(again, ctron is down, so I'm using this account. Thus the recap from Friday's MC-BC game did not make it to the list yet, although I thank Rick McAdoo for his covering for me. :-)) Saturday, February 18, 1995 at Volpe Center, North Andover, MA HOCKEY EAST GAME Boston College Eagles (10-19-2, 7-12-2 [1] HE 7th) 0 0 0 - 0 Merrimack Warriors (14-14-5, 7-9-5 [3] HE 6th) 2 1 1 - 4 FIRST PERIOD MC-BC 1. MC1, Ryan Mailhiot 3 (Mark Goble), 8:53. GWG 1-0 2. MC2, John Jakopin 4 (Tom Johnson, Gaetan Poirier), 12:37. 2-0 SECOND PERIOD 3. MC3, Matt Adams 21 (Mark Cornforth), 14:11. 3-0 THIRD PERIOD 4. MC4, Daryl Krauss 9 (Jakopin, Dan Hodge), 3:34. 4-0 SHOTS ON GOAL: Boston College 9-10--8 = 27 Merrimack 19-14-14 = 47 SAVES: BC, Greg Taylor (L, 10-17-2, 60:00, 47 sh-43 sv). MC, Martin Legault (W, 9-12-4, 60:00, 27 sh-27 sv). POWER PLAYS: BC 0 for 6. MC 0 for 6. PENALTIES: BC 16/58. MC 16/48. REFEREES: Drew Taylor, Bob Fowkes. LINESMAN: Bill Jones. ATTENDANCE: 2,088 (capacity 3,617). THREE STARS: 1. Coach Ron Anderson, Merrimack (219th win). 2. G Martin Legault, Merrimack (27 sh-27 sv, shutout). 3. RW-D John Jakopin, Merrimack (1-1--2). Four different players scored and goaltender Martin Legault stopped all 27 BC shots as Merrimack completed a weekend sweep of the Eagles, 4-0 Saturday night. Merrimack got back to the .500 mark (14-14-5) overall and pulled within two wins of being .500 in Hockey East. The win was the 219th of head coach Ron Anderson's career, making him the all-time winningest coach in Merrimack hockey history, which dates back to the 1950s. Anderson, who has a career record of 219-181-16, passed the late J.Thom Lawler with the win. Lawler rolled up a record of 218-138-10 over 13 seasons from 1965-78, and his 1977-78 team won the inaugural NC$$ DivII Championship before he unexpectedly passed away that summer. Anderson is in his 12th season as head coach (1983-present) and has coached in 416 games to Lawler's 366, but Anderson's teams have also spent the last six seasons in DivI. Either way, it is a fine accomplish- ment made all the more memorable because of who it was that Anderson surpassed - one of the true legends of Merrimack hockey history. On any other night, Legault might have been named #1 star for his shutout, but tonight Anderson got the special nod and Legault took second star honors. It was the second shutout of Legault's college career, the other coming at DivII Alabama-Huntsville (5-0) last season. Legault has gone 5-1-1 in his last 7 starts and allowed a total of 11 goals in those 7 games - over that stretch, a GAA of 1.57 and a save percentage of .947. His HE GAA of 3.18 (3.26 overall) is now second best in the league to Maine's Blair Allison (2.53), and his save percentage of .907 (.906 overall) is still the best. This weekend, Legault stopped 53 of 54 BC shots, a GAA of 0.50 and a save percentage of .981. The Eagles seemed to be playing with their heads hung all game and could never get anything going. Merrimack had played well in Friday's 4-1 win at BC, but in this rematch, they took over completely and dominated in every area of the game for all three periods. BC goalie Greg Taylor gave a valiant effort, stopping 43 of 47 shots, but he just didn't get any help from his team. FIRST BC had been outshot decisively in the first period Friday, and the same happened again tonight. The Eagles landed the first four shots on Legault, but then Merrimack poured the next 15 straight shots of the game on Taylor and scored twice to take a 2-0 lead. At 8:53, Ryan Mailhiot scored what would be the game-winner as he took a feed from Mark Goble and put it past Taylor from about 15 feet out. It was only Mailhiot's third of the year, but his second in the last two games, making it 1-0 Merrimack. Taylor got even less help from his defense tonight, but he continued to play well. He kept it 1-0 by staying on his angle to stop Eric Weichselbaumer's one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Mark Cornforth. Later Taylor made another stop off Weichselbaumer and Casey Kesselring tried to get to the rebound, but he was moved out of the way nicely by the BC defense. The Warriors made it 2-0 on a goal that many felt broke the Eagles' backs at 12:37. To this point, BC had been getting outplayed but was only down a goal, and Taylor seemed to be ready to match Legault save for save. But