Saturday, November 21, 1992 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Northeastern Huskies (5-3-0, 3-1-0 HE) 4 3 2 - 9
Merrimack Warriors (4-5-1, 0-4-0 HE) 2 0 0 - 2
FIRST PERIOD NU-MC
1. NU1, Tom O'Connor 2 (Dino Grossi, Jason Kelly), 2:01. 4x4 1-0
2. NU2, Francois Bouchard 2 (Darryl MacNair, Sebastien Laplante),
2:55. 4x3 2-0
3. MC1, Mark Goble 4 (Dan Gravelle, Martin Favreau), 4:37. PPG 2-1
4. NU3, Mike Taylor 4 (Jordon Shields, Jean-Francois Aube), 9:47. GWG 3-1
5. NU4, Laplante 2 (Kelly, Chris Foy), 14:35. PPG 4-1
6. MC2, Gravelle 6 (Dan Hodge, Goble), 19:38. PPG 4-2
SECOND PERIOD
7. NU5, Dan Lupo 1 (Laplante, Adam Hayes), 0:58. 5-2
8. NU6, Tom Parlon 1 (Taylor, Foy), 6:03. 6-2
9. NU7, Laplante 3 (Kelly, Foy), 10:16. PPG 7-2
THIRD PERIOD
10. NU8, Jay Schiavo 1 (MacNair, Bob Kellogg), 10:09. 4x3 8-2
11. NU9, Aube 6 (Bouchard, Taylor), 13:56. 5x3 9-2
SHOTS ON GOAL: Northeastern 10-14-12 = 36
Merrimack 13--7--7 = 27
SAVES: Northeastern, Todd Reynolds (W, 2-3-0, 55:20, 25 sh-23 sv),
Elijah Gold (4:40, 2-2).
Merrimack, Dan Millar (L, 1-3-1, 40:58, 23-16),
Mike Doneghey (19:02, 13-11).
POWER PLAYS: Northeastern 5 for 9. Merrimack 2 for 8.
PENALTIES: Northeastern 13/26. Merrimack 15/30.
REFEREES: Jim Fitzgerald, Scott Leavitt. LINESMAN: Bill Jones.
ATTENDANCE: 1,004.
THREE STARS: 1. NU, LW Sebastien Laplante (2-2--4).
2. NU, C Mike Taylor (1-2--3).
3. NU, G Todd Reynolds (25 sh-23 sv).
On the basis of special teams, Northeastern roared out to a 4-2 lead
after one and scored the final five goals of the game, three on the
power play, to easily defeat Merrimack 9-2 and hand the Warriors their
first home defeat of the season (2-1-1). NU swept the weekend set and
is 3-1-0 in league play, while Merrimack is in a deep hole at 0-4-0.
After Friday's poorly played game, the Huskies lifted their level of play
while if anything, Merrimack got worse. Merrimack is just not a good
hockey team right now in any facet of the game. We saw a completely
different team this weekend from the one that tied RPI two weeks ago.
Dan Millar started the game in net for Merrimack and was greeted with
goals on his first two shots. Tom O'Connor, who sat out Friday's game,
beat Millar from in close at 2:01 on a 4x4, and then after a penalty
to Merrimack's Alex Weinrich, NU defenseman Francois Bouchard scored from
the left point 54 seconds later on the ensuing 4x3.
Mark Goble brought the Warriors within one at 4:37 on a rebound from in
front, but the Huskies came back with two goals to make it 4-1. Mike
Taylor, Northeastern's leading scorer at 4-7--11, took a feed from Jean-
Francois Aube and flipped it by Millar while he was falling down at 9:47,
and then on another power play, Sebastien Laplante put in the rebound of
Chris Foy's shot from the point at 14:35. Merrimack took advantage of a
power play late in the period to cut the lead to 4-2 with 22 seconds left,
as Dan Gravelle banged in the rebound of Dan Hodge's shot. But that was
to be it for Merrimack as the Huskies would dominate the rest of the
game at both ends of the ice. Despite being outshot 13-10, the Huskies
led 4-2.
