Hockey Edged by #13/12 Boston College 4-3
Get your Warrior hockey
gear
CHESTNUT HILL, MA. - Brandon Brodhag (Brooklyn
Park, MN) scored his first career goal and added an
assist, but #13/12 Boston College overcame a 3-2 deficit to snap
Merrimack's four-game winning streak 4-3 Friday night in front of
3,842 at Kelley Rink.
The loss drops Merrimack to 4-3 overall, 1-1 in Hockey East,
while the Eagles improve to 2-2, 1-1 in Hockey East with the win.
The teams will rematch on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Lawler Arena with a
free post-game open skate planned for all fans in attendance.
In a wild first period, the first 3:58 featured three goals with
linemates Jimmy Hayes and Paul Carey kicking off the scoring 39
seconds apart, giving the Eagles the early 2-0 lead.
But the Warriors recovered as Jeff Velleca (Waterbury,
CT) notched his first of the season just 22 seconds later
at 3:58, with Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France)
and Brodhag getting the assists, the first of Brodhag's career, to
cut the lead to one.
Freshman Kyle Bigos (Upland, CA) erased the
two-goal deficit with his first collegiate tally at 17:08 as he
wristed a shot on the power play from the blue line past a screened
Parker Milner, who was making his first career start. Chris
Barton (Camrose, AB) and J.C. Robitaille (Des
Ruisseaux, QC) picked up the assists on the tying goal.
Just 1:02 later, Brodhag snuck behind the defense, taking a pass
from Pat Bowen (Marshfield, MA), and backhanded a
breakaway past Milner for his first career goal, giving the
Warriors three first-period tallies and the lead. Da Costa got the
second assist on Brodhag's tally, as two Warriors picked up their
first collegiate markers in 62 seconds.
But the lead was short-lived as Carl Sneep evened the score at
three 57 seconds later, and the teams entered the locker room
deadlocked at three after the first. The Eagles outshot Merrimack
16-6 in the first, but Joe Cannata (Wakefield, MA)
limited the damage with 13 stops.
Ben Smith notched what proved to be the game-winner with the
teams skating four aside at 9:18 of the second. Brian Gibbons won
the offensive zone draw and perfectly executed a two-on-one down
low with Smith to put the hosts in front.
“BC is a good hockey team,” said Merrimack head
coach Mark Dennehy. “You never want to trade chances with
them. I don't care how young they are, they have a lot of
talent; a lot of skill.”
Penalties hurt Merrimack's chances for a comeback, as they were
forced to kill off five straight minor penalties from 9:15 of the
second to 8:58 of the third. In all, they killed all seven
penalties, while going 1-for-3 on the power play.
“We killed well, we have all year, but we don't want
to kill that much,” said Dennehy. “We've talked
about penalties in bunches and we did that early in the third
period. We killed them off, but penalties in clusters can kill any
energy you have going.”
The Warriors had their chances in the third, most notably by the
line of Velleca, Da Costa, and Brodhag, but Milner was up to the
challenge, stopping a Da Costa wrist shot with 6:05 remaining, and
a wraparound attempt from Brodhag with 3:30 to play. Da Costa's
fifth shot of the game, a slapper from the blue line was turned
aside by the freshman netminder with 1:19 to play, and the Eagles
cleared the puck, securing their second victory of the year and
first in Hockey East.
Cannata finished with 32 saves, including 25 in the first two
periods, while Milner recorded 15 stops, earning his first
collegiate victory. BC outshot Merrimack 36-18 in the game and
29-12 in the first two periods.
Bowen extended his scoring streak to four games with his
team-leading seventh assist of the game, while Da Costa and Brodhag
each had multi-point performances as Merrimack scored three times
for the fifth straight game.