when John Jakopin's centering pass from behind the net deflected in off Taylor (or perhaps a defender), it took some of the wind out of BC's sails and helped the momentum change completely to Merrimack's side. The rest of the game, BC seemed not to be very motivated at all. Gaetan Poirier and Tom Johnson also picked up assists on the goal by Jakopin. BC's best chance of the period came during a 4x4 when Jamie O'Leary fed Tom Ashe on a 2x1, but Ashe's one-timer went wide. Later, Taylor made a nice stop off Jakopin on a backhander that followed a shot by Johnson. It certainly could have been worse than 2-0 after the first if not for Taylor, with Merrimack outshooting BC, 19-9. SECOND With BC shorthanded, the Eagles got good chances from Ryan Haggerty and then David Hymovitz, but Legault turned them away. All four lines were playing well for Merrimack, but the best may have been the combo of Goble-Chris Davis-Mailhiot. Goble had fed Mailhiot for the game's first goal, and in the second, he seemed to be everywhere making things happen. He would have Merrimack's first four shots of the period, including three that Taylor had to make great saves on. On a power play, first he let one go from the right circle, then another off a faceoff followed by a third on the continuation after he scooped up the rebound, but Taylor was equal to the task. Taylor's frustration seemed to be showing, as he was bothered all night by Warriors in front and once even laid a punch on Jakopin after the whistle. Soon after that, Rob Beck was run into Taylor by a BC defender, but only Beck went off for roughing the goalie. The Merrimack penalty kill, which would allow no goals this weekend on 12 chances, was very effective and even outshot BC 3-0 during the Eagle man advantage. Then on an MC PP, Goble had another golden chance, but his shot went just wide. Legault followed that by using his skate to stop BC's Rob Laferriere on a wrap-around attempt. At 14:11, Matt Adams scored his 21st of the year (21-19--40) on a nifty goal to make it 3-0. He took a pass from Cornforth and skated up the right side, then with the defenseman backing off, he cut to the inside and wristed the puck just inside the cross-bar. Legault would keep the shutout going during a BC power play when he made a nice glove save off Haggerty's shot from 20 feet out. THIRD Merrimack had an apparent goal by Goble disallowed when it was ruled that the puck was kicked in, but it didn't take long for the Warriors to score a good one and make it 4-0. Daryl Krauss collected a long pass from Dan Hodge and went in alone, lifting a backhander over Taylor's shoulder for his 9th goal of the year and fifth in his last six games. Legault faced a two-shot flurry from Clifton McHale and Toby Harris, but he turned both aside. Then play began to get chippy as O'Leary nailed Hodge with a hard hit upside the head deep in the Merrimack zone, and with Hodge down on the ice, Tom Costa skated over to take exception to the hit. O'Leary suddenly popped Costa in the head with a punch and the two scuffled for a bit, with both drawing a double minor along with a misconduct that kept them in the box for the rest of the game. Holding a four-goal lead, Merrimack continued to play strong defense and this resulted in a number of great transition plays that could have been goals if not for Taylor. Beck and Goble both had breakaways that Taylor stopped. The chippy play continued through the latter ten minutes of the game, as a total of 34 minutes in penalties were called during that stretch including a misconduct to each side. Legault was not barraged during the period, as Merrimack out-attempted BC 22-10 and 71-45 for the game, but he remained mentally sharp and stopped the shots he did face to earn the shutout, even with BC pressing late to get on the board. POSTGAME It was disappointing that BC did not make the adjustments I thought they needed to make after Friday's game to give them a better chance tonight. I expected a much better game, but after Merrimack went up 2-0, the outcome was never really in doubt and the only question was whether Legault would get his shutout. The Eagles were beaten in all aspects of the game except for special teams where neither team scored, and once again, the high-scoring line of Haggerty-Chase-Hymovitz was contained very well. Taylor had a very good game