Jamieson, Barton Lead Merrimack to 5-5 Tie with #5 BC
Boxscore
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – John Jamieson (Billerica,
MA) scored his first two collegiate goals while
Chris Barton (Calgary, Alberta) tied the game with
3:25 remaining in regulation to give Merrimack the 5-5 tie with
fifth-ranked Boston College Friday night at Lawler Arena.
The Warriors trailed 5-3 entering the third after Brock Bradford
netted his third of the night with 51 seconds remaining in the
second, but Joe Cucci (Melrose Park, IL) one-timed
a pass from Francois Ouimet (Lorraine, Quebec)
past John Muse to cut the lead to one at 1:44 of the third.
After a 15 minute delay midway through the third due to a power
outage, Merrimack evened the score at 16:35 as Barton knocked home
a power-play tally, Merrimack's second man-advantage goal of
the night, for his fourth of the year.
Merrimack's penalty kill, which had surrendered three goals
on its first seven penalty kill attempts, was forced to kill two
more, one with 2:08 remaining and another taken at 19:56 of the
third, which carried over into overtime. Joe Cannata
(Wakefield, MA) and his defense came up big, as the
freshman goaltender stopped four shots on the man advantage in
overtime while the Warrior defense blocked three others to preserve
the tie.
After tying and winning a 4-3 overtime game at Merrimack two weeks
ago, Bradford picked up where he left off as he tallied his eighth
of the season just 22 seconds into the game on a breakaway. Brian
Gibbons made it 2-0 BC at 3:10 of the first as he took feeds from
Barry Almeida and Carl Sneep.
Freshman Karl Stollery (Camrose, Alberta) cut the
lead in half as he wristed home his second goal in as many games,
this time on a two-man advantage at 5:49 of the first. With 3:51
remaining in the first, Jamieson evened the score, taking passes
from Carter Madsen (Calgary, Alberta) and
Adam Ross (Red Deer, Alberta) for his first goal
in 28 collegiate games.
Ben Smith added a power-play goal with 1:15 left in the first to
regain the lead for the Eagles, and Bradford doubled the lead in
the second with another man-advantage tally. After Jamieson cut the
lead to 4-3 on a goal that deflected off an Eagle defender,
Bradford tallied his third of the game just before the
intermission.
Boston College out shot Merrimack five-to-two in overtime, but
Cannata turned back every shot he faced. Both teams fired 34 shots
in the game, with Cannata and Muse each stopping 29 shots.
Cucci and Stollery each finished with a goal and an assist, as ten
Warriors tallied at least one point. Bradford had four points,
giving the captain seven points in three games against Merrimack
this season, including five goals and an assist on the
Eagles' last eight goals against the Warriors.
This tie marked the first point Merrimack has earned against the
Eagles at Lawler Arena since February 5, 2004, seven games ago,
when they tied 4-4.
Merrimack (3-4-2, 1-3-1 HEA) visits 15th-ranked Vermont for a
conference matchup on Sunday at 4 p.m., while the Eagles (5-3-1,
3-2-1 HEA) battle New Hampshire on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Conte
Forum.
