2/21/93 Hockey East Overall GP W-L-T Pts GF-GA || GP W-L-T GF-GA =============================================== 1 !Maine 20 18-1-1 37 136-50 || 34 31-1-2 224-80 2 !Boston University 21 15-5-1 31 105-72 || 31 22-7-2 152-99 3 New Hampshire 21 10-10-1 21 93-89 || 31 15-14-2 131-122 4 UMass-Lowell 21 10-11-0 20 92-88 || 32 18-14-0 137-121 Providence 21 9-10-2 20 78-89 || 31 16-13-2 129-117 6 Merrimack 21 7-14-0 14 77-125 || 31 13-16-2 122-154 7 Boston College 20 5-13-2 12 65-97 || 32 8-20-4 99-153 8 Northeastern 21 5-15-1 11 76-112 || 30 9-20-1 118-163 !-current position is where team will finish. Only Maine & BU have clinched home ice for quarterfinals (top 4 teams host best of 2 w/sudden death if series tied). RESULTS 02/19/93 New Hampshire 4 at Boston College 3 HE 02/19/93 Boston University 7 at Maine 6 HE ot 02/19/93 Northeastern 3 at Merrimack 7 HE 02/19/93 UMass-Lowell 3 at Providence 7 HE 02/20/93 Boston University 1 at Maine 6 HE 02/20/93 Providence 2 at UMass-Lowell 4 HE 02/20/93 Boston College 1 at New Hampshire 6 HE 02/20/93 Merrimack 2 at Northeastern 1 HE UPCOMING 02/26/93 Providence at Boston College HE NESN 02/26/93 New Hampshire at UMass-Lowell HE 02/26/93 Maine at Merrimack HE 02/26/93 Boston University at Northeastern HE 02/27/93 Northeastern at Boston University HE 02/27/93 Maine at Merrimack HE 02/27/93 UMass-Lowell at New Hampshire HE NESN - DB 2/28 02/27/93 Boston College at Providence HE 03/02/93 Boston College at Maine HE 03/05/93 Northeastern at Boston College HE 03/05/93 Boston University at Providence HE NESN 03/06/93 New Hampshire at Maine HE 03/06/93 Merrimack at UMass-Lowell HE (end of regular season) 03/12-13 Hockey East Quarterfinals (best of 2, sudden death if series tied) 03/19/93 Hockey East Semifinals at Boston Garden, 5:00 (NESN)/8:00 (NESN) 03/20/93 Hockey East Cons/Champ at Boston Garden, 5:00/8:00 (NESN) RECAP BU ended at least 10 Maine streaks including 32 without a loss and 49 at home without a loss, as well as 18 without a loss in HE and 44 without a loss in regular season play, when Mike Prendergast scored 1:50 into overtime Friday night to give BU a 7-6 win at Maine after the Terriers had trailed 6-2 halfway through the game. BU goalie Scott Cashman came in in relief of starter J.P. McKersie and played superbly to help his team to the comeback win. A win or tie by Maine would have tied the NC$$ record for longest unbeaten streak in a season. Maine came back to win the next night, 6-1, and wrapped up its second straight HE regular season title, third overall, in 9 years of HE play. BC has won the other six regular season titles. Elsewhere, Merrimack swept Northeastern, 7-3 and 2-1, on the strength of Matt Adams' three weekend goals and goalie Mike Doneghey's .944 weekend save percentage, to climb from last into sole possession of sixth place. UNH also swept BC, 4-3 and 6-1, to take sole possession of third and greatly improve its chances of gaining home ice for the quarterfinals. Providence and UMass-Lowell split their series with each team winning at home, 7-3 PC (hat trick by Gary Socha) and 4-2 UML. Both PC and UML are now tied for 4th, one point behind UNH. PLAYOFF PICTURE Maine and BU have clinched home ice for the best-of-2 quarterfinal round. Maine clinched first place with its win over BU Saturday night, by virtue of its 3-1-0 head-to-head record vs BU, and will host the last-place team in the quarterfinals. BU has clinched 2nd