At 12:16 AM -0500 12/7/96, Howard Quimby wrote: > The UNH Wildcats continued their winning ways tonight by defeating Merrimack > College 9-0 at the Volpe Complex in North Andover, MA. UNH netminder Sean > Matile picked up his first shutout as a Wildcat. UNH improves to 12-2-0, >9-0- > 0 in Hockey East. The two teams face off again in Durham tomorrow night. Matile looked very good. He made a number of excellent saves throughout the night, and this was an earned shutout. Merrimack had the better of the scoring chances over the first 19 minutes but was not able to score. If not for Matile, the complexion of the game could have been very different, had Merrimack been able to knock in a goal or two in the first. Matile continued to look sharp in the second and third periods. Despite the one-sided score, he faced many good shots (33 saves) and turned them all away. I was very impressed with him. He'll be one of the best in the country before long. > I'll defer to Mike Machnik for complete game details, but I wanted to offer > some thoughts from the UNH side of the rink tonight. Box and game recap posted to INFO-HOCKEY-L, fyi. > With one minute to play in the first and UNH leading 2-0, Merrimack was >really > putting on some pressure. UNH fan Tom Rowell said, "Come on Blue, let's bear > down" and the Wildcats proceeded to notch two quick goals to end the >period up > 4-0. Talk about bearing down! These two goals put any thoughts of a Merrimack comeback to rest. The Warriors had actually played a very good first period and only made two glaring mistakes - and UNH capitalized on both. They needed to get out of the first down only 2-0 and could have felt relatively good about things if that had happened. But UNH is a very powerful team and when Merrimack's defense relaxed in front of Thibeault in the final minute, UNH cashed in. One goal late in a period can dampen your spirits. Two did them in. Eric Nickulas's two goals - the one at the end of the first and the one at the start of the second - were very big and thus I pushed for him as #1 star with Matile #2. However, it could have gone the other way too. It may be unusual for a goalie who earns a shutout not to be the #1 star, but I felt you could make a case for Nickulas, who took it from 3-0 to 5-0 and also added two assists on the night. > But the disappointment of the evening came with less than a minute to play in > the second. UNH was up 7-0 at this point and a Merrimack player decided it > would be wise to take a blatant run at UNH goalie Sean Matile. This was Jayson Philbin. It was perhaps ironic since Philbin was the guy who had initially announced his intention to attend UNH last year and later changed his mind and went to Merrimack. I certainly can't defend or condone the action. Matile had covered the puck and Philbin didn't have to hit him. He rightly was given a major for running the goalie, a slashing minor, and a game DQ. Maybe it was indicative of an emotional player expressing frustration. Some suggested it was an attempt to spark the team. Either way, it wasn't right and was handled accordingly. It's also important to note that except for this, the game was a pretty clean one. At no other time was there a hint of an altercation nor were there many penalties called overall. This was just one incident that blew out of control, and to their credit, both teams left it at that. > But the funny > part is that Merrimack reacted like it was UNH taking a cheap shot at them. > Another Merrimack player proceeded to fight with UNH's Filipowicz while Flip > did his best to just hold back the player. I don't know what happened when > they were at the bottom of the pile, but in the two or so minutes that the > referees let this continue and while they were in plain sight, Flip never > threw a punch or retaliated in any way. Filipowicz ended up with a game DQ > for fighting and will miss tomorrow night's game. I didn't see it this way. It was Tom Johnson who was paired off with Filipowicz and both were definitely throwing punches. I had the DQ's for both written down even before the penalties were assessed. > But the worst part involved UNH's Captain Eric Boguniecki. According to > Merrimack AD Bob DeGregorio, UNH Coach Dick Umile sent Bogey on to ice to >tell > the UNH players not to retaliate or fight. But Bogey went to the ice >from the > bench while the fighting was still going on. Boguniecki also picked up a >game > DQ. The rules are the rules and we must abide by them, but talk about an > ironic twist. UNH has spent the last two games being victimized and > brutalized by the thugs of Maine and Merrimack, but it's UNH that has the > players sitting out. I know people love to hate that "infuriating catalyst" > Boguniecki, but he was a class act tonight. "Thugs" is a new one on me. :-) See note above about how this was the only incident of the night. I'd chalk it up to