College Hockey Inc.
In goal, he's Joe Cool

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By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell - Boston Globe

NORTH ANDOVER - Merrimack was in command, or so it seemed. The Warriors were leading Boston University, 3-0, after two periods Jan. 18 at Lawler Arena. The season series was on the line as well as the game, and they were 20 minutes away from victory.

In the first seven minutes of the third period, the Terriers roared back with a pair of goals, the second coming at 6:56. Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy thought about calling a timeout but opted against it, and BU kept coming in waves. The Terriers never got that tying goal, though, and the biggest reason was junior goaltender Joe Cannata, who finished with 28 saves, 13 in the final period.

Cannata's unflappable demeanor resonated throughout the team that night and every other night he has been in net.

"I don't know that 'pressure' and 'Joe Cannata' go together in the same sentence,'' said Dennehy. "He's the calmest goaltender that I've ever been around.

"One thing I've always looked for in goaltenders is how they react after a goal. Some kids will get deeper in their crease, some guys will get rattled. He's not affected. I don't know that I've seen him affected by anything in the net.''

Cannata, a native of Wakefield, said he felt the Terriers' intensity in the third period but he deflected the credit for holding it off, particularly to his defensemen.

"It was a little overwhelming, but we had a couple of guys blocking shots,'' said Cannata. "We were just trying to get whistles at that point, slow the game down and let us take control.

"With a veteran team, guys know you can't really get rattled about that and you've got to just keep going. We did a good job with kind of weathering the storm there.''

Dennehy said it was largely because of Cannata that he didn't use his timeout.

"Teams will play differently in front of different goaltenders,'' said the coach. "We're able to take some risks that maybe we wouldn't take in a different situation because we know we have Joe back there.

"When BU scores a goal, it's like there's blood in the water and they're great white sharks ready to take a bite. They go right back to the net and they score in bunches. But we have a veteran team and the game is going to be about momentum changes. You've just got to stay the course.''

A valuable tip There is still a long way to go, but Merrimack is having an excellent season. The Warriors, who won nine games in Cannata's freshman year and 16 last year, already have 13 victories (13-5-4) with 12 games to go.

Cannata is riding a 13-5-4 record with a 2.15 goals-against average and .920 save percentage heading into this weekend's games against Vermont. The Warriors have taken the season series from both BU and Boston College for the first time. Dennehy said he believed as early as the recruiting process that Cannata was going to be an important cog in the wheel of success.

BC High coach John Flaherty, who has known Dennehy since high school, tipped him off to Cannata, who had transferred to that school from Buckingham Browne & Nichols. After hearing from Flaherty, Dennehy did more research.

"He had gone to BB&N prior, so I called [coach] Terrence Butt and he said, 'Get all over him, this kid is a ridiculous athlete,' '' said Dennehy. "The last time I heard that, I was at UMass and we were recruiting Jon Quick.

"So I went to see him at BC High, and I'll never forget, I was at Tully Forum watching a state tournament game and he was big. He took the bottom of the net without giving up the top and he was just calm and the team responded to that.''

Dennehy went hard after Cannata and received a verbal commitment but he worried that was in jeopardy because of the temptations of other programs triggered by Cannata's play for the US National Under-18 team during the 2007-08 season. Cannata, though, said there was no need for concern; he felt he belonged at Merrimack.

"It was a dream of mine to play Division 1 hockey,'' said Cannata. "You talk to some goalies and you hear horror stories. They were told they were going to play but when they get there, there's another recruit who is better than them and stuff like that. I knew [Merrimack] wasn't going anywhere but up.''

Auspicious start Dennehy said Cannata's character was apparent in his very first college game, at Army Oct. 18, 2008.

"Our guys absolutely laid an egg in front of him,'' said Dennehy. "We get outshot, 44-22, and won the game, 1-0. The players, the coaches, we were like, 'He's as advertised.' And I'm sure he was thinking, 'I hope they play better in front of me; I can't do this every night.' ''

Cannata said the West Point campus, the atmosphere, and his first time in net made for some intimidation, but his focus was on stopping pucks.

"We had played BU earlier in the week and we lost by a lot [5-2],'' he said. "Guys were pretty upset. Going into [Army], I just wanted to give the team a chance to win. They peppered me with a lot of shots and I was able to get my first shutout.''

Merrimack captain Chris Barton has watched as Cannata has improved his skills and gained more confidence with each season.

"He's come a long way since his freshman year, that's for sure,'' said Barton. "He's worked hard all summer long and he's made huge strides already this year and he's one of the best goalies in the league by far.''

There was no loss of poise when BU was swarming the net.

"Obviously, it starts with Joey to calm it down and he made some incredible saves to keep that puck out,'' said Barton. "We were never really worried about Joe at all, we were just trying to get back to what we were trying to do and we did that and got a power play out of it and kept it out of our net.

"A lot of guys on our team are willing to block shots, and I think that's helped him as well. If you can block the shot, block it, but make sure he can see it, and if he can see it, he's going to stop it almost every time.''

If there is a knock on Cannata, it's that he's too calm, too low-key. Dennehy tries to address that by lighting a fire under his netminder where necessary, as in the weight room. The goalie said he appreciates it.

"To get me to my best ability, he's got to be on me,'' said Cannata. "That's better for both of us. I welcome that and really enjoy it and hope to keep doing it the next couple of years.''

Cannata is a Vancouver Canucks draft pick (No. 173 overall in 2009), and Dennehy said he'll broach the subject of his goalie's senior year after this one. Judging from what Cannata says, there is no need to worry about a defection.

"There's no reason for me to leave, there's no rush,'' he said. "I have a good thing going here and really enjoy my time here, the campus, the school, and I want to graduate with my senior class.''