Friday, February 5, 1993 at Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA HOCKEY EAST GAME Boston College Eagles (8-15-4, 5-9-2 HE 6th) 1 2 2 - 5 Merrimack Warriors (10-14-2, 4-12-0 HE 8th) 0 1 3 - 4 FIRST PERIOD BC-MC 1. BC1, Michael Spalla 9 (John Joyce, Todd Hall), 2:49. 5x3 1-0 SECOND PERIOD 2. BC2, Greg Callahan 1 (unassisted), 1:16. 2-0 3. BC3, Sal Manganaro 3 (Spalla), 15:24. 3-0 4. MC1, Matt Adams 4 (Dan Gravelle, Bryan Miller), 16:40. 3-1 THIRD PERIOD 5. MC2, Wayde McMillan 14 (Jim Gibson, Cooper Naylor), 4:42. PPG 3-2 6. BC4, Jerry Buckley 3 (Brett Stickney), 7:39. 4-2 7. MC3, Gibson 11 (unassisted), 9:09. 4-3 8. BC5, David Hymovitz 4 (Ryan Haggerty), 18:44. ENG GWG 5-3 9. MC4, Teal Fowler 11 (Gravelle, Gibson), 19:27. 5-4 SHOTS ON GOAL: Boston College 12--9--7 = 28 Merrimack 4-10--9 = 23 SAVES: BC, Josh Singewald (W, 7-7-4, 60:00, 23 sh-19 sv). MC, Mike Doneghey (L, 9-9-1, 59:14, 27-23). POWER PLAYS: BC 1 for 6. MC 1 for 3. PENALTIES: BC 6/15. MC 10/20. REFEREES: Steve McBride, John Gravallese. LINESMAN: Bill Jones. ATTENDANCE: 1,407. THREE STARS: 1. D Michael Spalla, BC (1-1--2). 2. LW Jim Gibson, Merrimack (1-2--3). 3. RW Jerry Buckley, BC (1-0--1). In a game that set college hockey back about 25 years both on and off the ice, BC opened up a 3-0 lead and held on to defeat Merrimack, 5-4. The Eagles took the season series from Merrimack, 2 games to 1, and moved into 6th place with the win by virtue of slumping Northeastern's loss to Providence. The game was marred by four incidents of tennis balls being thrown onto the ice by Merrimack fans. Two delay of game penalties resulted, after the 2nd and 3rd incidents, although BC did not score on the ensuing power plays. After the fourth incident, in which only one ball was thrown, security personnel with the help of referee Steve McBride located the person who threw it and he was escorted from the rink. Merrimack coaches and players were clearly not happy at this display by their "fans". The game was a slow one, very physical at times and bordering on cheap occasionally. Neither team played very well although the Eagles came up with the big goals when they needed them and were able to prevent Merrimack from putting together much of an offense. However, considering that this was yet another game that was vital to Merrimack's quest to not finish last, the team did not come out and play inspired hockey and certainly did not deserve to win. One thing that was nice to see (or hear) was the addition of an organ player at the Volpe. It gave the game more of a hockey-like atmosphere as opposed to the rock music that is usually played here and at most rinks. Merrimack doesn't have a band, but the organ really makes a difference, to me anyway, and it seemed popular enough that it will be continued the rest of the season (except for tomorrow night, when the guy can't make it). THE GAME After two early penalties to Merrimack, BC found itself with a 5x3 and they were quick to capitalize. At 2:49, John Joyce carried the puck into the zone after a line change, pulled up and passed across to Michael Spalla at the center of the blue line. Spalla's low, hard shot beat Mike Doneghey through the 5-hole to make it 1-0, Spalla's 9th. With two defensemen out of the lineup for BC (Ian Moran day-to-day with an unknown injury, Tom Ashe with a sprained wrist last Friday), Spalla was moved back to defense where he started at BC two years ago, and the Eagles only skated five Ds tonight in total. BC dominated play for much of the period, outshooting Merrimack 12-4, but it remained 1-0 at the buzzer. BC went up 2-0 1:16 into the second when defenseman Greg Callahan grabbed the puck at center ice, skated into the zone and took a shot that went off a defender's skate and through Doneghey's pads. It was Callahan's first collegiate goal. The Eagles started to sit back a little, having a two goal lead, and nothing much happened until about 9 minutes in when Merrimack put together its best scoring chance of the game to that point. Tom Costa fed Dan Gravelle who had sneaked in close behind the D and Gravelle put a shot on that Josh Singewald turned behind the net. Gravelle got his rebound and tried to wheel around and stuff it, but his weak backhander went off the side of the net. Singewald was making his first start since returning from the knee injury he had suffered on January 15th, although he did appear in relief of Mike Sparrow in Monday's Beanpot loss to BU. He wasn't tested much on the night, at least until the third period. At 9:36, BC's Don Chase and Merrimack's Costa got tangled up and both were whistled for matching penalties, but the Merrimack fans thought only Costa was being called. They tossed dozens of tennis balls on the ice and were warned not to throw any more, but we knew this wasn't going to be the last of this since Merrimack hadn't scored its first goal yet. Merrimack nearly scored a little later when Jim Gibson stole the puck in the corner and fed Wayde McMillan in front for a shot that was stopped; John Barron got the rebound and tried to stuff it but Singewald was able to