Colgate at Maine Friday October 25, 1996 Alfond Arena, Orono, Maine NON-CONFERENCE GAME Colgate 1 - 1 - 1 -- 3 (0-1-0 overall) Maine 0 - 1 - 3 -- 4 (2-1-0 overall) ORONO, Maine -- Scott Parmentier scored two third period goals, and Steve Kariya added a goal and an assist, as Maine overcame a third period deficit at home to beat the Colgate Red Raiders 4-3. FIRST PERIOD: Tonight was the night of the unknowns. Colgate came to Maine to open their 1996-97 campaign pegged for fifth in the ECAC. What kind of team would they have, and how game ready would they be. Meanwhile, Maine returned from a successful trip to Michigan, to an unknown situation with their own fans. Would the fans turnout despite all the controversy that has surrounded the Maine program, and finally came to a head this summer. Both questions were answered early. Over 5,100 fans turned out for tonight's Colgate/Maine game, and Colgate impressed as well. As you would expect, Maine came out agressive offensively given that Colgate was playing their first game, and Maine was in front of a big crowd, they went to the net early and often but they were not able to beat Colgate goaltender Dan Brenzavich. Colgate played surprisingly well considering that it was their first game. They were very well prepared for this game. It would be the Colgate Red Raiders striking first, on their first power play of the year. As the puck slipped to the slot Dan Burgess was able to get the puck to Scott Stevees, who made a nice play to beat Maine goalie Alfie Michaud. That would be all the scoring for the period. At times Maine was dominant, but at times they were equally sloppy. Maine out shot Colgate 10-7, but the play evened out over the course of the period after Maine had the control early. SECOND PERIOD: There wasn't much flow to this period at all. Unlike the first (and third) much of this period was spent along the boards as the teams traded posession from corner to corner. The period was also chippy. While not a lot of penalties were being called, there was an awful lot of extra activity during and after the plays. Much of this was due to the obvious frustration of the Maine Black Bears. Maine was trailing despite really controlling the game and putting on quality shots. The power plays Maine did get, they did not cash in and that only further increased the chippy play. Why should Colgate stop what is working? Maine on the other hand could not get it done on the penalty kill. Colgate scored in the first period, on their only power play, and on their third power play of the game, they'd score their second goal. After killing a Colgate power play several minutes before, Maine was doing a good job killing the Red Raiders' third man advantage when they had a slow line change. The result was Mike Harder sending away Dave Debusschere on a breakaway. Debusschere beat Michaud and it was 2-0 Colgate with under five minutes left in the second period. This would only further increase the edge to the play, and Maine would go on the power play once again, but this time convert a huge goal. Reg Cardinal brought the puck in the zone and fed Steve Kariya at the top of the circle. Kariya beat his man and went straight to the net, cutting in front and flicking a shot over Brenzavich's shoulder with only 12 seconds left in the period. It was 2-1 Colgate after two. Maine outshot Colgate 11-7 in the second, and had a 21-14 edge after two, but the frustration was evident as they trailed the Red Raiders on the scoreboard. THIRD PERIOD: Coming out of the second, the prevailing though around the arena was that Kariya's goal would likely "wake up" the Black Bears, but it was Colgate who struck again. Tim Loftsguard let a shot go from the high slot with a lot of traffic in front of Alfie Michaud and beat the freshman goaltender. Mike Harder had his second assist, and Jack McIntosh also had an assist. Three-quarters of a period remained and Colgate had the lead 3-1. Someone needed to step up for Maine, and it was Scott Parmentier who came to the front. Parmentier was featured in this morning's Bangor Daily News where he says he lost 20 pounds, and is in the best shape of his life. No question he is faster than he was last year, and that speed would be put to good use. A turnover at center ice was coralled by Cory Larose, who sent away Parmentier who made a pretty move to beat Brenzavich to make it a 3-2 game at the 8:18 mark of the third. Almost four minutes later, Bobby Stewart made a terrific long pass to Parmentier who streaked down the right wing and scored on a hard wrist shot. After trailing 3-1, Maine tied the game with 7:36 to go. For all the pretty goals Maine scored tonight, the game winner was nothing of the sort. With Brenzavich trying to play without his stick with Maine swarming the net Jason Mansoff put a shot on the net that just squeezed by the right post with 3:23 left in the third