Terriers Salvage One Point In Weekend Series Vs River Hawks
November 22, 2003 | Men's Ice Hockey
LOWELL, MA-The Terrier hockey team managed to salvage one point from its weekend home-and-home series against UMass/Lowell with a 3-3 overtime tie against the host River Hawks on Saturday night, Nov. 22.
On Friday night, the two teams opened their weekend matchup with a 3-1 upset win by UMass/Lowell at Walter Brown Arena.
With the tie, the Terriers, who entered the weekend ranked 10th in the nation, saw their overall record stand at 3-3-3, while they are 2-3-2 in Hockey East action. In the meantime, the unranked River Hawks are now 5-4-3 overall and 3-3-1 in the league.
"I thought this was a helluva hockey game," Terrier head coach Jack Parker said after Saturday's deadlock. "If we had played this hard last night (Friday), we would have been the ones to have three points this weekend and not UMass/Lowell.
"I thought we had a good effort tonight considering we played down two men for most of the game," the coach continued.
A pair of sophomores-Brad Zancanaro and David Van der Gulik were sidelined early. Zancanaro was hit with a five-minute major penalty for hitting from behind. That penalty automatically carries a game misconduct. The penalty was called at 10:14 of the first period. In the meantime, Van der Gulik went out early with a hip pointer, and it wasn't certain if he would be ready in time for Tuesday's game at Harvard.
"As a result, we had to go with three lines for the night," pointed out Parker. "But, we showed the integrity and character tonight that you need to win in this league. Last night, we didn't have enough character.
"Individually, I thought that (Matt) Radoslovich, (Ryan) Whitney, and (Sean) Sullivan had excellent games," pointed out Parker. "I think that Sullivan has been a great freshman for us thus far this year.
"I also that both goalies played well," said Parker.
For the Terriers, Sean Fields had 29 saves, while Chris Davidson had 28 stops in the UMass/Lowell cage.
"I thought that Fields made some great saves tonight," said River Hawks' coach Blaise MacDonald. "We had some good looks on goal, and he stopped them.
"In general, I thought that both teams played well in spurts tonight," concluded MacDonald. "Then, at times, I didn't think that the teams executed as well as they could."
The Terriers jumped to a 1-0 lead on a Radoslovich shorthanded goal at 15:01 of the first period. The goal came in the waning moments of the five-minute major to Zancanaro, and the scoring play began when the Terriers picked off the puck just inside their blue line. Radoslovich, Gregg Johnson, and Sullivan headed toward the UML zone as each took turns passing the puck to each other. The final pass went to Radoslovich who snuck the puck past Davidson from in close for his fourth goal of the season.
A little more than two minutes later, at the 17:07 mark, Ben Walter tied the game when he took advantage of a Terrier turnover just to the left of Fields. The unassisted goal knotted the score at 1-1 at the intermission.
Each team exchanged two goals in the second period.
The River Hawks' Mark Pandolfo, cousin of former Terrier greats Jay and Mike Pandolfo, put his team ahead, 2-1, at 2:21 of the period when he picked up a loose puck in front of Fields.
Whitney then tied the game at 3:04 with his first goal of the season. Mark Mullen passed the puck to Whitney who blasted a shot past Davidson from the top of the right faceoff circle. Sullivan also earned an assist, his second of the game.
Dan Spang put the Terriers ahead 3-2 at the 13:17 mark of the second period when his shot from the UML blue line found a screen in front of Davidson who never saw the slap shot. For Spang, it was his third goal of the season equaling his goal output of a year ago. Kevin Schaefer and David Klema each earned assists on the goal, which came on the Terrier power play. Thus, they finished the game with an even-strength goal, a power play goal, and a shorthanded goal.
The River Hawks closed out the scoring at 15:59 of the second period when Jerramie Domish one-timed a shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Fields.
While each team had a number of excellent chances in the final period and then overtime, neither could beat the other teams' respective goalie. Fields turned in perhaps the most outstanding save with just 1:17 to play in overtime. A River Hawk shot from in close was headed for the far right hand corner of the goal when Fields flashed his glove to make the save that preserved the tie.
The Terriers now prepare for a week in which they will play three games against Ivy League foes. On Tuesday, they travel to Harvard. Then, on Friday night, they host Dartmouth and on Sunday they entertain Yale.