and host the 7th place team in the quarterfinals. The picture involving the other six teams is a little cloudy. Here's how each team's chances look in order of their current standings. UNH, PC & UML are dueling for the final two home ice spots, while Merrimack, BC & NU are fighting for 6th-8th. Merrimack and BC still have mathematical chances to finish higher than 6th, but both teams would need to win all remaining games at least, and Merrimack has Maine twice with BC playing Maine once, so I am not considering those situations - but keep them in mind in case upsets happen. League records are in parentheses. 3 NEW HAMPSHIRE (10-10-1, 21 pts) Games remaining: 3 Home: UML Away: UML, Maine Outlook: Split series with PC (2-2-0), series with UML is tied 1-1-0. Clinches home ice with 3 points vs UML. Figuring on loss vs Maine, UNH's last chance to control its own destiny comes next weekend. Anything less than 3 of 4 pts means Wildcats probably need help. 4 UMASS-LOWELL (10-11-0, 20 pts) Games remaining: 3 Home: UNH, MC Away: UNH Outlook: Split series with PC (2-2-0), series with UNH is tied 1-1-0. Probably wins tiebreaker vs PC due to league wins unless teams tie at 10-12-2 or 11-11-2 - then PC wins tiebreaker due to better record vs Maine (UML 0-3-0, PC 0-2-1). Split with UNH means UML probably needs win vs Merrimack to finish above Wildcats. Sweep of UNH guarantees home ice. 4 PROVIDENCE (9-10-2, 20 pts) Games remaining: 3 Home: BC, BU Away: BC Outlook: Split series with UML (2-2-0) and UNH (2-2-0). Probably loses tiebreaker vs UML - see UML. Can clinch home ice by winning final three games, if UNH loses to Maine. (Then, it is PC & either UML or UNH.) 6 MERRIMACK (7-14-0, 14 pts) Games remaining: 3 Home: Maine, Maine Away: UML Outlook: Loses tiebreaker with BC, 1-2-0. Series tied with NU 2-2-0. Wins tiebreaker with NU due to league wins UNLESS Merrimack goes 0-2-1 over last 3 games and NU goes 2-1-0 - then teams tie with 15 pts (7-16-1) and NU wins tiebreaker due to better record vs BU. Needs help to finish above BC because 2 of MC's last 3 are vs Maine; might need win vs UML but can clinch 7th if NU does not get at least one win vs BU. 7 BOSTON COLLEGE (5-13-2, 12 pts) Games remaining: 4 Home: PC, NU Away: PC, Maine Outlook: Wins tiebreaker vs Merrimack, 2-1-0. Leads series vs NU, 1-0-1. Has easier schedule than Merrimack but probably needs at least a win vs PC. Might come down to final game vs NU. If BC loses to NU and finishes tied with NU with identical records, NU wins tiebreaker due to better record vs BU (unless BC beats or ties Maine). 8 NORTHEASTERN (5-15-1, 11 pts) Games remaining: 3 Home: BU Away: BU, BC Outlook: Loses tiebreaker vs Merrimack except in situation in which NU goes 2-1-0 over last 3 and Merrimack goes 0-2-1. Trails series with BC, 0-1-1. Might come down to final game vs BC for last place, can finish higher with help and with at least a win against BU. Wins tiebreaker with BC if NU beats BC and both BC and NU have identical records, due to better record vs BU (unless BC beats or ties Maine). NEXT WEEKEND Merrimack hosts Maine for two games, and the other three series are home- and-homes: BC-PC, UNH-UML, BU-NU. The big one is UNH-UML, a battle between two of the three teams fighting for home ice. NU will probably need at least one win against BU to not finish in the cellar, and both BC (fighting to not finish last) and PC (fighting for home ice) can help their