Sunday, February 6, 1994 at Mullins Center, Amherst, MA NONCONFERENCE GAME Merrimack Warriors (12-14-2) 1 2 1 - 4 Mass Amherst Minutemen (17-8-0) 0 0 1 - 1 FIRST PERIOD MC-MA 1. MC1, Chris Ross 3 (Quentin Fendelet, Eric Weichselbaumer), 5:44. 1-0 SECOND PERIOD 2. MC2, Jim Gibson 7 (Tom Johnson, Cooper Naylor), 10:19. PPG GWG 2-0 3. MC3, Rob Atkinson 16 (Martin Legault, John Jakopin), 14:42. PPG 3-0 THIRD PERIOD 4. MA1, Rich Alger 2 (Warren Norris, Tom Sheehan), 11:05. PPG 3-1 5. MC4, Matt Adams 13 (Atkinson, Naylor), 16:49. 4-1 SHOTS ON GOAL: Merrimack 9--7--7 = 23 Mass Amherst 10--5-13 = 28 SAVES: MC, Martin Legault (W, 10-13-2, 57:31, 28 sh-27 sv), Matt Poska (2:29, 0-0). MA, Rich Moriarty (L, 5-4-0, 23-19). POWER PLAYS: MC 2 for 3. MA 1 for 8. PENALTIES: MC 9/18. MA 4/8. REFEREES: John Melanson, Frank Cole. LINESMAN: Drew Taylor. ATTENDANCE: 2,632 (capacity 8,389). MIKE'S THREE STARS: 1. G Martin Legault, Merrimack (28 sh-27 sv). 2. C Warren Norris, Mass Amherst (0-1--1). 3. C Rob Atkinson, Merrimack (1-1--2). In a rare Sunday afternoon tilt played at the gorgeous new William D. Mullins Center in Amherst, Merrimack handed the host Massachusetts Amherst Minutemen their first home loss of the season, 4-1. UMass was 12-0-0 in the Mullins Center prior to the game, but Merrimack is the only full time DivI team to make a trip to Amherst this season. The loss ended UMass's slate of games against full time DivI teams, and they finish with a mark of 1-6-0, scoring 16 goals and allowing 50. But UMass, which skated 17 freshmen, one junior and one senior today, is clearly a vastly improved team from the one which lost 8-2 at Merrimack on October 23. The Minutemen skated right with Merrimack for most of the game and had more quality scoring chances. The big difference was special teams and goaltending. Merrimack had only 3 power plays and scored on two of them, while UMass went 1 for 8. And while UMass outshot the Warriors 28-23 including 13-7 in the third, Merrimack G Martin Legault stopped 27 of 28 shots. His counterpart in the UMass net, Rich Moriarty, had a decent game but still stopped only 19 of 23 Merrimack shots. UMass was also without steady defenseman Jaynen Rissling (5-14--19 in 16 games, he is a computer science major btw), who is out indefinitely with a knee injury suffered in practice January 12. Rissling is the team's captain. Also, Blair Manning (7-20--27) was hurt at some point during warmups (or maybe was injured, tried to give it a go and could not) and his first line center spot was filled by Warren Norris and Mike Evans on various shifts. FIRST UMass had the better of the chances in the first, but it was Merrimack that went to the locker room with a 1-0 lead. Early on, UMass's Warren Norris (brother of former MSU star Dwayne) skated the puck out of the corner and nearly beat Legault. Soon afterward, Merrimack's fourth line capitalized on a bang-bang play deep in the zone. Eric Weichselbaumer dug the puck out of the corner and fed Quentin Fendelet, who redirected it to Chris Ross for a one-timer that beat Moriarty at 5:44. It was Ross's third goal of the year; his first also came against UMass earlier in the season. UMass's Rob Bonneau (23-17--40) had a great chance on the power play when he picked up a loose puck in front, but he shot it right into Legault. Evans did a nice job of running over Merrimack's Jim Gibson when Gibson tried to make a move out of the corner, and later Bonneau and Evans (2) had good bids but shot wide. SECOND UMass continued to play well, nearly tying the game when Tom Sheehan tipped a shot from the point and the puck hit the post and went wide. Merrimack answered back when Claudio Peca sent Rob Beck in alone, but Moriarty made a nice save after sticking with Beck. Beck drew a slashing call on Tom Perry, putting the Warriors on the power play, and they capitalized at 11:29. Cooper Naylor started the play in his own zone, feeding Tom Johnson at center ice, and Johnson gave it to Gibson at the