Hockey Falls to Quinnipiac in Overtime 4-3
Boxscore
STORRS, CT – Jeff Velleca (Waterbury, CT)
scored his first collegiate goal and added an assist but the
Warriors blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2, losing to Quinnipiac University
in overtime 4-3 Monday in the first round of the Toyota UConn
Holiday Classic.
Merrimack (4-9-3, 2-7-2) will take on host UConn at 4 p.m. Tuesday
in the consolation game. Quinnipiac plays Air Force at 7:15 p.m. in
the championship, who defeated the Huskies in a shootout on
Monday.
Brandon Wong scored the winner in overtime at 1:42, as he
one-timed a shot home off a pass from Bryan Leitch, who capitalized
on a Warrior turnover behind the net of Andrew Braithwaite
(Kingston, Ontario).
Merrimack controlled the play for most of the first period and
struck first as Joe Cucci (Melrose Park, IL) took
a pass from Francois Ouimet (Lorraine, Quebec) and
one-timed it past Bobcat goaltender Bud Fisher for his second of
the season at 17:58 of the first. Velleca, who fed the puck to
Ouimet off a nice pass from Grant Farrell (Calgary,
Alberta), earned the second assist on Cucci's goal,
his first collegiate tally.
Skating in his 50th career game, Fraser Allan (North
Battleford, Sask.) made it 2-0 as he fired a slapper over
Fisher's glove at 4:34 of the second with the teams skating
four aside. Chris Barton (Calgary, Alberta), who
also was appearing in his 50th career game, got the assist on
Allan's first of the season along with Bobby Kramer (New
York, NY).
The Bobcats cut the lead in half as Eric Lampe took a feed from
Greg Holt on a 2-on-1 for his third of the year at 13:00 of the
second. Quinnipiac outshot Merrimack 10-5 in the second but
Braithwaite came through when called upon, stopping nine
second-period shots.
The first 4:04 of the third saw three goals, with the Bobcats
getting two of them to tie the game at three. After Yuri
Bouharevich tied it on a strange play off the boards that
originally appeared to be an icing, Velleca scored his first
collegiate goal 38 seconds later as he sniped a shot over the
blocker of Fisher to regain the lead for Merrimack. But David
Marshall answered right back 37 seconds later converting a
breakaway off a Warrior turnover at the blue line to even the score
at three.
The score remained tied through the third with both teams trading
scoring chances, including two shots from Rob Ricci
(Brampton, Ontario) when he was by himself against two
defensemen with two minutes remaining in regulation.
Velleca and Allan each posted a goal and an assist in the loss, as
Braithwaite stopped 22 shots and was left helpless on each of
Quinnipiac's goals. Merrimack outshot the Bobcats 31-26.
