Colgate at Maine
Friday October 25, 1996
Alfond Arena, Orono, Maine
NON-CONFERENCE GAME
 
Colgate  1 - 1 - 1 -- 3  (0-1-0 overall)
Maine    0 - 1 - 3 -- 4  (2-1-0 overall)
 
ORONO, Maine -- Scott Parmentier scored two third period
goals, and Steve Kariya added a goal and an assist, as Maine
overcame a third period deficit at home to beat the Colgate Red
Raiders 4-3.
 
FIRST PERIOD:
 
Tonight was the night of the unknowns.  Colgate came to Maine to open their
1996-97 campaign pegged for fifth in the ECAC.  What kind of team would they
have, and how game ready would they be.  Meanwhile, Maine returned from a
successful trip to Michigan, to an unknown situation with their own fans.
Would the fans turnout despite all the controversy that has surrounded the
Maine program, and finally came to a head this summer.
 
Both questions were answered early.  Over 5,100 fans turned out for
tonight's Colgate/Maine game, and Colgate impressed as well.
 
As you would expect, Maine came out agressive offensively given that Colgate
was playing their first game, and Maine was in front of a big crowd, they
went to the net early and often but they were not able to beat Colgate
goaltender Dan Brenzavich.  Colgate played surprisingly well considering
that it was their first game.  They were very well prepared for this game.
 
It would be the Colgate Red Raiders striking first, on their first power
play of the year.  As the puck slipped to the slot Dan Burgess was able to
get the puck to Scott Stevees, who made a nice play to beat Maine goalie
Alfie Michaud.
 
That would be all the scoring for the period.  At times Maine was dominant,
but at times they were equally sloppy.  Maine out shot Colgate 10-7, but the
play evened out over the course of the period after Maine had the control early.
 
SECOND PERIOD:
 
There wasn't much flow to this period at all.  Unlike the first (and third)
much of this period was spent along the boards as the teams traded posession
from corner to corner.
 
The period was also chippy.  While not a lot of penalties were being called,
there was an awful lot of extra activity during and after the plays.  Much
of this was due to the obvious frustration of the Maine Black Bears.  Maine
was trailing despite really controlling the game and putting on quality shots.
 
The power plays Maine did get, they did not cash in and that only further
increased the chippy play.  Why should Colgate stop what is working?
 
Maine on the other hand could not get it done on the penalty kill.  Colgate
scored in the first period, on their only power play, and on their third
power play of the game, they'd score their second goal.
 
After killing a Colgate power play several minutes before, Maine was doing a
good job killing the Red Raiders' third man advantage when they had a slow
line change.  The result was Mike Harder sending away Dave Debusschere on a
breakaway.  Debusschere beat Michaud and it was 2-0 Colgate with under five
minutes left in the second period.
 
This would only further increase the edge to the play, and Maine would go on
the power play once again, but this time convert a huge goal.
 
Reg Cardinal brought the puck in the zone and fed Steve Kariya at the top of
the circle.  Kariya beat his man and went straight to the net, cutting in
front and flicking a shot over Brenzavich's shoulder with only 12 seconds
left in the period.  It was 2-1 Colgate after two.
 
Maine outshot Colgate 11-7 in the second, and had a 21-14 edge after two,
but the frustration was evident as they trailed the Red Raiders on the
scoreboard.
 
THIRD PERIOD:
 
Coming out of the second, the prevailing though around the arena was that
Kariya's goal would likely "wake up" the Black Bears, but it was Colgate who
struck again.
 
Tim Loftsguard let a shot go from the high slot with a lot of traffic in
front of Alfie Michaud and beat the freshman goaltender.  Mike Harder had
his second assist, and Jack McIntosh also had an assist.  Three-quarters of
a period remained and Colgate had the lead 3-1.
 
Someone needed to step up for Maine, and it was Scott Parmentier who came to
the front.  Parmentier was featured in this morning's Bangor Daily News
where he says he lost 20 pounds, and is in the best shape of his life.  No
question he is faster than he was last year, and that speed would be put to
good use.
 
A turnover at center ice was coralled by Cory Larose, who sent away
Parmentier who made a pretty move to beat Brenzavich to make it a 3-2 game
at the 8:18 mark of the third.
 
Almost four minutes later, Bobby Stewart made a terrific long pass to
Parmentier who streaked down the right wing and scored on a hard wrist shot.
After trailing 3-1, Maine tied the game with 7:36 to go.
 