When Millar was beaten by Dan Lupo for his first college goal just 58
seconds into the second, Mike Doneghey got the call in relief to try to
hold the score close while Merrimack attempted to rally. Doneghey played
well over the rest of the period, allowing 2 goals on 13 shots, neither
of which was really his fault. The Merrimack team defense was terrible,
giving up the puck, failing to cover Huskies in front and getting beaten
to the puck in their own end. The forwards were often caught up ice and
that resulted in a virtual man advantage in the Merrimack end.
Tom Parlon followed Lupo's lead with his own first collegiate goal at
6:03 when he took a pass at the blueline, tapped it past a Warrior
defender and went in to beat Doneghey all alone. When Laplante scored
his second of the game on the power play at 10:16, identical to his first
as he knocked in a rebound from in front, it was 7-2 NU and the Huskies
were on their way to a blowout.
With the game all but over, the goal for Merrimack appeared to be to win
the period at least and take it from there, and to their credit, they
came out hitting and controlling the puck much better. But Todd Reynolds
was equal to the task and turned away a couple of good shots by Gravelle.
Gravelle, struggling on the scoresheet at 6-5--11 in 10 games, is clearly
a proud player and attempted to take charge both at Maine and tonight to
singlehandedly bring Merrimack back, but to no avail. The Warriors then
were guilty of several infractions in the last half of the game, and
Northeastern's power play (5 of 9 on the night) was quick to take
advantage. Jay Schiavo scored his first of the year at 10:09 off a rebound
and that was followed by Aube's 6th at 13:56 off a rebound of Taylor's
shot to make it 9-2. Millar had replaced Doneghey in net for Merrimack to
start the period and ended up allowing seven of the nine goals on 23 shots
in about two periods of play.
There was an interesting human interest story, if you will, with about
4:40 to play as third-string netminder Elijah Gold replaced Reynolds in
net for NU. Gold, a junior from Ithaca, NY, was seeing his first varsity
action ever. He is deaf and was recently honored with a selection as the
goalie for the national deaf soccer team which will compete this spring
in the World Deaf Olympic Games in Bulgaria. Gold faced two shots and
turned away both; with a couple of minutes left, Rob Atkinson fired a
shot from the blue line that Gold stopped, and when Cooper Naylor swooped
in for the rebound, Gold knocked it away over the glass.
POSTGAME
The Huskies looked good and took advantage of the special situations,
with five PPG's and one 4x4 goal. Goals came from everywhere, as seven
players scored in the 7-6 win Friday and then eight players scored the nine
goals tonight. Their defense buckled down tonight and it showed; whenever
Merrimack would dump the puck in and chase it, Northeastern would almost
always have one defenseman go straight to the net and wait there to cover
any possible passes out of the corner. Meanwhile, Merrimack's total
team defense was erratic and weak. When you give up an average of 10.25
goals per game in four Hockey East games, there is clearly a need for a
team-wide improvement and dedication to defense. It is true that most
of Northeastern's goals came on the power play, but four of the five PPG's
came about because the box formation allowed Huskies to get inside and
camp out for rebounds.
Northeastern will look to add to its three-game overall and HE winning
streak next Saturday at UNH. The game will be shown on tape delay
Sunday night 11/29 on NESN at 7 pm. The Huskies will then head to Maine
for a pair Dec 4-5 and host UMass-Lowell on Dec 11th before breaking for
the holidays.
Merrimack will try to regroup with a pair of games over the Thanksgiving
weekend at Air Force Nov 27-28, then the Warriors return to HE play with
two tough games in a home-and-home with BU Dec 4-5 before concluding play
in the 1992 calendar year Dec 9th at Providence. At 0-4-0, Merrimack is
falling far behind the other league teams who have all won at least a game,
and they will need to get their house back in order for the BU series if
they want to maintain hopes of finishing higher than last, at the least.
If anything, it's better to get these games out of their system early on,
and there is still a long way to go.
A plus for Merrimack is that injured captain and center Teal Fowler, who
many consider to be the heart and soul of the team, will probably return
to the lineup for the Air Force series after having missed the last four
games.
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.) *HMN*