Sunday, January 8, 1995 at Volpe Center, North Andover, MA
HOCKEY EAST GAME
New Hampshire Wildcats (12-4-3, 5-3-3 0 HE 4th) 0 2 1 0 - 3
Merrimack Warriors (6-11-4, 3-6-4 3 HE 6th) 0 0 3 0 - 3
(Merrimack wins sudden death shootout, 3-2)
FIRST PERIOD NH-MC
No scoring.
SECOND PERIOD
1. NH1, Dean Woodman 3 (Eric Boguniecki, Kent Schmidtke), 7:58. PPG 1-0
2. NH2, Steve Pleau 9 (Boguniecki, Mike Sullivan), 14:03. 2-0
THIRD PERIOD
3. MC1, John Jakopin 1 (Martin Laroche, Tom Johnson), 7:47. 2-1
4. MC2, Gaetan Poirier 5 (Mark Goble), 8:16. 2-2
5. NH3, Eric Royal 10 (Ted Russell), 14:45. 3-2
6. MC3, Chris Davis 2 (Poirier, Mark Cornforth), 15:15. 3-3
OVERTIME
No scoring.
SHOOTOUT
UNH: 1 Mowers, 2 Flinton (goal), 3 Royal (goal), 4 Poole, 5 Hall,
6 Mowers
MC: 1 Beck, 2 Kesselring, 3 Adams, 4 Goble (goal), 5 Cornforth (goal),
6 Beck (goal)
SHOTS ON GOAL: New Hampshire 18--9-11--3 = 41
Merrimack 7-17-11--4 = 39
SAVES: UNH, Mike Heinke (T, 5-1-3, 65:00, 39 sh-36 sv).
MC, Eric Thibeault (T, 2-1-1, 65:00, 41 sh-38 sv).
POWER PLAYS: New Hampshire 1 for 5. Merrimack 0 for 5.
PENALTIES: New Hampshire 7/14. Merrimack 7/14.
REFEREES: John Gravallese, Tim Benedetto. LINESMAN: Chuck Wynters.
ATTENDANCE: 1,462 (capacity 3,617).
THREE STARS: 1. G Eric Thibeault, Merrimack (41 sh-38 sv, 6 sh-4 sv in SO).
2. LW Gaetan Poirier, Merrimack (1-1--2).
3. RW Eric Boguniecki, UNH (0-2--2).
Third-period goals by John Jakopin, Gaetan Poirier and Chris Davis allowed
Merrimack to erase a 2-0 deficit after two periods and gain a 3-3 tie
with visiting New Hampshire in a Sunday night HE game televised live by
NESN.
Eric Boguniecki contributed assists on each of the goals that staked
UNH to that 2-0 lead, as Dean Woodman, Steve Pleau, and Eric Royal all
scored for the Wildcats.
Shots were 41-39 for UNH, and in a game that was full of wide open play,
hard hitting and exciting action, both goaltenders shone and played well.
Mike Heinke stopped 36 shots for UNH, while Eric Thibeault turned aside
38 for Merrimack. Thibeault stopped all 18 shots he faced in the
scoreless first, and Heinke stepped up to stop all 17 Merrimack shots
in the second.
In the ensuing shootout, UNH took a 2-0 lead after 3 rounds on goals by
Eric Flinton and Royal. Since Heinke had stopped the first 3 Merrimack
shots, it came down to one shot four straight times, but the momentum
suddenly shifted to the home team. Thibeault stopped Nick Poole and
Todd Hall on UNH's 4th and 5th shots, when a goal would have been enough
to make UNH the winner. And Merrimack's Mark Goble and Mark Cornforth
scored on their team's final two shots to even it up at 2-2 after 5
rounds and send it into sudden death. In the sixth round, Thibeault
stopped Mark Mowers, and Rob Beck beat Heinke for a 3-2 sudden death
shootout win for Merrimack.
Merrimack has won 3 of 4 shootouts it has been in, all taking place at
Merrimack. UNH has lost all three of its shootouts. The Warriors also
ran their overtime record to 0-0-4 this year and remain unbeaten in
the extra session over the last three seasons at 8-0-8.
OBSERVATIONS
The first period was all UNH, as the Wildcats outshot Merrimack 18-7
largely on the strength of four power plays, including a 1:18 5x3.