For all the pretty goals Maine scored tonight, the game winner was nothing
of the sort.  With Brenzavich trying to play without his stick with Maine
swarming the net Jason Mansoff put a shot on the net that just squeezed by
the right post with 3:23 left in the third period.
 
POSTGAME -- COLGATE
 
I think Colgate can take a lot from this game despite the outcome,
especially considering they are going to play UNH next, another talented
team, and also in front of a big crowd there.  Colgate dealt with these
factors well tonight.
 
What really hurt Colgate tonight was that Maine was the better conditioned
team.  By the time the third period was winding down, Maine was able to use
their speed to their advantage and beat the Red Raiders to the puck.
Brenzavich also looked to grow tired as the game went on, after some
spectacular stops.  Brenzavich made three saves by my count which looked
like "sure goals".  Great effort from him, and Colgate's goaltending is in
good hands.
 
Colgate also has impressive team speed.  Maine is a very fast team up front,
and Colgate didn't really take a back seat to them.  Many times Maine will
be able to beat teams to the puck, especially in open ice situations.  Not
the case.  They did not do a good job of handling Maine forwards down low
though.  Maine was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone for long
periods of time.
 
Colgate was able to keep Maine off the board by limiting their second shots.
When Brenzavich left a rebound, Red Raider players were tying up the sticks
of the Black Bears and clearing rebounds.  While Maine put lots of constant
pressure on tonight, in terms of keeping the puck in the zone, they got very
few multiple shot attempts.
 
Colgate went three for four on the power play tonight, and held Maine to 1
for 6 (by my count) on their power play.  Good sign for Colgate fans.
 
It will be interesting to see how Colgate (0-1-0) rebounds against UNH
(1-1-0).  They will play another quick team, with another big crowd at
Durham.  They fell apart tonight, will they be deflated and play poorly
against UNH or learn from tonight?
 
POSTGAME -- MAINE:
 
Maine's success in the past few years has been largely due to their ability
to stay in close games, and win them.  More times than not it seems someone
steps up and makes some big plays at big times to lead Maine to victory.
 
Last week it was Dan Shermerhorn, this week it was Scott Parmentier.
Parmentier leads Maine with four goals on the year with his two tonight.
Parmentier was moving as fast as anyone on the ice.  He was very impressive.
 
While it's great that Maine was able to put together a third period
comeback, this wasn't a well played game for Maine.  At times, they were
able to keep the puck in the zone for long periods of time, but at times
they were also running around in their own zone.  The defense played pretty
well, holding Colgate to only 20 shots, but Maine had problems all night
moving the puck up the ice.
 
In his postgame press conference, Maine coach Greg Cronin said that the
forwards were not coming back into the defensive zone well enough, forcing
Maine defenseman to have to make long passes to start the play.
 
I think it's safe to assume Maine will spend considerable time working on
the penalty kill this week.  The same kill that did a good job against
Michigan and Lake State was nonexistent tonight allowing three goals on four
man advantages.  Maine's power play also needs to be fine tuned, but seemed
to get better the more shots the point men put on the net.
 
Michaud was solid in net for Maine stopping 17 of 20, but not fantastic.
The three goals that beat him were quality shots, but it seemed that the
"big" shots were the ones he missed.  I think that Maine fans can rest easy
in goal.  Michaud isn't going to cost Maine many games, he's solid.  The
problem is we've been spoiled with Dunham, Snow, and Allison, and now
Michaud is still only a freshman and will get better and better.  I expect
Michaud to be real impressive by the end of the year.  He's only had two
weeks to practice, and he's got a 3.33 goals against average.  That's not
bad at all.
 
Finally, the crowd was amazing tonight.  Even though many of players and
coaches might not have admitted it, I think they all questioned how many
people would show up tonight, given the NCAA sanctions.  The response was
incredible.  Over 5,100 people showed up.  I don't remember a crowd this
large last year (the year after Maine went to the NCAA championship), and I
know they were not as loud as what we saw tonight.  Cronin remarked on this,
and I agree, this was "old" Maine hockey crowd.  This doesn't mean that
Maine will get this kind of turnout every night, but it was great that after
all that happened, the players got treated to such a response.  Likewise the
team treated the fans to a great come from behind win.  Putting the pieces
of Maine hockey back together will be a slow process, but tonight was a
solid first step.
 
Maine (2-1) is off the rest of the weekend, and will host defending Division
II National Champion Alabama-Huntsville next weekend.
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Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
Editor, US College Hockey Online
USCHO:  http://uscollegehockey.com
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