1/22/91 Hockey East Overall Non-league GP W-L-T Pts GF-GA || GP W-L-T GF-GA W-L-T ======================================================== 1 Boston College 13 10-3-0 20 66-51 || 24 18-6-0 115-78 | 8-3-0 2 Boston University 12 8-2-2 18 60-32 || 23 15-6-2 130-77 | 7-4-0 3 Maine 12 7-4-1 15 60-47 || 28 20-6-2 153-90 | 13-2-1 4 Providence 11 6-4-1 13 57-47 || 21 16-4-1 123-75 | 10-0-0 5 Merrimack 11 5-6-0 10 41-53 || 22 11-10-1 103-105 | 6-4-1 6 New Hampshire 12 4-7-1 9 43-52 || 24 15-8-1 109-91 | 11-1-0 7 Lowell 12 3-8-1 7 40-61 || 23 7-15-1 86-115 | 4-7-0 8 Northeastern 13 1-10-2 4 52-76 || 23 4-17-2 95-131 | 3-7-0 1/18/91 Boston University 2 at Boston College 5 HE Merrimack 2 at Lowell 3 HE Maine 8 at New Hampshire 4 HE Providence 6 at Northeastern 4 HE 1/19/91 Dartmouth 1 at Lowell 7 NC 1/20/91 Maine 4 at Boston College 5 HE 1/22/91 Lowell at Boston University HE Boston College at Dartmouth NC Yale at New Hampshire NC 1/25/91 Lowell at Boston College HE Boston University at Maine HE Merrimack at Northeastern HE New Hampshire at Providence HE NESN 1/26/91 Boston College at Lowell HE Boston University at Maine HE Providence at Merrimack HE Northeastern at New Hampshire HE 1/29/91 Northeastern at Boston University HE Boston College at Cornell NC Lowell at Yale NC at BOSTON COLLEGE 5, MAINE 4 This brilliant come-from-behind win by BC, coupled with its win over BU, returned BC to the top spot in Hockey East and made the Eagles the favorite to capture their third straight regular season crown, as they will win any tiebreakers with either BU or Maine. The win was BC coach Len Ceglarski's 650th and it came in his 1000th game, more than any other college coach, at a sold-out Conte Forum. Maine came out strong in the first period and it paid off when Martin Mercier knocked in Keith Carney's rebound past Scott LaGrand at 12:36. Steve Heinze nearly tied it when he got by Carney and tried to beat Garth Snow with a backhander, but Snow got a piece of it and knocked it just wide. The first period was very wide open and extremely fast-paced, and the fans loved it. Mike Dunham replaced Snow to start the second with Shawn Walsh's team ahead, 1-0; Walsh had already decided to play both goalies because he said that it was hard for a goalie to face BC's onslaught for a full 60 minutes. He was greeted by Marty McInnis at 53 seconds whose shot got by Dunham while David Emma was on top of him - but Emma was clearly pushed into the crease by defenseman Brian Straub. BC dominated the first part of the period, outshooting Maine 9-0 at one point; Ted Crowley had a shot from the point stopped by Dunham but the rebound ended up in the crease and rolled towards the goal line before Dunham swept it away just in time. At 15:36 on a 5-on-3, Scott Pellerin put Maine ahead, 2-1, from in front on assists from Carney and Martin Robitaille, but 41 seconds later Marc Beran stole the puck at center ice, walked in and beat Dunham through the five-hole for a shorthanded goal to tie it up again. Crowley blasted one from the point to put BC ahead for the first time at 4:12 of the third with assists going to Emma and McInnis, but that just seemed to inspire the Black Bears, and Jim Montgomery put a 20-footer through LaGrand's pads at 6:13 to make it 3-3. Mercier scored his second of the game to regain the lead for Maine at 9:34 with a rebound of Randy Olson's shot. At the ten-minute mark the teams switched sides. BC began to come alive again; David Franzosa took a beautiful feed from Beran right on front, but couldn't beat Dunham for the equalizer. That came at 14:07 when Joe Cleary scored from the top of the circle just inside the far post. By now, the pace was nothing short of frantic. Finally, the game-winner came at 17:03 when Bill Guerin fired the puck off the backboards (it may have been deflected there by Dunham), and it wound up in the crease where Beran pushed it in. With about a minute left, Maine called timeout and Walsh went out onto the ice in front of his team's bench to give them instructions. Dunham