at BC 3, Mass Lowell 1 UNH 8 at PC 3 BU 5 at Merrimack 4 Worst officiated game I've seen this season. Maybe ever. OK, definitely ever. Too bad because it obscured what was otherwise an exciting game played between these two teams that seem to be becoming bitter rivals, and you know how rarely I complain about the officiating. You know things are bad when with 1:31 left, Merrimack draws a penalty and pulls the goalie to still have 5 skaters - and referee Rich Fowkes complains about the extra player until MC's Dan Hodge has to tell him that hey, we pulled the goalie! BU was 4 of *16* on the power play. Merrimack was 1 of 11. Merrimack drew 25 penalties for 50 minutes to BU's 23 for 50. Near the end of the first period, BU coach Jack Parker was ejected by referee Scott Leavitt after the two got into a shouting match - it was like an argument between an umpire and a manager. Strange situation - Merrimack's Cornforth had hammered a BU player (Friedman?) after the whistle and somehow it looked like Prendergast was going to get called instead of Friedman. Prendergast must have said the no-no word because he was immediately hit with a misconduct - AND a game misconduct (not a DQ). Parker was upset that Prendergast was run without warning, and he ended up getting a bench minor and game misconduct too. Assistant coach Dave Silk finished out the game coaching the team. However, I was amazed that 1) Leavitt ran Prendergast as quickly as he did, 2) Leavitt ran Parker for what seemed like a minor incident, and 3) Leavitt engaged in a heated shouting match with Parker, having to be restrained by fellow referee Fowkes. Anyway, the game...box will come sometime, probably Sun, but some details. BU led 2-1 after one on 2 PPGs. Merrimack went up 3-2 in the second before BU tied it on a goal I thought should have been disallowed. On the power play, Joubert set up in front of the net and as the puck came to Coleman at the left circle, Joubert laid a two-hander on Merrimack D Dan Hodge's back, pushing Hodge away from the night long enough for Joubert to screen Legault uncontested and for Coleman to fire the puck past Legault. Leavitt was right there to see the penalty and the goal, and he refused to make the obvious call. The problem with this was that up until this moment of the second, Leavitt and Fowkes had set the stage by calling everything very tightly, even to the point of being ridiculous. Letting Joubert's infraction go was very inconsistent. Of course, the officiating was brutal for both sides tonight. There was one situation in the second where players were literally brawling yet play continued. I still don't know how it didn't break out into one of those free for alls. Cornforth, who had two goals tonight, scored his second 4:00 into the third to put Merrimack up 4-3. But the penalties continued, and BU's Brennan tied it on yet another power play halfway through the period, Brennan's 2nd of the game. Mike Grier got a huge cheer from the BU section when he scored the eventual winner with 7:48 left. With 48 penalties called tonight, and the teams scheduled to tangle again down at BU Saturday, almost everyone I talked to afterward was concerned that this final meeting of the regular season between the teams could turn into a bloodbath. Let's hope not. For Merrimack, after such a poor showing last weekend, it seemed that things had turned 180 degrees by tonight. The freshman forwards who had been so quiet were flying everywhere and came up with two big goals (Beck, Johnson). Legault was amazing. Credit BU goalie J.P. McKersie too, despite allowing four goals he earned the #1 star by making big save after big save down the stretch. From the Merrimack view, this is one of those games you don't mind losing...though the players themselves clearly thought they lost a game they should have won. Tomorrow, I'll look for BU's forwards who were kept virtually scoreless tonight (Pandolfo - 0-1--1; Joubert - 0-1--1; Thornton, Pomichter, Friedman 0-0--0) to break out in front of the home crowd. BU is 17-5-0, 11-3-0 HE. Merrimack drops to 9-13-2, 2-10-2 HE. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93 <<<<<< Color Voice of the (9-13-2) Merrimack Warriors WCCM 800 AM >>>>>