Friday, January 29, 1993 at Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
Merrimack Warriors (10-13-2, 4-11-0 HE 8th) 0 2 1 - 3
Boston College Eagles (7-14-4, 4-9-2 HE 7th) 2 2 3 - 7
FIRST PERIOD BC-MC
1. BC1, Marc Beran 11 (John Joyce, Todd Hall), 4:02. 1-0
2. BC2, Joyce 9 (Jack Callahan, Jerry Buckley), 16:42. PPG 2-0
SECOND PERIOD
3. BC3, J. Callahan 13 (Rob Laferriere, Michael Spalla), 4:25. 3-0
4. BC4, Laferriere 2 (Buckley, J. Callahan), 4:54. GWG 4-0
5. MC1, Jim Gibson 9 (Wayde McMillan, Mark Goble), 16:08. 5x3 4-1
6. MC2, Gibson 10 (McMillan, Matt Adams), 17:41. 4-2
THIRD PERIOD
7. BC5, Buckley 2 (Ryan Haggerty, Ron Pascucci), 4:42. 5-2
8. MC3, Quentin Fendelet 1 (Dan Gravelle, Don MacLeod), 15:37. 5-3
9. BC6, Ian Moran 6 (Joyce, Beran), 17:57. ENG 6-3
10. BC7, Spalla 7 (Mike McCarthy, Scott Zygulski), 19:29. 5x3 7-3
SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 14-12-11 = 37
Boston College 13-11-16 = 40
SAVES: MC, Mike Doneghey (L, 9-8-1, 57:05, 35 sh-30 sv),
Dan Millar (2:03, 4-3).
BC, Mike Sparrow (W, 1-7-0, 60:00, 37-34).
POWER PLAYS: MC 1 for 4. BC 2 for 3.
PENALTIES: MC 11/25. BC 13/29.
REFEREES: Jim Fitzgerald, Scott Leavitt. LINESMAN: Jeff Bunyon.
ATTENDANCE: 4,328.
THREE STARS: 1. RW Jerry Buckley, BC (1-2--3).
2. LW Jim Gibson, Merrimack (2-0--2).
3. C Jack Callahan, BC (1-2--3).
BC roared out to a 4-0 lead early in the second period and fought off Merrimack
to win, 7-3. The game was 5-3 late before an ENG and PPG by BC
made it a 7-3 final, so it was closer than the score showed.
Jerry Buckley, Jack Callahan, and John Joyce each had 1-2--3 for the
Eagles, who avoided setting an all-time school record losing streak as
they ended a 5-game losing slide. Goalie Mike Sparrow played well in
turning away 34 Merrimack shots and posted his first collegiate win ever
after seven defeats, all of which have come this season.
Ian Moran and Rob Canavan returned to the lineup for BC. Neither were
significant factors, although Moran did score the empty-netter that made
it 6-3 and sealed the win.
Despite being outshot by Merrimack 14-13 in the first, BC scored twice
to take a 2-0 lead. At 4:02, Todd Hall dumped it in and it bounced off
the back board to Joyce, who fired a shot on Mike Doneghey that was
stopped but Marc Beran was right there to put in the rebound. Joyce
made it 2-0 on the power play at 16:42 when Merrimack tried to get too
cute and breakout instead of just clearing the puck; BC kept it in and
after shots by Callahan and Buckley, Joyce put home the second rebound.
Although Merrimack had the shot advantage, most of their shots came from
near the blue line.
Two goals in 29 seconds early in the second put BC up 4-0, a lead they
would not relinquish. Callahan scored his 13th of the year at 4:25 when
he crashed the net and slammed home the rebound of Rob Laferriere's shot.
Then at 4:54, that line clicked again when the trailer, Laferriere, was
left uncovered and after receiving a pass from Buckley, he skated in
backwards and slipped a backhander between Doneghey's pads for a pretty
goal. At this point, all of BC's three even strength goals had come
with the Merrimack line of Naylor-Fowler-Atkinson on the ice; they did not
have a good night.