blue line. Gibson skated to the left circle and his slap shot got a piece of Moriarty's right pad and went in to make it 2-0, Gibson's 7th of the year. Soon after the goal, UMass's Dennis Wright drew a hitting from behind penalty (more like hitting from the side) when he nailed Tom Costa at center ice, and Merrimack would score again to go up 3-0 at 14:42. Legault picked up an assist, his second in two games, as he fired the puck up to John Jakopin who sent Rob Atkinson in alone for the goal, Atkinson's 16th. THIRD Again, the best early chances belonged to UMass, with Norris having two good bids from in close and Perry going in alone on a breakaway but shooting it right into Legault. The Minutemen delighted the crowd at 11:05 on the power play by finally getting on the board, defenseman Rich Alger scoring his second of the year to make it 3-1. Evans started the play by passing to Norris at center ice, and Norris skated in and passed across to Alger. Alger's first shot was stopped by Legault, but the rebound came right back to Alger and he easily put it in. UMass would pick up some momentum after the play and Alger nearly scored another, firing a hard shot from the left point that Legault flashed the glove on. Merrimack regained the three goal lead at 16:49 on Matt Adams' 13th as the first line got in the act, Adams depositing a feed from Atkinson. With 2:29 left, Legault came out for senior Matt Poska who would not see a shot the rest of the way despite UMass being up a man in the closing minutes. And in a strange twist, defenseman Mark Cornforth swapped places with Chris Ross and played forward on the fourth line for most of the period. Cornforth rushes the puck so much as it is, why not let him try it out up front, I guess. POSTGAME Most people expected UMass to be better but that Merrimack would still dominate the game, so it is a tribute to the Minutemen that they played pretty evenly with the Warriors and even outplayed them in stretches. I recall the questions that were raised when Joe Mallen got the job, supposedly ahead of guys like Jeff Jackson and Shawn Walsh, but I am very impressed with the job Mallen is doing. He is constantly encouraging his young team, taking time out to explain things to them and doing as much teaching as coaching. UMass is clearly well coached, disciplined and with a solid enough nucleus to be competitive in HE before long. Forwards like Norris, Wagar, Bonneau, and Wright are all solid skaters and move the puck well, and defensemen like Alger, Rissling when he returns, and Latulippe are going to be good players. The two freshman goalies, Moriarty and Kilduff, don't get fooled much and will give the Minutemen dependable netminding. No one expects UMass to be contenders right away and they may not win many if any league games next season, but they are clearly DivI material and can look forward to building a program that should be among the tops in the nation before long. If you can be happy with a loss, I'd think Mallen is happy with this one. His team was always in the game and could have made it interesting in the third; a PPG would have made it 3-2 at one point. They need work on their special teams, but at even strength, Merrimack only outscored them 2-0. Merrimack seemed a bit sluggish this afternoon, playing its third game in five days, but two points is two points and they did what they had to do to win. Especially on the larger ice surface, it looked like the Warriors were tired and Ron Anderson was changing up lines much more quickly than usual. Merrimack is off till Friday night, when they play their third straight HE game vs BC at Chestnut Hill and then travel to UNH Saturday. UMass is off till Feb 15 when they play at DivII St Anselm, and they return home to host DivIII Sacred Heart Feb 19. UMass closes with games at North Adams Feb 22 and home vs RIT Feb 25. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93 <<<<< Color Voice of the (12-14-2) Merrimack Warriors WCCM 800 AM >>>>>