Deron Treadwell <[log in to unmask]> writes on INFO-HOCKEY-L: >Saturday February 3, 1996 >Volpe Complex (North Andover, MA) >HOCKEY EAST LEAGUE GAME > >Maine...... 1-1-0--2 [19-6-4 overall, 10-4-4 2nd in HE] >Merrimack.. 0-1-0--1 [7-15-5 overall, 2-14-2 9th in HE] ... Good comments by Deron! I'll just add a few. >FIRST PERIOD: ... >Maine would break the ice at the 15:14 mark of the first period. Jamie >Thompson made a good play in the neutral zone to cause the turnover and Bra= d >Purdie fed Jason Mansoff who took the low shot from the point, sliding >through Thibeault's pads to give Maine the 1-0 lead. I believe the goal wa= s >scored on the 4 on 4 play, but I didn't make note of it. Yes, it was. From the replay, it looked like Thibeault had started to move= off the post and Mansoff's quick one-timer beat him just inside the pipe. = A perfect shot. >Merrimack responded immediately, as Tom Johnson broke in and hit the inside >of the post, but it didn't cross the line before bouncing out. This was a bullet of a shot. Johnson was truly snakebitten, as he had= earlier hit the other post on a wraparound attempt. The third Merrimack= post of the period was one I didn't catch until seeing some of the game on= tape. It came off a backhander by Chris Davis, after Jakopin had done a= good job of digging the puck out of the corner and centering it. If one or= two of these goes in, the complexion of the game might have changed dramati= cally. >SECOND PERIOD: >Maine created a couple good offensive chances on their first shift >(Shermerhorn-Cardinal-Kariya), but Merrimack turned them aside and got thei= r >goal at 3:48 in kind of a fluke goal. Rob Beck picked up the puck after it >deflected off a Maine defender in front, and buried the puck in the open ne= t >to tie the game at 1-1. No fault for Marsh on this one, as he had no chanc= e. Agreed. It was one of the few defensive errors on the night for Maine. = They were caught out of position a bit and Beck was uncovered to Marsh's= right. Laroche (how well he's been playing lately) took the initial shot= and it was deflected by Jakopin, coming to Beck for the flip in. >After that goal, the offensive chances really were few and far between for >both teams as they went back to focusing on play in their own end. Blair >Marsh began to show signs that his shoulder was not 100% (he admitted befor= e >the game it wasn't) as he seemed to have trouble getting his glove up over >his shoulder. Merrimack whether unaware or unable to shoot high was never >able to exploit this. I don't know if they knew, but with the way Maine's defense was playing,= Merrimack didn't have many opportunities to take advantage of this. There= were several shots that went high over the net, one by Porter in the third. >Maine would get a power play mid-way through the second and they would cash >in. Maine's most improved player Steve Kariya scored his 7th goal of the >year as he stuffed the rebound from Tim Lovell's shot. Lovell's shot went >wide of the net, and came out of the live backboards, Kariya put it home fo= r >what proved to be the game winner at 9:16. This was a good power play for Maine. They had their best puck movement on= the night, and Lovell had several chances. Kariya was uncovered to= Thibeault's right, a bit bothersome since Maine had three players on the= blue line and there were only two Black Bears to watch down low. >THIRD PERIOD: >Maine's defense responded in front of their injured netminder holding >Merrimack to *ONE* shot on goal in the final period according to Maine >radio. Maine (who only had 19 shots through two periods) generated 18 shot= s >in the period, taking control of the game and earning the victory. Actually 15 shots (as usual, I was on the chart tonight). It was 13-0 till= Merrimack's first shot with 3:51 left - a shot from outside the blue line= by Steve McKenna. NESN kept asking if the total was right and I had to say= yes, it was. In the postgame Bob Norton commented that he couldn't= remember ever seeing a team held to one shot on net in a period. In 1989,= BU outshot Merrimack in the third period of an 8-0 win, 19-0. But this= Merrimack team is better than that one was, and Maine's defensive showing= was better. I wonder what it was that got Maine to play that way in the third. The D= had played pretty well before that, but they still allowed 17 shots on goal= through the first two periods. Compared to the first two, however, their D= in the third was absolutely stifling and nearly flawless. If it was= because they knew they had a less than 100% netminder, I wonder why they= didn't play this way from the start. On the other side, Thibeault stopped everything he saw and his defense= cleared the puck well. =20 >A little bit of a scary moment for Merrimack fans as it appeared that Trevo= r >Roenick caught Thibeault with his skate, but Thibeault bounced back up and >was able to continue. I thought it was the skate too, but it turned out that while going after the= puck, Roenick's knee collided with Thibeault's head - ouch. But Thibeault= did get right back in there and continued to play well. Probably his best= game of the year, or at least equal to one of the BU games. >Merrimack would get two power plays at the midway part of the period, but >Maine turned them aside. Blair Marsh did make his one save in the period o= n >the first of these power plays as he stopped Kris Porter. Marsh landed on >his sore shoulder and was in visible pain. He did not have to make another >stop again. I had Porter's shot going wide over the net. Either way, it was the best= chance the Warriors had in the period. >Trevor Roenick laid a couple big hits for Maine with about seven minutes to >go.