Merrimack Completes Sweep of #18 UMass with 3-0 Victory
AMHERST, MA
- Joe Cannata (Wakefield, MA) made 42
saves for his first shutout of the season, as Merrimack completed
the sweep of #18 UMass 3-0 Saturday night at the Mullins Center.
Merrimack (13-15-1, 10-11-1 HEA) continues its push for its
first playoff berth since 2004 on Tuesday at #8/9 Boston College at
7 p.m. The Warriors will host #15 Maine for a pair of games next
weekend, looking to set a school record for home wins in a season
in Division I history with twelve.
The Warriors sit in eighth place in the playoff race in Hockey
East with 21 points, just one point out of sixth and two out of
fifth. They have won more Hockey East games this season since
1996-97.
Merrimack is now unbeaten (4-0-1) in its last five, its longest
streak in conference play since the 1993-94 season. The win is
their first in Amherst in 11 tries dating back to March 3, 2002.
Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) continued his
extraordinary freshman campaign with a goal and an assist in the
victory.
"I'm really proud of the way our guys battled and competed,"
said head coach Mark Dennehy. "There were times in that game we
weren't playing our best hockey, but we still stuck with it. We did
a real good job keeping their shots to the outside, so while they
had a lot of them, they weren't a lot of quality chances; grade-A.
We also responded when they put pressure on our defense. I told
Toot after the game that they were the best team we played all year
a putting pressure on our defense at the point. We adapted."
Despite UMass controlling play early in the second, it was
Merrimack who struck first as Ryan Flanigan (Rochester,
NY) struck at 8:28 to give the visitors the lead.
Pat Bowen (Marshfield, MA) threw the puck up the
far boards to Jesse Todd (Camrose, AB), who just
came off the bench. Todd found a breaking Flanigan on the opposite
side of the ice, who went unnoticed by both defenders and the
sophomore beat Dan Meyers for his third of the season.
Four minutes later with Merrimack on the power play,
Brandon Brodhag (Brooklyn Park, MN), stationed
just outside the crease, took a feed from Joe Cucci
(Melrose Park, IL) and knocked it past Meyers for his
ninth of the year. Da Costa also picked up an assist on the goal,
his 24th of the year, as Merrimack's second-ranked power
play struck for the third time in five chances on the weekend
against the Minutemen.
Cannata totaled 17 second-period saves, giving him 30 through 40
minutes.
Da Costa finished it off with his 14th of the season,
sniping a blast past Dainton with 3:52 remaining in regulation.
Chris Barton (Calgary, AB) and Francois
Ouimet (Lorraine, QC) got the assists.
The Warrior defense was perfect in five penalty kills, including
a two-man advantage in the third period. Merrimack's power play was
1-for-5 in the victory.
Cannata's shutout marked the first shutout by a Merrimack
goaltender of the season. Since returning to the lineup, Cannata is
4-0-1 with a 1.18 goals against average and a .956 save percentage.
Dainton finished with 19 saves, as UMass outshot Merrimack
42-22.
After losing 13 straight road games to start the season,
Merrimack is 2-0-1 in its last three.
