's pretty hard to blame the loss on the fact that Maine
was missing three starters.  Certainly it was a factor, especially the loss
of Jason Mansoff.  Maine's defense was weak at best in the second and third
period and Mansoff is a good defenseman, he would have helped.
 
The key isn't necessarily who was on the ice, but what they did while they
were there.  UNH had odd-man rush, after odd-man rush.  Maine's defense
simply did not do the job, and the forwards didn't come back and play
defense very well from the second period on.  Michaud didn't have a good
night, but no goaltender is going to fare well against the quality chances
UNH was getting.
 
Where did the physical play go?  Maine played the body well in the first
period, and did a pretty good job at bottling up UNH.  That was not the case
in the second period, UNH seemed to be able to wheel at will.  The third
period was more of the same.
 
Finally, disipline was a huge problem tonight.  To take two 10-minute
misconducts, and several ill-advised penalties is something that is going to
annoy Greg Cronin immensely.  Cronin, and Maine in general, preaches good
disipline and it wasn't there tonight.  Maine took 46 penalty minutes tonight.
 
Maine needs to focus on what they did right in the first period and work
from there.  This is a young team, and the injury bug has hit, but they are
still capable of playing at a higher level than they showed tonight.
 
The penalty kill was good tonight killing all six UNH power plays.
 
Maine is now 4-3-1, 0-2-1 in Hockey East.  Maine currently resides in
last-place.  The last time a Maine team has lost two straight road games was
sometime back in the late 1980's, so Saturday's rematch will be a key game
for Maine.
---
Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])