Thibeault, making his second straight start because of a practice
injury to Martin Legault and his third straight game appearance, was
immense in stopping all 18 shots while the defense worked hard to
clear rebounds. UNH was skating well and hitting hard, and as these
are two teams who play their best when they are physical, it made for
a great game to watch.
Merrimack would rebound to play smarter the rest of the way and take
only one penalty over the last 45:00 that resulted in a UNH power play.
The Warriors began to carry the play in the second and would take a
17-9 edge in shots, but Thibeault was beaten twice on goals by Woodman
and Pleau with Woodman's being a shot from high in the slot on the
power play.
Despite being outshot heavily through the first 15 minutes or so of the
second, UNH would buckle down and play tough defense once they established
a 2-0 lead. Heinke was playing strong and seemed to be on his way to
a win, but two quick goals within 29 seconds in the third made it 2-2
and a new game. Jakopin's shot from the right point beat Heinke to
get the Warriors on the board at 7:47, and then Poirier followed up
to tie it at 8:16.
It became a wide open game at that point with both teams getting good
chances, and the Wildcats' hard work would pay off with a go-ahead goal
at 14:45. Merrimack seemed to have taken the momentum with its two
quick goals, but to their credit, UNH regrouped and after several
minutes of strong play, Royal followed up Ted Russell's rush by banging
in the rebound for his 10th goal that put UNH up 3-2.
But Merrimack came right back just thirty seconds later to even it up
again and set the stage for the overtime and shootout. Gaetan Poirier,
who has worked his way into a first line left wing spot and played a
terrific game, established position along the boards and made a pass to
an uncovered Chris Davis trailing the play high in the slot. Davis
quickly wristed one past Heinke to make it 3-3 and close the scoring.
POSTGAME
Both coaches can be happy with their teams' play overall. UNH showed
much more fire and determination than they did in the first two periods
of their loss to BU Friday, and it made a difference. The Wildcat
forwards were coming back to help out on defense, and Flinton in
particular played well at both ends.
One downside was that outstanding freshman Eric Nickulas was injured
in the first period in a collision and was helped off the ice; I do
not believe he returned to the UNH lineup, and I do not know his
condition. This came during the same sequence as a play which saw
Poirier take a heavy hit at center ice with his head down and struggle
off, but he did return to play a great game for Merrimack and figure
heavily in the outcome.
Although I felt both goalies played well, Merrimack was likely more
happy with the play of little-used backup Thibeault, who has never
really proven himself before this game. Legault, I was told, is not
seriously injured and probably could have played, but the staff chose
to rest him and give Thibeault another start after a good showing at
Army. The sophomore responded with a game that was impressive enough
that at one point, Merrimack SID Jim Seavey announced, "'Thibeault' is
French for 'Hrivnak'," in reference to former Warrior star Jim Hrivnak
who holds nearly every MC goaltending record. That got a few chuckles,
but on this night, the comparison was very valid. It was great to see
Thibeault shine and in a tv game, as he has been a guy who has played
very little behind Legault since both arrived at Merrimack in 1993 but
nonetheless goes about his job very quietly and has tended to play well
when given the chance.
However, it was also the play of the defense that enabled Thibeault to
look as good as he did, and it was certainly good to see a return to
solid play in their own end for Merrimack after the debacle of Lowell
last Tuesday. Jakopin and Steve McKenna in particular had outstanding
games. Thibeault was effective in stopping most shots he should have
stopped as well as making a few beauties, and the defense helped out
by clearing rebounds and taking care of opposing forwards in front.
NEXT
UNH returns to NESN yet again Friday night as the Wildcats will host
Northeastern in a battle of two teams near the top of the HE standings.
The Wildcats will then travel to Mass Amherst Sunday and hope that the
ice will be good this time around.
Merrimack faces its toughest game of the year Friday night at BU, a
place where the Warriors have not had any success - they've never won
there. BU swept all four meetings last year and has a definite
psychological edge over the Warriors in Walter Brown where they won
10-4 and 8-4 in 1993-94. However, Merrimack did play BU tough in the
return engagements at Merrimack - 4-3 and 5-4 wins for BU. To have a
chance, the Warriors will need to exhibit the same strong defensive
play we saw tonight and keep the BU power play off the ice, but for
certain, BU will be a decided favorite.
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Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93