Merrimack began to pressure and got a golden opportunity when Beran got
a major for slashing at 11:23 after laying a two-hander on Tom Costa that
broke his stick and appeared to injure his hand. They went up 5x3 at
15:15 after a battle resulted in several players in the box from each
side and an extra non-coincidental penalty to BC's Hall. On the 5x3,
Jim Gibson got Merrimack on the board at 16:08 when he scored on the
rebound of Mark Goble's shot. Hall's minor expired at this point in a
situation I think was handled incorrectly (see my post on this, I won't
repeat the details), and the final 15 seconds of the major ran out. But
Gibson scored again at 17:41 when he took a feed from Wayde McMillan
and buried it under the crossbar from five feet out, Gibson's 10th of
the year. That made it 4-2 BC after two, setting the stage for an
exciting third.
The next goal was to be the big one, and BC got it. Buckley scored his
second of the year, third point of the game (he had only 1-4--5 coming in)
when Merrimack's forwards were caught up ice and he took a feed from
Haggerty and flipped it by Doneghey to make it 5-2. There was a lot of
neutral zone play the rest of the period that worked to BC's advantage
since they were trying to hold onto the lead. Sparrow was tested several
times but remained strong in the BC net; he probably deserved a star for
the way he played.
At 15:37, Merrimack came within two at 5-3 when Quentin Fendelet (in
College Hockey Magazine on the "All-Name Team") scored his first of the
season. Don MacLeod fired a shot from the blue line that went wide, but
Dan Gravelle got it behind the net and fed Fendelet in front for a shot
that beat Sparrow to the far side. It was also the first point of the
year in 21 games for MacLeod, a senior defenseman known more for his
defensive play.
Down two, Merrimack called time out with 2:55 left and pulled Doneghey
for a sixth attacker. The Warriors worked the puck well and nearly hit
paydirt several times, but again Sparrow was equal to the task. The
Eagles finally cleared the zone and scored an empty-netter with 2:03
left to make it 6-3 and seal the win. But as Ian Moran fought off a
defender to flip it in the empty net from 15 feet out, Teal Fowler gave
him a vicious hit from behind that got Fowler a major and resulted in
a battle between almost all players on the ice. Nothing came of it, but
when the smoke cleared five players went into the box for each team.
All were minors except for Fowler's major, and although we should have
been left with 5 min on the board for Merrimack and 2 min for BC, only
the major went up and BC was on a 5x4 power play instead of it being 4x4.
Dan Millar came in to play net for Merrimack and faced a barrage of
shots. At 18:31, Alex Weinrich went off for roughing to give BC a 5x3
advantage that should have been 4x3, and BC's Spalla completed the
scoring with 31 seconds left on the 5x3 to make it 7-3.
POSTGAME
Merrimack's poor defensive play contributed to BC building the 4-0 lead,
but the Eagles were also playing very smart hockey and seemed determined
not to get in the record books for the longest BC losing streak. There
was no apparent looking ahead to the Beanpot tonight. The defense was
clearly the difference, as BC was quick to clear rebounds and help out
Sparrow while Merrimack allowed many second and third chances for the
Eagles. Again, Merrimack struggles on the road; they are 1-8-0 on the
road in HE and have lost their last 4 road games, allowing an average
of 8.25 goals/game in that stretch. Meanwhile, since the break, they
are 4-1-1 at home and allowing an average of only 3.00 goals/game in the
last six games at the Volpe Complex. Overall, Merrimack is 6-3-2 at home,
4-10-0 on the road. Merrimack will play 6 of its last 9 games at home.
BC coach Steve Cedorchuk has to be happy with the balanced scoring his
team came up with and the strong performance they put on heading into
the Beanpot. BC will play BU Monday night in the Garden at 9 pm. Then,
BC and Merrimack will tangle again in the next game for Merrimack next
Friday night at Merrimack. The win allowed BC to regain sole possession
of 7th, only one point out of 6th, while Merrimack falls back into last
place, two points behind BC.
BC posted only its 3rd win of the year at home. They are now 3-6-1
within the confines of Conte Forum, 4-8-3 on the road.
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.) *HMN*