Merrimack Sets School Record for Home Wins in 6-3 Victory over #18 Maine
NORTH ANDOVER, MA
- Freshman forward Stephane Da Costa (Paris,
France) had a goal and three assists as Merrimack moved to
within one point of home ice, exploding for five third-period goals
in a 6-3 victory over #18 Maine in front of 2,547 fans at Lawler
Arena Friday night.
Merrimack (14-16-1, 11-12-1 HEA) and Maine (15-13-3, 12-10-2
HEA) take the ice again Saturday at 7 p.m. at Lawler Arena. Limited
tickets are available for purchase online at merrimackathletics.com
and the Merrimack box office.
The win gives Merrimack 12 home victories, the most in its
Division I history and gives the Warriors wins over all nine Hockey
East opponents in a season for the first time ever. The 11 Hockey
East wins are the most since 1996-97.
“We have some very resilient and intelligent players in
our locker room,” said head coach Mark Dennehy. “Our
senior class has been through a lot [of tough times] .”
Bobby Kramer (New York, NY) netted the
game-winning goal at 9:05 of the third, perfectly executing a
four-on-two with Ryan Flanigan (Rochester, NY), Carter
Madsen (Okotoks, AB) and Kyle Bigos (Upland,
CA) for his first goal of the season and second of his
career.
"Carter (Madsen) jumped ahead of me and drove to the middle and
Flanigan found me in the wheelhouse for me to drive it home," said
Kramer. "We took the lead the next shift after they tied it, so it
was huge. It was crazy there for a while with all of the goals."
Kramer's goal came up after David DeKastrozza and Jeff Dimmen
scored 41 seconds apart to tie the game at three. Before the Black
Bears tied the game, Chris Barton (Calgary, AB)
gave Merrimack the lead 14 seconds into the third with his second
of the game, and Bigos made it 3-1 at 2:13, after dribbling through
the defense and beating Scott Darling glove side for his third of
the season.
Da Costa followed Kramer's goal with his 15th of the
season at 11:54 of the third, extending the hosts' lead to two
goals. He took a feed from Justin Bonitatibus (Arlington,
MA), who tallied a career-high three assists in the win,
and dribbled from his own zone through two Maine defenders and
fired it past the glove of Darling for the goal.
Eighty-nine seconds later, Fraser Allan (North
Battleford, SK) scored his first of the year, drilling a
slapper from the blue line, giving Merrimack the 6-3 advantage and
sending Darling to the bench for the remainder of the game.
Joe Cannata (Wakefield, MA) picked up the win
in goal, stopping 34 shots, including 19 in the third, while also
getting an assist on Bigos' goal. Darling finished with 24 saves in
53:23 of action.
Maine was awarded eight of the game's first nine power plays,
and Merrimack prevailed, killing seven of them. Cannata kept the
score tied at one in the second, making a highlight-reel breakaway
glove save, robbing Joey Diamond of a possible go-ahead goal.
Diamond skated in alone, got Cannata to go down to his right, but
Cannata threw his glove to the left and gloved the puck along the
ice to preserve the tie.
With the nation's top power play on a two-man advantage for
1:36, Tanner House got the Black Bears on the board with his
14th of the year, taking feeds from Brian Flynn and
Dimmen and one-timing it in at 13:32 of the first.
But the Warriors responded 2:01 later as Barton notched his
18th of the season, tying the game. Barton took a pass
from Da Costa and one-timed it over the glove of Darling.
The victory puts the Warriors in seventh place in Hockey East.
Merrimack trails Boston University, UMass Lowell, and Northeastern
by one point for fourth place.
"We think we had the game in control and all of a sudden it's
time to go back to work," Kramer said. "We weren't going to give
up. We just keep working and nothing bothers us. We get beat by BC
on Tuesday and we just never give up. We're going to finish the
season like this."
Eleven different Merrimack players registered points in the
victory, with the first line of Da Costa, Barton, and Bonitatibus
combining for nine points. J.C. Robitaille (Des Ruisseaux,
QC) made his return to the lineup after missing four games
and picked up two assists.
The two teams combined for 70 penalty minutes, with 48 of them
going to Merrimack.
The Warriors limited the nation's best power play to two goals
in nine opportunities.
