Miller, Siwiec Lead Terriers To Weekend Sweep Of Merrimack
November 13, 2004 | Men's Ice Hockey
NORTH ANDOVER, MA-Senior Bryan Miller enjoyed the second two-goal game of his career, while junior Stephan Siwiec posted his first victory of the season to lead the Terrier hockey team to a 3-1 win over host Merrimack on Saturday night, Nov. 13, and a sweep of their weekend series.
For the Terriers, it was their fifth win in their last six decisions as they are now 5-3-0 overall and 4-1-0 in Hockey East. It also gave them their first regular-season weekend sweep of a Conference foe since they beat UMass/Lowell, 5-3, and 2-1, on February 14-15, 2003. In the meantime, Merrimack slipped to 3-7-0 overall and 1-5-0 in the league.
"It's nice to have a sweep and nice to finally win on the road," said Terrier head coach Jack Parker, whose team had been 0-3-0 away from home prior to the win over the Warriors. "It's also nice to be 4-1 in the league and open some room between us and Merrimack.
"This is a topsy-turvy league and everyone feels they can get home ice for the playoffs," continued the coach. "There is still a long way to go, though."
Miller (Wayne, NJ), who spent his first two collegiate seasons almost exclusively on defense, was then moved to forward last year where he played 25 games and was then moved back to defense this year, showed the kind of offensive force he is with his two-goal effort against the Warriors.
His only previous two-goal game came his freshman year when he had a pair of goals, including the game-winner in overtime, in a 3-2 victory over Maine on November 19, 2001.
Appropriately, against Merrimack, he scored his first goal as a forward and his second as a defenseman.
The first goal came at the 11:40 mark of the first period when the Terriers where skating a man-up.
"I was playing wing on the power play," said Miller. "There was a shot on net, and Mc (Brian McConnell) got the rebound. He put the puck back on net, and the puck came off the goalie's glove, and I took a shot at it, and it went in.
"On the second goal, I was playing defense and we were on a 4-on-4 situation," he recalled of the goal that was scored at 6:56 of the second period. "Kenny (Roche) took it deep and the puck came back out to me at the blue line. I put it on net, and the goalie was screened."
McConnell (Norfolk, MA) assisted on both goals, while Roche (South Boston) assisted on the second goal.
Junior John Laliberte (Saco, ME) added an insurance goal with just 54 seconds to play. It was set up on a nifty pass from junior defenseman Dan Spang (Winchester, MA) to junior forward Brad Zancanaro (Trenton, MI). Zancanaro then found Laliberte streaking in on goal. He finished the play off when he lifted his shot past goalie Frank McLaughlin.
The Warriors' lone goal came off the stick of Bryan Schmidt. With the Terriers clinging to their 1-0 lead early in the third period, Schmidt took a shot from the right point that beat Siwiec (Calgary, ALTA) high to the glove side. It appeared the puck hit something on the ice and it was redirected just over Siwiec's left shoulder. The goal, which came on the Merrimack power play at 5:19 of the third period tied that game at 1-1.
It was the only one of Merrimack's 24 shots that got by the Terrier goalie, who was relegated to backup duty midway through last season. In fact, entering this season, his last start in the Terrier goal came against Boston College on January 17, 2004. The Terriers would play 18 more games, and Sean Fields started each of them. As a result, Siwiec's last win came in a 14-save 4-3 overtime win over Northeastern last January 9th.
Despite his limited playing time last year (seven games, 327 minutes, 2-1-2 record, 2.38 GAA, .916 save percentage), he was listed as the Terriers' starting goal when the 2004-05 season got underway. Unfortunately, in his first start, he lost to Miami.
In the Terriers' next game, freshman Karson Gillespie (Mankota, SASK) started and yielded seven goals in 29:17 against Michigan before being lifted in favor of sophomore John Curry (Shorewood, MN). Curry closed the door on the Wolverines and went on to start the next five games.
Siwiec finally got his chance to get back in the net against Merrimack, and he responded with a 23-save performance.
"There is no question our top star tonight was Stephan," said Parker. "He had a great night playing in a tough rink.
"In general, I thought we played well," continued the coach. "This was a good road game. However, I thought we took some stupid penalties (13 for 37 minutes).
"Individually, I thought the defensive tandem of Spang and (Kevin) Schaeffer (South Huntington, NY) played very well, and we got a nice effort from (freshman) Dan McGoff (Winchester, MA) on defense," concluded the coach.
