Hockey Edged by #15 Vermont 2-1
Boxscore
BURLINGTON, VT – The Merrimack hockey team outshot the
15th-ranked Catamounts 25-22 but lost 2-1 Sunday at the Gutterson
Fieldhouse.
The Catamounts jumped on the board first as Josh Burrows
redirected a shot from the point by Dean Strong past Andrew
Braithwaite (Kingston, Ontario) at 14:51 for his first of
the season. With time winding down in the first, Braithwaite made a
big save on Strong, who had broken through the Warrior defense but
was denied by the junior netminder.
Vermont made it 2-0 on the power-play behind a one-timer from
Brian Roloff at 6:33 of the second who beat a sprawling Braithwaite
on the ice for his fourth of the year.
The Warriors cut the lead in half at 15:01 of the second when
captain Joe Loprieno (Bloomingdale, IL) blasted a
rebound past goaltender Mike Spillane for his first of the season.
Jesse Todd's (Calgary, Alberta) shot from
the far blue line went wide of Spillane but it bounced off the
boards and went right to Loprieno, who hammered it into the net.
Merrimack controlled the final minutes of the period but shots from
Adam Ross (Red Deer, Alberta) and Francois
Ouimet (Lorraine, Quebec) were stopped by Spillane.
Sophomore Chris Barton (Calgary, Alberta) opened
the third period with two prime scoring chances but both were
denied by the leg pads of Spillane. Pat Kimball
(Framingham, MA) had a prime chance on the power play with
seven minutes remaining as he found a loose puck on his stick after
a Ross shot from the point, but he partially fanned on the
opportunity and shot it right. Merrimack pulled Braithwaite in the
final minute but could not get set up in the offensive zone.
Spillane stopped 24 shots while earning his third win of the
season, while Braithwaite stopped 20 shots in the losing cause.
Merrimack (3-5-2, 1-4-1 HEA) continues its travels at the
University of Maine next Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Orono.
