Hockey Defeats Holy Cross 3-1 in Home Opener
Post-Game
Audio from Coach Dennehy
Video
Highlights
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – Jesse Todd (Calgary,
AB) scored the game-winner while Joe Cannata
(Wakefield, Mass.) stopped 26 shots as the Merrimack
hockey team defeated Holy Cross 3-1 in front of 1,808 fans at
Lawler Arena in the home opener Friday night.
The Warriors, who will host Army Saturday night, improve to 1-2
overall with the win, while Holy Cross falls to 0-2 on the
season.
Junior captain Chris Barton (Calgary, AB) broke a
scoreless tie at 1:49 of the second, as he located the rebound of a
Kyle Bigos (Upland, Calif.) shot and knocked it
past goaltender Thomas Tysowsky on the power play for his fourth of
the season. Todd earned the second assist on the goal, which was
the first power play marker this year for Merrimack. Bigos'
assist was the first of his collegiate career.
Todd made it 2-0, scoring the eventual game-winner, as he
redirected a shot from the point from Adam Ross (Red Deer,
AB) for his first of the season at 11:16 of the third.
Cannata, who came up big all night, had his shutout bid foiled
with 45 seconds remaining as Jordan Cyr cut the lead to one with
Tysowsky pulled for the extra attacker. But the Warriors held on
from there, as J.C. Robitaille (Des Ruisseaux, QC)
registered an unassisted empty-netter at 19:47 to put the game
away.
"It was nice to get a win," said head coach Mark Dennehy. "We
talked about breaking the season up into seven-game segments, and
we were 0-2 after losses to North Dakota. Tonight, the guys grinded
it out and made plays to get us a win."
Cannata stopped the first 26 shots he faced, including two prime
scoring chances from Cyr, while the Crusaders had a two-man
advantage for 40 seconds midway through the second. After the
Warriors killed off the 5-on-3, they successfully burned off the
remaining 4:20 of a major penalty to conclude the second period
with the 1-0 lead.
The Warriors killed four power plays in all, allowing just three
shots on the Crusaders' power play.
Highly touted freshman Stephane Da Costa (Paris,
France) made his Merrimack debut and registered two shots
in the win. Using his explosive speed and nifty puck-handling
ability, Da Costa set up Joe Cucci (Melrose Park,
IL) with a pretty move while on the power play in the
first, but Cucci could not get the shot on net.
Todd and Robitaille each had multi-point games, earning a goal and
an assist each in the win, as Merrimack has won six straight
non-conference games at home dating back to the 2007-08 season.
Making his first collegiate start in goal, Tysowski stopped 25
shots in the loss.