considering the lack of defensive help he got. He faced a number of breakaways and only surrendered the one goal to Krauss. With a lesser goalie, the game could have been a blowout early. It was a big weekend for both teams, and while Merrimack responded, I was surprised at the way BC often seemed listless after having played so well their last six times out or so. They will need to bounce back quickly next weekend, or else Providence could very well overtake them for 7th place and relegate BC to 8th and hosting UMass-Amherst. For Merrimack, it was a superb 120 minutes of hockey, matching the earlier weekend sets against Maine and against BU/UNH. Merrimack won each of the six periods from BC on the scoreboard and dominated at least 4 or 5 of the six periods. Legault's near double-shutout aside, the team played very well in both ends of the ice all weekend. The recent line changes made by Ron Anderson seem to have at least two or three of the lines playing their best of the year, and this is a key since earlier it was only one line that was creating chances nearly every time out. Defensively, the strong play of the blueliners both prevented Legault from seeing as many quality shots as his counterpart, Taylor, and it also enabled the forwards to start off many times on good rushes that were legitimate threats. Up front, all four lines were playing very well, but the best forwards may have been Krauss, Goble, Mailhiot, Poirier, Johnson, Peca, and Beck, with Adams also playing well. They did a good job of controlling the play in the BC end and getting guys free for shots in front. Legault's strength this weekend may have been his concentration. There were often stretches where Merrimack dominated the play offensively, but when BC would start to turn it around and make things happen, Legault was right in the game to make the big save when a goal could have helped BC gain momentum. NEXT BC has three games remaining, all on the road. The Eagles play only once next weekend, Sunday night at Providence in a game that will be shown on NESN. With both BC and PC losing tonight, BC holds a slim three point lead over 8th place PC, but the Friars will first play at UNH Friday night and would move into 7th with a win. BC then finishes up with games at Merrimack March 3rd and at BU March 4th. Merrimack has the long-awaited rematch with BU coming up next weekend, with Friday's game at Merrimack on NESN and Saturday's game at BU on WABU-68. The last time the teams met, Merrimack pulled off a 3-2 upset win at BU with Eric Thibeault stopping 54 of 56 shots. I would expect Legault to see the action both nights, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility of Anderson bringing back Thibeault in one of the games because of his success before. It is clear that the BU series is one that the Warriors are very much up for. Mark Cornforth said that he feels BU is one of the teams he really gets up to play against. The Warriors have played very well lately, 7-2-1 in their last 10 and 13-6-4 since starting out 1-8-1. Six losses in 23 games is nothing to take lightly and is one of the better such streaks in DivI. Merrimack could solidify a hold on 6th by taking any points out of the series, and they may even have a shot at 5th depending on what UMass-Lowell does at Maine next weekend. But however you look at it, this is certainly a fine season for a team that was picked to finish 8th in Hockey East before the year began. BU seemed to have done themselves in by losing to PC, as far as their shot at first went, but now they find themselves with a slim two point lead over UNH in the battle for second. I expect that this will provide enough incentive for BU to come out strong next weekend, and Merrimack will have to play as well as it has in its previous ten games against HE teams in fourth or higher. The irony is that to get to the Garden, most Merrimack followers seem to feel it would be better to avoid Maine or BU in the first round. But a split or better of next weekend's set with BU might be enough to drop BU to 3rd and have Merrimack play at BU after all. However, if that were to happen, I'm inclined to think Merrimack would welcome the chance to play anyone from the top four, since their showing against HE top four teams has been so good this season. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93