Saturday, January 8, 1994 at Volpe Center, North Andover, MA HOCKEY EAST GAME New Hampshire Wildcats (14-4-1, 5-3-1 HE) 0 1 2 - 3 Merrimack Warriors (9-9-1, 2-6-1 HE) 2 1 3 - 6 FIRST PERIOD MC-NH 1. MC1, Cooper Naylor 9 (Dan Hodge), 5:12. PPG 1-0 2. MC2, Hodge 7 (Matt Adams, Rob Atkinson), 7:15. 2-0 SECOND PERIOD 3. NH1, Glenn Stewart 8 (Tom Nolan), 1:03. 2-1 4. MC3, Mark Goble 4 (Ziggy Marszalek, Jim Gibson), 14:52. 3-1 THIRD PERIOD 5. MC4, Adams 9 (Naylor, Hodge), 4:41. GWG 4-1 6. NH2, Nick Poole 8 (Eric Flinton, Mike Sullivan), 10:30. 4-2 7. MC5, Mark Cornforth 2 (unassisted), 13:24. 5-2 8. NH3, Rob Donovan 8 (Jason Dexter), 15:39. 6x5 5-3 9. MC6, Gibson 5 (Claudio Peca), 18:47. PPG ENG 6-3 SHOTS ON GOAL: New Hampshire 13-10-12 = 35 Merrimack 10--6--6 = 22 SAVES: NH, Trent Cavicchi (7:15, 5 sh-3 sv), Mike Heinke (51:24, L, 7-2-1, 16-13). MC, Martin Legault (60:00, W, 7-9-1, 35-32). POWER PLAYS: NH 0 for 7. MC 2 for 5. PENALTIES: NH 9/26. MC 11/22. REFEREES: Steve McBride, Rich Fowkes. LINESMAN: Chuck Wynters. ATTENDANCE: 652. THREE STARS: 1. G Martin Legault, MC (35 sh-32 sv). 2. D Dan Hodge, MC (1-2--3). 3. RW Matt Adams, MC (1-1--2, GWG). Defenseman Dan Hodge's goal and two assists helped Merrimack to its second win of the season over a top 5 ranked team, 6-3 over UNH. The Warriors were outshot 35-22 in the game, but goalie Martin Legault turned aside all but three to get the win. Merrimack was unable to move out of last place in the HE standings because both BC and PC, within 2 points of the Warriors prior to tonight, pulled off upset wins of their own over NU and BU respectively. That's either a sign that the top teams are struggling, or that the weaker HE teams are starting to come on and make a name for themselves. Probably a little of both. FIRST Trent Cavicchi, who has split the action in the UNH net pretty evenly with the superb Mike Heinke and has similar stats, started the game but was yanked by coach Dick Umile just 7:15 into the first. Merrimack got on the board at 5:12 on the power play when Cooper Naylor's shot from the blue line beat Cavicchi. Just 2:03 later, Hodge blasted one from the right point that went right through the five-hole, and Heinke quickly relieved Cavicchi with the score 2-0 Merrimack. He would shut down the hosts for just over a period. UNH had several power play chances in the period, including a 5x3 late, but the Wildcats could not solve Legault. As happened Friday night, UNH seemed to have trouble getting its line combinations going and was unable to move the puck well at all. SECOND UNH came out storming and it paid off early with a goal by Glenn Stewart 1:03 in. Stewart's shot beat Legault from about 10 feet out. The rest of the period was pretty uneventful until 14:52, when Merrimack's Mark Goble wheeled in front and slipped the puck past Heinke to regain the two-goal advantage. Merrimack had been trapped with three forwards all behind the net, but they were able to work the puck to Goble who was allowed to move in front and score. UNH first line right wing Nick Poole took a heavy hit along the boards with about 5-6 minutes left and struggled to his bench before having to be helped off the ice by a teammate. He did not return for the rest of the period and this seemed to be a severe blow for the Wildcats, who were still playing without first line center Eric Royal. THIRD With Merrimack up 3-1, the next goal was bound to be a big one, and it was sort of a fluke one that went Merrimack's way. At 4:41, Hodge took a shot from the point that deflected off a defenseman but came right to Matt Adams. Adams was uncontained and with Heinke caught off guard, he easily flipped the puck into the open net to make it 4-1. Play remained pretty even till about the nine minute mark, when UNH began controlling the puck well and keeping Merrimack bottled up in their own end. Poole, who had returned for a regular shift, scored a big goal at 10:30 when he and Flinton carried up on a 2x1, with Poole beating Legault for his 8th goal. UNH continued to keep the pressure on, forcing Merrimack to ice the