Hockey Earns 4-3 Win over #15 UNH
Boxscore
Coach
Dennehy Post Game Audio
Rob
Ricci Audio
DURHAM, NH – Rob Ricci (Brampton,
Ontario) and Jesse Todd (Calgary,
Alberta) scored unanswered third period goals leading
Merrimack to the 4-3 upset win over #15 New Hampshire Saturday
night at the Whittemore Center.
Forwards Bobby Kramer (New York, NY) and
Elliott Sheen (Lethbridge, Alberta) notched their
first collegiate tallies in the win, Merrimack's second road
victory of the season and just its third in 25 games lifetime at
the Whittemore Center. The Warriors entered Saturday's game
winless in five straight and 10 of 11 dating back to October
18.
After a lackluster performance in a 3-1 loss against Lowell on
Tuesday that resulted in significant lineup changes, the Warriors
struck first as Kramer tipped in a shot from the point from
Karl Stollery (Camrose, Alberta) for his first
collegiate goal at 8:46. The puck came to Stollery on the point as
the fourth line of Ryan Flanigan (Rochester, NY), Justin
Bonitatibus (Arlington, MA) and Kramer worked hard against
UNH's top line to gain possession down low and work it to
Stollery on the back line.
After Kevin Kapstad evened the score on a two-man advantage late
in the first, Sheen regained the lead with his first collegiate
tally as he wristed a shot through the legs of Wildcat goaltender
Brian Foster at 4:08 of the second. Sheen's linemates, Ricci
and Chris Barton (Calgary, Alberta), picked up the
assists.
The Warriors controlled the play for most of the second
outshooting UNH 13-9, but the Wildcats evened the score with 5:44
remaining as James van Riemsdyk and Steve Moses perfectly executed
a two-on-one with Moses burying the puck over the glove of Cannata
after the Warriors failed to control the puck at their own blue
line, resulting in the Wildcat odd-man rush.
UNH took its first lead at 6:46 of the third as Bobby Butler split
the Warrior backline and beat Cannata on a breakaway for his second
of the season.
But Merrimack came right back as Ricci got his own rebound and
wristed it past Foster for his fourth of the season, just 51
seconds after Butler's goal.
That set the stage for Todd as he redirected a John
Jamieson (Billerica, MA) shot past Foster for his second
of the season at 10:53 to regain the lead for Merrimack.
Merrimack's defense took over from there as Cannata stopped
13 shots in the third period, including a big save on Butler with
7:26 remaining. With Foster pulled for the extra attacker in the
final minute, Barton came up with a huge diving block with 15
seconds left to preserve the win.
The Warriors entered Saturday's contest with a 2-35-5 record
since 1995 against UNH and had not won at Whittemore since December
13, 2003.
Cannata finished with 33 saves as he improved to 2-1-3 on the
season.
Merrimack (4-7-3, 2-6-2 HEA) hosts the University of Maine on
Sunday December 7 at 2 p.m. at Lawler Arena.