was pulled and Maine had several good chances with the extra attacker, the best coming when Carney appeared to hit the post with just one second left, but the Eagles held on for the win. Scott LaGrand stopped 16 shots for the win; the sophomore is now 18-0 at Conte Forum. BC is 23-0 there over two years (regular season, since both Minnesota and Merrimack won playoff games there last year). at BOSTON COLLEGE 5, BOSTON UNIVERSITY 2 Friday night, the Terriers never really got on track. Tony Amonte stole the puck and went in alone at 7:10 to put BU ahead, but three goals within 2:39 silenced the BU fans. Guerin's shot from the right circle at 12:06 went in off Cashman's pads, Emma scored from in front at 13:08, and Franzosa tallied at 14:45. The HEM line was reassembled for this game, and it came up big with three goals and six assists. It clicked again at 8:16 of the second when McInnis beat Cashman from Emma and Heinze. Phil von Stefenelli got that one back for BU at 12:41 to make it 4-2, but Heinze put it away in the third. Cashman had 22 saves while BC's LaGrand had 30. at LOWELL 3, MERRIMACK 2 Well, I made my debut as radio color man for this one, and it was unfortunate that Merrimack only played the last four minutes of the game. But credit goes to Lowell goalie Mark Richards, the game's #1 star with 32 saves, and to the Lowell defense which did a fine job of bottling up the speedy Merrimack forwards. Richards left few rebounds, and the ones he did leave, Merrimack couldn't put in the net. Dave Gatti's first goal of the game put Lowell ahead, 1-0, at 7:08 when he camped out at the left post and tapped a pass in past Steve D'Amore. Tim Smallwood fired a 30-footer past D'Amore, who was screened by Don Parsons, on the power play at 10:35. Merrimack got on the board with just 16 seconds left in the period as Bryan Miller blasted a shot from the right point past Richards, Cooper Naylor assisting. The game should have been tied at 2, but Jeff Massey couldn't get the handle on a puck in front with Richards down and out. Massey had a wide open net if he could only have just flipped it in. In the second, Mike Doneghey replaced D'Amore in net for the Warriors. D'Amore had played well and can't be faulted for either goal, but Ron Anderson was hoping to shake up the team with the sudden change. But it didn't work. It was more of the same as the Chiefs continued to frustrate Merrimack while generating few good chances of their own. The only goal came at 7:15, Gatti's second power play goal, during a 5x3 to make the score 3-1, and that's how the period ended. It took until 3:43 remained in the game for Merrimack to light the lamp again and cut the lead to 3-2. Dan Gravelle won a draw to the right of Richards, and the puck came over to linemate Rob Atkinson who one-timed it off the far post and in past Richards, who never saw it. That made the teams pick up the intensity level and the remainder of the game was exciting, with Merrimack pulling Doneghey but being unable to score. Lowell moved within two points of 6th-place UNH with the win. PROVIDENCE 6, at NORTHEASTERN 4 Northeastern blew a 3-1 lead enroute to losing its 10th Hockey East game. The Huskies got first period goals from Paul Flanagan, Sebastien LaPlante, and Rob Cowie while Rob Gaudreau got the lone PC goal. But Gaudreau scored again at 4:57 of the second, followed by Lyle Wildgoose less than three minutes later, to knot the score at 3 after two. Gaudreau got his third of the game early in the third, but Cowie tied it at 4 at 9:42. Larry Rooney's game-winner came at 12:16 and Wildgoose got the empty-netter with 29 seconds left. Brad Mullahy had 19 saves in the Friar net, and Tom Cole stopped 26 for the Huskies. Again, NU played a tough game against a good opponent, but their defense cost them. 15 times they have surrendered 5 or more goals in a game, out of 23 games, and the Huntington Hounds are 0-13-2 in those 15 games. Thanks to Chris for his story on Maine-UNH; I saw no details on Lowell's win over Dartmouth. - mike