(All info from my notes and rink announcements): Saturday, 01/07/95 At Mullins Center, Amherst, MA BOSTON COLLEGE 1 0 2 - 3 Shots on goal: 16 7 ? - ? UMASS-AMHERST 1 2 2 - 5 9 5 ? - ? New Records: UMass-Amherst 2 - 14 - 1 1 - 9 - 0 HE Boston College 5 - 12 - 2 4 - 6 - 2 HE PERIOD ONE ---------- BC - Wainwright (Tripping) 3:06 UMA - Corcoran (Hooking) 6:38 UMA - Norton (Cross-checking) 8:47 UMA - Norton (Cross-checking) 8:47 (not a misprint; there really were 2 separate penalties) BC1 Ken Hemenway 3 (Chase) PPG 11:51 BC - G. Callahan (Holding) 16:40 UMA1 Dale Hooper 1 (Bonneau, Perry) PPG 17:11 PERIOD TWO ---------- BC - Ashe (High-sticking) 3:12 UMA2 Warren Norris 7 (Hooper) PPG 4:32 UMA - Norton (Interference) 8:37 UMA3 Rob Bonneau 9 (unassisted) SHG 10:30 UMA - Manganaro (Hooking) 13:51 UMA - Bonneau (Hit after whistle) 14:29 BC - Hymovitz (Hit after whistle) 14:29 PERIOD THREE ------------ BC - Harney (Slashing) 1:46 UMA4 Sal Manganaro 3 (Perry, Campanale) 5:15 BC - Haggerty (Boarding) 6:57 UMA - Wright (Interference) 13:33 BC2 Jamie O'Leary 5 (Buckley) PPG 14:41 BC3 David Wainwright 3 (Haggerty) 16:43 UMA5 Sal Manganaro 4 (unassisted) 19:46 Power Plays: BC - 2 for 5, UMA - 2 for 5 Penalties: BC - 6 (12 Min.), UMA - 7 (14 Min.) Goalies: BC - Greg Taylor (59:10) - 8 3 ? - ? saves UMA - Dave Kilduff (60:00) - 15 7 ? - ? saves Attendance - 5492 Referees - Cole, J. Bunyon Linesman - Arnold ----------------------------------------------------------------- COMMENTS: UMass-Amherst finally gets their first HE points! Strong goaltending and the awakening of their power play results in a split of the weekend. BC, despite a last ditch panicked rally, falls short and becomes the first HE victim of UMass-Amherst. First period: BC dominates the action, similar to Friday night's game, using the large ice surface to keep control of the puck and force most of the action inside the UMA zone. Kilduff is forced to make several tough saves to keep it scoreless. Under pressure, UMA's Norton takes a cross-checking penalty. While the delayed penalty is waiting to be called, the BC goalie leaves the ice and is replaced by Brian Callahan, who is promptly tripped as he gets into the zone (this was not called). Finally, Norton takes a 2nd cross-check that finally causes the stoppage of play. It takes until the last minute of the subsequent power play, but BC finally scores when Hemenway gets in close and puts it up high. It looked like BC might dominate the game like the previous night, but UMA decided they were tired of being tentative and started being much more aggressive at checking and putting pressure on BC's players with the puck. It works as they start to play evenly and then get their own power play goal on some nice passing. UMA was only 1 of 54 in HE power play opportunities up to this goal. Second period: UMA continues their aggressive play and starts to control the action. It is a very defensive period with not many shots, and the difference is that UMA takes advantage of their few opportunities. Another early POWER-PLAY goal for UMA sets the stage. (2 in a row! UMass fans are giddy with excitement! :-) ) The game is turned by the 3rd UMass goal, a short-handed pickup by Rob Bonneau, who takes advantage of a defensive giveaway by BC. The UMA special teams finally outscore an opponent, after a season of terrible special teams play. BC looks very laid back and not aggressive; fatigue may be a factor, as BC has a poor history of Saturday night play this season. Third period: UMA gets the eventual game winner while dominating the early action, as Sal Manganaro scores against his former teammates after some nice passing from Perry and Campanale. The play continues with not much action until late in the period; BC just didn't seem to be very motivated to come back until time was disappearing. BC starts a comeback at the 14:41 mark with a power- play goal, and now starts to dominate play. A quick 3rd goal by Wainwright on a rebound makes it 4-3 and gives the few BC fans some small hope that they might come back and pull it out. (So I'm an optimist. Shoot me. :-)) UMA takes a timeout to try to regroup the defense and realize how important the last few minutes are. BC is now moving well and trying to get the tying goal, but after Taylor is pulled, the puck is broken free and Sal Manganaro gets his 2nd of the period into an empty net. The UMA bench goes nuts, the crowd is happy, and history is made. UMass-Amherst deserved to win this one, as they were more motivated and played better than BC. This is the kind of game that they have played already this year, but in the past they would be beaten by special teams play. 5-on-5 UMA is not a bad team, though not much of an offensive threat. This time they finally got good play on the power play and penalty killing (mostly with a hot goaltender) and the result was their first ever HE win. Given that most of the UMA players are sophomores or freshman, they could be very dangerous in the next 2 years as they continue to grow. They are much better in their 2nd year than Merrimack was, and if they can solve the special teams play they will give BC and Merrimack (maybe Providence and Lowell?) a battle in the second division. BC rarely puts two good games together in a weekend, and this game was another example. Fatigue or mental relaxation or whatever, they gradually fell apart in this game. Jerry York has a long way to go to make BC competitive again, and next year doesn't look much better, as they will lose 7 forwards. The bright side is that the entire defense will return; the flip side of that is that they have the worst defense in the league this year (well, maybe UMass-Amherst is worse, but that won't last.) You can tell your team is in trouble when the fans (i.e., me) start talking about next year when it is early January. Note to BU fans, regarding speculation earlier about the motivations of Rich Alger, who is transferring to BU from UMA. The Boston Globe noted in its article that he was "used to winning", and that he wasn't "willing to wait" for winning at UMA. Hence the transfer to BU. As BU is likely to always be winning in the near future, it is a safe move. But you have to wonder if he wouldn't have enjoyed being part of the growth of the UMass-Amherst program, where he could be one of the major players. Oh, well, I guess he knows what he wants. By-the-by, the UMass press release no longer lists Alger in their stats; his stats are listed as "Others/Team". Might there be some bad feelings here? --------------- ---------------------- Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask] BC will return! GO EAGLES!