Braithwaite Leads Merrimack to 3-1 Win over #19 UMass
Boxscore
NORTH ANDOVER, MA –Junior netminder Andrew
Braithwaite (Kingston, Ontario) made 34 saves, leading the
Warriors to a 3-1 win over 19th-ranked UMass on Saturday night at
Lawler Arena.
Braithwaite stopped all 14 third-period shots while his defense
blocked four others while down two men for two-minutes late in the
third to preserve the win, Merrimack's first in Hockey East
this season.
Leading 2-1 in the third, Karl Stollery (Camrose,
Alberta) and Brandon Sadlowski (St. Paul,
Alberta) were whistled for separate infractions with 2:50
remaining, giving the Minutemen power play, which was a big reason
they scored 14 goals in two games last weekend, the chance to tie
the score. But Braithwaite and his defense, led by Joe
Loprieno (Bloomingdale, IL) and Adam Ross (Red
Deer, Alberta), blocked four shots and forced others to
sail wide, successfully killing off the power play. Eight seconds
after the Warriors were back at full strength, Stollery hammered a
shot from outside the blue line into the empty net for his first
collegiate goal which sealed the game for Merrimack.
Freshman Jesse Todd (Calgary, Alberta) wasted no
time getting the Warriors on the board, as he fired a slapper that
beat Minutemen goaltender Paul Dainton stick-side at 1:40 for his
first collegiate tally. J.C. Robitaille (Des Ruisseaux,
Quebec) and Ryan Flanigan (Rochester, NY)
earned the helpers, with Flanigan getting his first collegiate
point.
Brian Keane tied the score at 7:31 as he took a pretty feed from
Brett Watson and beat Braithwaite, who was out-of-position after
the pass.
Captain Rob Ricci (Brampton, Ontario) potted what
turned out to be the game-winner as he pulled the puck out of a
scramble at the blue line, dribbled in, and beat Dainton for his
second of the season, unassisted at 7:08 of the second.
Braithwaite made it stand up from there as he stopped 24 shots in
the final two periods. UMass outshot Merrimack 35-20 in the
game.
The Merrimack defense blocked 20 shots in the game, 13 of them in
the third period. The Minutemen, in comparison, blocked seven in
the game, none in the third.
The Warriors (3-4-1, 1-3-0 HEA) host second-ranked Boston College
on Friday at 7 p.m., looking to avenge the 4-3 overtime loss from
last week at Lawler Arena.
