Merrimack Falls to #15 UMass 4-1
AMHERST, MA - Andrew Braithwaite (Kingston, ON)
stopped 35 shots, but two third-period unassisted UMass goals were
the difference, as the Minutemen defeated Merrimack 4-1 Saturday
night at the Mullins Center.
Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) scored the
Warriors' lone goal, extending his point streak to 10 games.
Will Ortiz gave the Minutemen the early 1-0 lead at 11:09 of the
first, swatting home a rebound for his sixth of the year after
Braithwaite stopped the original shot off the stick of Chase
Langeraap. UMass controlled the puck for large stretches of the
first period in the Warrior zone, outshooting Merrimack 18-7.
Casey Wellman made it 2-0 on the Minutemen's third power-play of
the game, one-timing a shot past Braithwaite at 3:15 of the second
for his 13th of the season. The Warriors managed to kill
a two-man advantage earlier in the second, but the Minutemen's
top-ranked power-play found the net with just 18 seconds left on
the minor.
But the Warriors got back into it as Da Costa one-timed a
tape-to-tape pass from Chris Barton (Calgary, AB)
past Paul Dainton at 19:00 of the second for his ninth of the
season. J.C. Robitaille (Des Ruisseaux, QC) also
assisted on the goal, giving the Warriors goals in two straight
games in the final minute of the second period.
Braithwaite stopped 31 shots through the first two periods, as
UMass outshot Merrimack 33-18, but the Warriors weathered the storm
and stayed in the game heading into the third.
But a Merrimack defensive turnover forced a major change in
momentum, as Ortiz intercepted a breakout pass, broke in alone on
Braithwaite, and buried a backhander over his blocker for his
second of the game, unassisted, at 9:14 of the third. Two minutes
later, T.J. Syner capitalized on a Merrimack giveaway and broke in
on Braithwaite shorthanded and converted the Minutemen's second
breakaway and unassisted goal of the third to extend the lead to
three goals.
"I thought the team in white (UMass) was more prepared than we
were tonight, whether it was special teams or faceoffs," said head
coach Mark Dennehy. "They did the little things to win. Obviously,
they're well coached. When the momentum swung the wrong way, I
didn't think we handled it the way I would have liked to. Our team
was not prepared to play. We sat around and watched the first
period."
The Warriors had a two-man advantage for 1:24 late in the third
and a power-play for the final three minutes of regulation but
failed to beat Dainton.
Dainton stopped 33 shots, improving to 8-5 on the year, while
Braithwaite fell to 4-2 on the season, snapping his four-game
winning streak.
Special teams were pivotal as UMass netted a power-play and a
short-handed tally, while the Warriors were held scoreless on the
power-play for the first time in 12 games.
With two of seven games on the road trip completed, Merrimack
(7-8-0, 4-6-0 HEA) is idle until January 2 when it battles the
University of Wisconsin in the second game of the Badger Classic at
8 p.m. (eastern) at the Kohl Center in Madison.