puck several times, and it looked like the Warriors were going into a defensive shell that might cost them against a determined Wildcat squad. But D Mark Cornforth finally got hold of the puck after one harrowing sequence that saw Legault make three tough saves, and he skated it all the way to the UNH slot and fired it past Heinke for an unassisted goal that made it 5-2. With about five and a half minutes left, Umile pulled Heinke for the extra attacker, down three, and it paid off at 15:39 when Rob Donovan scored 6x5 on a scramble right in front. Legault had no chance. Heinke continued to move back and forth between the bench and the net, returning to his crease when there was a faceoff and coming out when his team gained control, but UNH wasn't able to score. Then UNH's chances for a comeback were all but dashed when freshman Tom Nolan took a bad elbowing penalty away from the play at 17:08. Nolan ran Jim Gibson hard into the corner of the glass in front of the penalty box, putting Merrimack on a power play. Heinke came out to even the sides at 5x5, but UNH had shot after shot turned away by Legault along with making too many passes without shooting at some times. Finally, the game was iced at 18:47 when Merrimack got control and Claudio Peca fed Gibson for an easy empty-netter to make it 6-3. Donovan was upset at something and was called for a misconduct right after the goal, but by that time all was said and done. POSTGAME After the Friday game, won by UNH 6-3, I thought that Merrimack had a good chance to beat the Wildcats back in their home rink where they usually give UNH fits, and I turned out to be right. Merrimack played a good game defensively in front of Legault, who made several big saves along the way to earn the win. The Warriors didn't make the kind of bad mistakes that they had made the night before in the loss. On the other side, UNH really had trouble getting its offense going except for stretches in the second and third. The loss of Royal, forcing lines to be juggled, seems to have upset the delicate balance of the forwards that had staked UNH to such an outstanding start. Only time will tell if they'll get it together again before Royal returns; he had an MRI on his shoulder today but no results were available yet. Heinke initially played strong in relief of Cavicchi, but he too gave up a couple of goals he probably should have had, especially the Adams goal when he was caught off guard and the Cornforth goal, which he seemed to see all the way. The move to replace Cavicchi with Heinke so early in the game really can't be second-guessed since Heinke played so well for better than a period before allowing his first goal. Goaltending was not the Wildcats' problem tonight. For Merrimack, it was yet another example of a strong second performance against a good team after losing the night before. After getting blown out at BU 10-4 in December, the Warriors rebounded to only lose 4-3 in a game that was one of their better performances of the season. This young team continues to get better and better and doesn't break under pressure, a good sign with the rest of the HE schedule ahead. Other than being swept by BU and Maine, Merrimack is 2-2-1 in HE play. Last season, Merrimack went 0-8-0 against BU and Maine but 8-8-0 against the rest of HE. UNH will look to rebound quickly with a big game Wed Jan 12 at Northeastern, a NESN telecast. The Wildcats will then host NU on Fri Jan 14. Earlier this season, the two teams battled to a 6-6 tie at NU. Merrimack meets Valley rival Mass Lowell in a home and home next Fri-Sat, Friday's game at UML's Tully Forum. Saturday's rematch at Merrimack between UML and MC will be shown on NESN on delay Sunday night Jan 16. The last time the two teams met was at Lowell in the final game of the 1992-93 regular season, when Mark Goble scored the tying goal late in regulation and the winner in OT to allow Merrimack to vault over BC and finish in 6th place. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93 <<<<<< Color Voice of the (9-9-1) Merrimack Warriors WCCM 800 AM >>>>>>