Hockey Falls to UMass 6-1 in Season Finale
AMHERST, MA - The Merrimack hockey team concluded its season
Saturday with a 6-1 loss to the University of Massachusetts
Saturday night at the Mullins Center.
The Warriors finish the season 9-21-4 (5-19-3 HEA). If Providence
loses to #1 Boston University Sunday, the Warriors will finish in
ninth place, out of last place for the first time since
2003-04.
After winning 3-2 in overtime Friday night, Merrimack picked up
right where it left off as Joe Cucci (Melrose Park,
IL) scored his 10th career goal, just 1:30 into the game,
back-handing a shot past Paul Dainton for his seventh of the
season. Ryan Flanigan (Rochester, NY) and
J.C. Robitaille (Des Ruisseaux, Quebec) earned the
assists, as the Warriors scored on the first shot of the game.
But despite outshooting UMass 10-5 in the first 11:22, the
Minutemen took control of the game as they scored three times in
6:42 with Cody Quirk, John Wessbecker, and Marc Concannon all
beating Andrew Braithwaite (Kingston, Ontario),
who was making his first start since January 31.
Alex Berry and James Marcou made it 5-1 in the second, scoring
1:52 apart to all but put the game away for the Minutemen, who
finished seventh in Hockey East with a 10-14-3 conference record.
The Minutemen's power play was impressive, scoring on two of its
first three opportunities, while freshman Casey Wellman added the
third man-advantage tally of the night at 1:19 of the third.
Dainton finished with 36 saves and was the reason Merrimack scored
just once in the first ten minutes. Braithwaite rounded out his
junior season with 33 stops.
Playing in what could be his final game as a Warrior, captain
Rob Ricci (Brampton, Ontario) posted a team-high
five shots in his 99th career game.
Despite missing the playoffs, there were many signs of improvement
this season for the Warriors. For the second straight year,
Merrimack set a school record for fewest goals allowed in a season
with 89. Last season, the Warriors allowed 93 goals overall, which
was a school record at the time. Merrimack's team goals-against was
under three in Hockey East for the first time in school history,
while 12 of the Warriors' 19 conference losses were by one goal,
proving they were in nearly every game this year. The freshman and
sophomore classes tallied approximately two-thirds of the team's
points this year, proving the team will only be better heading into
the 2009-10 season.