=20 He sure did. Both were on Jason Feeley, a former JVer who was inserted into= the lineup tonight. A tough shift for Feeley, but he's a gamer and got= right up and went at Roenick again. He lost that one too, but Roenick is= just bigger and stronger. >This is noteworthy, because Maine did not hit Merrimack all game, and >did not hit Boston College the night before. Roenick finally began to use >the body only after he had been in Cronin's dog house. Maine was spending >too much time circling instead of playing the body. More on this later. In the third, I did not think Maine had to hit that much because they were= doing a good job of thwarting Merrimack's attempts to dump it in and start= something. Maine's D consistently beat Merrimack to the puck and moved it= up ice quickly. >POSTGAME: >I'd like to be able to say that Merrimack was happy with their performance >tonight, but I don't believe that is the case. Through two periods if Ron >Anderson could have scripted being down 2-1 and having a very even, very >defensive game I think he would have taken it no question. Certainly >through two periods Merrimack was playing great hockey, however the Warrior= s >problem all year has been their lack of play for 60 minutes, and it did bur= n >them tonight. =20 I would disagree on tonight's performance from having seen Merrimack all= year. It's tough for me to be disappointed in their effort tonight. = Against a team that is not as good defensively as Maine is, this effort= probably would have been enough for a win. Maine's D stepped it up in the= third and that was the problem for Merrimack - not their effort. They have= to wait for chances against Maine and capitalize on them, but Maine did not= give them many of those chances tonight, and only one in the third (Porter)= . >Merrimack did play a good defensive game tonight, and >didn't play badly IMHO. It was a good game, I just don't think that they >(or Mike) will be completely happy with their performance despite the score= . I think I look at this game differently than I did a MC-Maine game last= year. Last year after playing a number of teams tough, it was= disappointing to lose another close game (i.e. the 3-2 loss in Orono last= season). But right now, it is almost a case of having to go back to the= drawing board, with the way things are going now. I don't think many= people knew what to expect tonight, other than that Merrimack would= probably be up for the game and play better than they have in their last= few games. They at least met expectations and in many ways exceeded them. = They might be able to build on this game. =20 And if some of the posts hit in the first period were goals, who knows how= the game would have changed. If you count those posts, Merrimack beat= Marsh 4 times tonight and Maine beat Thibeault twice. I guess that's why= the post is the goaltender's best friend. :-) >Maine is not loaded in offensive talent despite having a good team. Their >offense starts from the blue line out, and players like Jeff Tory and Brett >Clark did not have good offensive weekends. Maine's offense seems to depend on getting to the front of the net and= scoring off rebounds or creating havoc in front. They weren't able to do= that too much tonight. Only Kariya's goal came on a play from in front. = It's also important for Maine's better offensive defensemen (Tory, Clark)= to be involved in the play, especially on the transition. Maine had a lot= of transition rushes tonight. But they couldn't get to rebounds when they= got shots off those rushes, and at other times, Merrimack did a good job of= backchecking and forcing Maine to the boards as they came into the zone. = In fact, it was like night and day, comparing Merrimack's backchecking= effort against UMass to that vs Maine. >I >believe the move to put Vitorino on the 1st line may have inspired >Parmentier who had to be the playmaker of the line. Shermerhorn eventually >moved up to the first line as Vitorino wasn't all that effective as the gam= e >went on. This move surprised me too (Vitorino centering Parmentier and Wansborough). = As you say, it didn't last long, and it probably was designed to spark the= other two. Still, they were rather quiet. Only two shots on goal for= Parmentier and one for Wansborough. >Kudos also to Steve Kariya who stepped up big and had some good >offensive play. Kariya was neutralized pretty well by MC in their last >meetings, and Steve showed his improvement tonight. My #1 star is Blair >Marsh though. Kariya not only had the game-winning goal, but he was also involved in many= of Maine's better scoring chances. That was enough to get him #1. Marsh= makes sense if you consider his injury and the way it might have sparked= his teammates, but he did not play well enough to get in the three stars= IMO. That may have been due to his injury. I'm thinking of the three= shots that rang the pipe in the first. McKenna was our tentative choice for a Merrimack star until Thibeault (#2)= came up big in the third. What Merrimack needs to get from their= goaltenders right now is a performance where they stop all the shots they= should and also make big saves to keep them in a position to be able to= win. Thibeault did that tonight. His numbers aren't very good, but most= of the time he has been called on, he has come up with a consistent effort. And Thompson (#3) earned his star for playing an intense, physical game that= resulted in some good chances in the first two periods (including Mansoff's= goal). But Joe Carr will tell you that I have always liked him. :-) The star selection is always interesting. Merrimack's SID (Tom Caraccioli)= makes the final call, but I lobby for various guys based on how the game= has gone. I don't consider points picked up in garbage time (not relevant= tonight) nor empty-net points. If a team builds an early lead and then= pulls away, I look at the players who helped build that lead, not the ones= who racked up points when the game was all but over. I also don't like= going just on the basis of points or saves, but rather, I try to consider= which players had a big impact on the outcome. Sometimes we do a better= job of this than other nights. It was a consideration to give it to a= Maine player for his defensive play, but it was hard to pick out one. = Kariya and Thompson were two of the better players at both ends for Maine= and they were involved in the only two goals Maine scored, so that helped= give them the nod. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93 >> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System << ***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: ***** ***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html ***** HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.