block the attempt with his glove. At 15:24, Spalla got the puck at center ice and fed Sal Managanaro who had just come off the bench. Manganaro's blast from the right circle beat Doneghey to the stick side and a 3-0 lead. The Warriors finally put together a great rush and it resulted in their first goal. Unfortunately, it also resulted in more tennis balls and a delay of game penalty. On the goal, which came at 16:40, Gravelle fed Bryan Miller at the bottom of the left circle, and Miller passed cross-ice to Matt Adams who flipped it into the net before Singewald could get over to stop it. After the delay of game penalty was announced and Ryan Mailhiot headed to the box to serve it, the fans got several nasty looks from the Merrimack players. The Eagles controlled the puck well on the power play and rang the pipe once, but they didn't score. Then, with the period winding down, Merrimack dumped the puck in, and after Singewald covered it up, Teal Fowler came in and knocked Singewald over which was unnecessary. BC defenseman Ron Pascucci hammered Fowler with a vicious cross-check to the head, and both players ended up in the box - Fowler for charging, and Pascucci for cross-checking, a major. The teams began to skate 4x4 and BC ended the period up 3-1. With Fowler's penalty winding down in the third and Merrimack about to go on a power play for the final three minutes of the major, Gravelle took a bad hooking penalty behind the play, and Merrimack had to play short- handed for 36 seconds and then 4x4 again for another 1:24. When Gravelle returned to the ice, there was only 1:36 left on the major. But Merrimack did score on the unlimited power play with 5 seconds left on it. At 4:42, Gibson fed McMillan off the bench, and McMillan blasted one past Singewald from the right circle for his 14th of the year - one of many goals scored tonight on line changes. That made it 3-2 BC. But since more tennis balls came on the ice, the rest of the major was negated by the delay of game penalty Merrimack received, its 2nd. Some of the tennis balls came from the BC side and Merrimack argued this with the referees, but it is still the home team's job to police this - and besides, 1) some came from youths who had gathered up some of the balls from the previous time and just happened to be standing near the glass on that side, and 2) still more came from the Merrimack side anyway. Merrimack killed off the penalty, but the Eagles took a 4-2 lead at 7:39 when Jerry Buckley's shot from the blue line found net just underneath the crossbar. Gibson cut it to a goal again at 9:09 when he intercepted a pass at center ice and blasted the puck by Singewald's glove from just inside the blue line - and another tennis ball came on, but as I said earlier, referee McBride helped security remove the tosser from the rink and no penalty was issued. The players were clearly frustrated with the fans. BC had a great scoring chance when Todd Hall hit Manganaro with a pass that nearly set up a breakaway, but Mark Cornforth stayed right with him and tied him up so that he couldn't get a shot off. With BC skating only 5 Ds and 13 forwards, Manganaro was listed as the extra forward, but he played well in that reserve role. Under two minutes and down 4-3, Merrimack pulled Doneghey for a sixth attacker, but after some pressure, BC forced the puck out of the zone. First Ryan Haggerty knocked it away from one Merrimack player and sent it towards the empty net, and then when a defenseman couldn't control it, David Hymovitz swooped in and pushed it through his legs for an empty- netter and a 5-3 lead. That goal would prove to be the winner, oddly enough, since Merrimack pulled Doneghey again and scored with 33 seconds left to make it 5-4; Fowler took the puck out of a crowd behind the net and his centering pass went off a defenseman's skate and between Singewald's legs. BC buckled down after that and held on for the nailbiting win. POST GAME This was Merrimack's first loss at home since January 8th, as they had won their last three HE games within the so-called friendly confines of the Volpe Complex. Merrimack lost a chance to move back into a tie for 7th-place with BC, not to mention taking the season series. But missing several key players, BC nonetheless pulled together and played well early on to open up the 3-0 lead on the road and got the two big goals they needed in the third that enabled them to escape with the win. BC is off Saturday night and will play Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation Monday night. BC returns to HE action next Friday night at home against UMass-Lowell. Merrimack will host UNH Saturday night as UNH attempts to sweep the season series from Merrimack; the Wildcats won two games on Jan 8-9 by virtue of outstanding third period performances in which they scored four unanswered goals the first night and five unanswered goals the second. UNH will try to regain third place in HE from Providence with a win over Merrimack. --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors (Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.) *HMN*