situations immensely by doing well. HE 3 LEADING SCORERS THROUGH FEB 20 PLAYER/CLASS/POS/SCHOOL GP G A PTS 1 Paul Kariya/Fr/LW/Maine 28 21-58--79 2 Jim Montgomery/Sr/C/Maine 34 20-49--69 3 Cal Ingraham/Jr/RW/Maine 34 35-30--65 HE 5 LEADING GOALIES THROUGH FEB 13 PLAYER/CLASS/SCHOOL GP W-L-T SV% GAA 1 Garth Snow/Sr/UM 15 13-0-1 .919 2.00 2 Mike Dunham/Jr/UM 18 17-0-1 .901 2.38 3 Scott Cashman/Sr/BU 12 8-2-0 .909 2.74 4 Derek Herlofsky/So/BU 13 7-4-1 .891 2.75 5 J.P. McKersie/So/BU 8 6-0-1 .879 3.56 LAST WEEK'S PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (from HE release 2/15/93) HE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Dan O'Connell, Sr RW, UMass-Lowell: O'Connell scored five goals in a two-game sweep of BC, with a hat trick and the game winner on Friday night and two goals on Saturday. He was the first star in both contests. Honor Roll: Michael Spalla, BC; David Sacco, BU; Garth Snow, Maine; Brett Abel, UNH; Brad Mullahy, PC. HE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK Paul Kariya, LW, Maine: Kariya tallied three goals, including one game winner, and two assists in the weekend sweep of Northeastern, breaking the league assist and point records for freshmen set by Ken Hodge. Jay Pandolfo, LW, BU: Pandolfo tallied 3-2--5 on the weekend sweep of Merrimack, including a hat trick in Friday's 6-2 win. Honor Roll: David Hymovitz, BC; Christian Sbrocca, UML. KARIYA WATCH (2/21/93) Paul Kariya had no goals and seven assists in the two games against BU, tallying three assists Friday and four on Saturday. His scoring streak stands at 28 games, his entire collegiate career. He now has 21-58--79 in 28 games, 14-44--58 in 20 HE games. He is 7 assists away from tying Craig Janney's (BC) record of 51 assists in a HE season. The HE record for scoring in consecutive league games is 22 (Clark Donatelli, BU, and Janney), and Kariya can equal that with at least a point in each of Maine's two games next weekend at Merrimack. MONTGOMERY: ONE FOR THE BOOKS Maine senior captain Jim Montgomery had 3-2--5 in the games vs BU to give him 20-49--69 on the season and 91-184--275 for his career. His second goal Friday night broke what is considered to be the Eastern record for points in a career. That was held by Cornell's Lance Nethery who had 91-180--271 from 1975-79. The all-time record is held by Phil Latreille of Middlebury who had 250-96--346 from 1957-61, but not everyone recognizes Latreille's record because of the caliber of competition Middlebury played in those days. Montgomery would still have a long ways to go to break the Western record, which I believe is held by MSU's Tom Ross with 138-186--324 from 1973-76. ONE MORE WEEKEND BOX Fri Feb 19 at Schneider Arena, Providence, RI UMass-Lowell (17-14-0, 9-11-0 HE) 2 0 1 - 3 Providence (16-12-2, 9-9-2 HE) 3 2 2 - 7 FIRST: PC, LaVarre (Charette) 12:43; PC, Socha (Devine) 14:28; UML, Daw (Murray, Pensa) 14:55; UML, Mahoney (Stevens) 16:03; PC, Paskowski (un) 16:27. SECOND: PC, Kramer (Quenneville) 12:45; PC, Socha (Breen, Devine) 15:48. THIRD: PC, Breen (Cowan, Ridolfi) 4:31; PC, Socha (Therien, Darby)(pp) 10:22; UML, Pensa (Henry)(pp) 17:05. SHOTS: PC 19-12-11--42, UML 8-8-8--24. PP: PC 1/5, UML 1/7. SAVES: PC, Mullahy 21. UML, Roloson 35. REFEREES: Fitzgerald, Taylor. LINESMAN: Good. ATT: 1,474. --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors (Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.) *HMN*