frustration and pride on the part of the players who got involved, again without defending or condoning what happened. It wasn't indicative of the way the game was played at all. And, UNH wasn't the innocent bystander...as usually happens when things like this break out, the individuals involved on both sides were just as guilty. UNH fought back and defended itself, probably because they were angry and had right to be. Boguniecki received a DQ because he left the bench during an altercation under Rule 6-14-e. The referee isn't supposed to determine what the intentions may be of the player leaving the bench; you simply aren't allowed to do it. Unfortunately for Boguniecki, a mistake was made by Dick Umile in sending him out there at that time, and as a result Boguniecki has to sit out a game. It should not have to have happened, and I'm sure Umile is aware of the mistake. He is a class act and I believe his intention was a good one, but he may have forgotten the rule at that instant. To his credit, DeGregorio went out there to try to halt the altercation and seemed to have played a bit of a role. I guess there is no rule that permits a referee to DQ an AD who steps on the ice during an altercation. :-) > I wasn't at all impressed with the lack of control referee Drew Taylor had on > the game tonight. He should really take a cue from referee Frank Cole >who set > the tone for the third period of the UNH-Maine game last week by telling the > players to cut the crap and play hockey. And I really wish someone would >tell > asst. referee Jones that he can call penalties. I found myself wishing that > he had had beans for dinner because his whistle was clearly lodged firmly in > his butt. The third period was a clean one, so Taylor may deserve some credit for that, as well as the teams for not allowing anything further to happen. Everyone in the building probably thought the third period would be ugly, but far from it as only seven minor penalties were called, three in the last minute on one play. > Here's hoping that we don't have a repeat of tonight's debacle tomorrow night > in Durham. If any of you Merrimack players aren't interested in playing > hockey, might I suggest you not even step on the bus tomorrow afternoon. You > may have lost the game, but it's unfortunate that you lost your class and > dignity at the same time. Merrimack followers would probably prefer that those players who aren't interested in playing not step on the bus too. :-) But Howard, your characterization of what happened is grossly overstated and quite unfair. Despite the fact that this game was effectively over after the first period, the incident with 46 seconds remaining in the second was the *only* time that the game took an ugly turn. Only 12 minors were called other than the penalties assessed at that stoppage of play. And only two minors were called on Merrimack in the third, to five on UNH. Some Merrimack players were benched as the game went along because they were not performing well, but none of them were doing anything other than playing the game until they were benched. And the players who did continue to see the ice, continued to work hard and tried till the final buzzer to break the shutout (12 saves in the third by Matile, many great ones). I was happy with their effort in a demoralizing situation. They didn't lose their class or dignity at all. I've seen many, many games where teams did do that, and this was certainly not one of those games, not by the longest stretch of the imagination. I won't defend the Philbin incident, but I will certainly defend against this unfair characterization. The players who kept working hard against a vastly superior opponent deserve that much. I respect their effort and wish it was given by more of the team. The outcome might have been a little different. UNH is an outstanding team, the best I have seen in the East thus far, but a better overall effort by Merrimack could have at least made the game interesting. Two weeks ago, Merrimack rebounded from a 9-1 defeat against BU to tie the Terriers the next night, 3-3. However, the loss was on the road and the tie was at home. Achieving the same sort of result this time will be much tougher because they'll be on the road and because UNH looked like a better team than BU. But how the Warriors do respond will tell us something. The team that tied BU could give UNH a run for its money. Yet, their inconsistency has been such that there's no way to expect that will happen. They have to prove it first. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93 ***** (Part-Time) Color Voice of Merrimack Hockey WCAP 980 AM ***** ***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: ***** ***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html ***** >>> U.S. College Hockey Online http://www.uscollegehockey.com/ <<< HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.