UNH Tops Saints, 5-2, to Take Third

With five minutes left in last night's ECAC consolation game at the Boston Garden, it looked like St. Lawrence would make history for the second straight night.

Trailing 4-0 to UNH, the hapless Larries appeared doomed to become the first team in the 22-year history of the ECAC playoffs not to score in either of its final-four games.

Hot off a strong performance against Harvard the night before, goalie Todd Pearson had thwarted every Saint sally. And St. Lawrence was used to being thwarted, having mustered 44 shots but no goals in its semifinal loss to Providence to become the only team ever blanked in a non-consolation ECAC final-four game.

Two-and-three-quarter periods into last night's contest, the Saints had hatched a 30-shot goose egg and seemed ready to make history again.

But forward Rick Bowman had another idea. With just 4:52 left in the contest, Bowman tucked the puck past Pearson to finally put the Larries on the Garden scoreboard. And though UNH went on to claim a 5-2 victory and third place in the East, St. Lawrence retained its self-respect.

It almost gained even more. After Bowman's icebreaker the Saints attacked with a vengeance, fired up by the goal they had taken so long to attain. Ray Shero score off a pileup in front of the Wildcat net just 18 seconds later, and the Larries had suddenly halved the UNH margin.

St. Lawrence continued to press, and Jeff Robinson came within a goalpost of closing the gap to one. Two minutes after Shero's goal. Mark Bonneau nearly flipped the puck between Pearson's legs.

But the Saint rally ran aground when defenseman Mark Leach had to incur a booking penalty to stop a UNH breakaway. Paul Barton tallied his second score of the night for the Wildcats to put the game out of reach.

St. Lawrence Coach Mike McShane couldn't explain his team's offensive problems. "It's pretty tough to talk about a game like that," he said afterwards. "I thought in the third period we outplayed them. We finally got one," he added.

Both teams travel to two-game, total-goals NCAA quarterfinal series next weekend. UNH visits the West's second seed, while St. Lawrence journeys to the lair of the West's top seed. At the Boston Garden St. Lawrence  0  0  2--2 New Hampshire  2  2  1--5

N, Paul Barton (unassisted), 5:07; N, Steve Lyons (unassisted), 17:31; N, Ralph Robertson (Norm Lacombe, Ken Chisholm), 3:35; N. Dan Potter (Barton, Lyons), 15:44; S, Rick Bowman (Steve Smith, Steve Rhodes), 15:08; S, Ray Shero (Mark Bonneau, Steve Tute), 15:26; N, Barton (Lyons, Dan Forget), 19:05.

Saves: S, Gray Weicker, 6-2, 5--13, Trimble, x-11 x--11, N, Todd Pearson, 13-7, 19--39, Att: 12.049.

N, Paul Barton (unassisted), 5:07; N, Steve Lyons (unassisted), 17:31; N, Ralph Robertson (Norm Lacombe, Ken Chisholm), 3:35; N. Dan Potter (Barton, Lyons), 15:44; S, Rick Bowman (Steve Smith, Steve Rhodes), 15:08; S, Ray Shero (Mark Bonneau, Steve Tute), 15:26; N, Barton (Lyons, Dan Forget), 19:05.

Saves: S, Gray Weicker, 6-2, 5--13, Trimble, x-11 x--11, N, Todd Pearson, 13-7, 19--39, Att: 12.049.