period. POSTGAME -- COLGATE I think Colgate can take a lot from this game despite the outcome, especially considering they are going to play UNH next, another talented team, and also in front of a big crowd there. Colgate dealt with these factors well tonight. What really hurt Colgate tonight was that Maine was the better conditioned team. By the time the third period was winding down, Maine was able to use their speed to their advantage and beat the Red Raiders to the puck. Brenzavich also looked to grow tired as the game went on, after some spectacular stops. Brenzavich made three saves by my count which looked like "sure goals". Great effort from him, and Colgate's goaltending is in good hands. Colgate also has impressive team speed. Maine is a very fast team up front, and Colgate didn't really take a back seat to them. Many times Maine will be able to beat teams to the puck, especially in open ice situations. Not the case. They did not do a good job of handling Maine forwards down low though. Maine was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone for long periods of time. Colgate was able to keep Maine off the board by limiting their second shots. When Brenzavich left a rebound, Red Raider players were tying up the sticks of the Black Bears and clearing rebounds. While Maine put lots of constant pressure on tonight, in terms of keeping the puck in the zone, they got very few multiple shot attempts. Colgate went three for four on the power play tonight, and held Maine to 1 for 6 (by my count) on their power play. Good sign for Colgate fans. It will be interesting to see how Colgate (0-1-0) rebounds against UNH (1-1-0). They will play another quick team, with another big crowd at Durham. They fell apart tonight, will they be deflated and play poorly against UNH or learn from tonight? POSTGAME -- MAINE: Maine's success in the past few years has been largely due to their ability to stay in close games, and win them. More times than not it seems someone steps up and makes some big plays at big times to lead Maine to victory. Last week it was Dan Shermerhorn, this week it was Scott Parmentier. Parmentier leads Maine with four goals on the year with his two tonight. Parmentier was moving as fast as anyone on the ice. He was very impressive. While it's great that Maine was able to put together a third period comeback, this wasn't a well played game for Maine. At times, they were able to keep the puck in the zone for long periods of time, but at times they were also running around in their own zone. The defense played pretty well, holding Colgate to only 20 shots, but Maine had problems all night moving the puck up the ice. In his postgame press conference, Maine coach Greg Cronin said that the forwards were not coming back into the defensive zone well enough, forcing Maine defenseman to have to make long passes to start the play. I think it's safe to assume Maine will spend considerable time working on the penalty kill this week. The same kill that did a good job against Michigan and Lake State was nonexistent tonight allowing three goals on four man advantages. Maine's power play also needs to be fine tuned, but seemed to get better the more shots the point men put on the net. Michaud was solid in net for Maine stopping 17 of 20, but not fantastic. The three goals that beat him were quality shots, but it seemed that the "big" shots were the ones he missed. I think that Maine fans can rest easy in goal. Michaud isn't going to cost Maine many games, he's solid. The problem is we've been spoiled with Dunham, Snow, and Allison, and now Michaud is still only a freshman and will get better and better. I expect Michaud to be real impressive by the end of the year. He's only had two weeks to practice, and he's got a 3.33 goals against average. That's not bad at all. Finally, the crowd was amazing tonight. Even though many of players and coaches might not have admitted it, I think they all questioned how many people would show up tonight, given the NCAA sanctions. The response was incredible. Over 5,100 people showed up. I don't remember a crowd this large last year (the year after Maine went to the NCAA championship), and I know they were not as loud as what we saw tonight. Cronin remarked on this, and I agree, this was "old" Maine hockey crowd. This doesn't mean that Maine will get this kind of turnout every night, but it was great that after all that happened, the players got treated to such a response. Likewise the team treated the fans to a great come from behind win. Putting the pieces of Maine hockey back together will be a slow process, but tonight was a solid first step. Maine (2-1) is off the rest of the weekend, and will host defending Division II National Champion Alabama-Huntsville next weekend. --- Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask] Editor, US College Hockey Online USCHO: http://uscollegehockey.com ---