Merrimack Ties Providence 1-1; Heads to Playoffs for First Time Since 2004
Video of Ross'
goal
USCHO
story
NORTH ANDOVER, MA
- For the first time since 2004, Merrimack College is
headed to the Hockey East Tournament. Following a 1-1 tie with
Providence at Lawler Arena, the Warriors secured the sixth seed and
will head to Boston University for the best-of-three Hockey East
Quarterfinals.
Merrimack (15-17-2, 12-13-2 HEA) concludes the regular season
with the most conference wins in school history and its
second-highest seed ever in the Hockey East Tournament.
The Warriors, who finished the year 12-3-1 at home, setting the
school record for home wins, have advanced to the Hockey East
Semifinals just once in their history, when they played BU in the
quarterfinals, a three-game victory in 1997-98.
The Friars finish their season 10-20-4, 5-18-4 HEA.
The quarterfinals will be played beginning Friday and will
continue to Saturday, and Sunday if necessary. Log on to www.merrimackathletics.com
for complete ticket information for the Hockey East Quarterfinals
on Monday.
"I'll be fine not having a spring break, I've had enough spring
breaks," said senior defenseman Brandon Sadlowski (St.
Paul, AB). "I usually just go home back to Alberta, but
I'm sure my parents won't miss me too much."
"After the second period I asked (Glenn) Stewart (Merrimack
assistant) to check on the scores," said head coach Mark Dennehy.
"But I told our guys who weren't dressed not to tell our players
what the scores were, we needed to focus on our game."
"I think it's safe to say that I'm still breathing a little
heavy," said senior captain Pat Bowen (Marshfield,
MA). "There is still a lot of work to do, but to get in
feels good. It's a bit of a relief. But, it just means we have more
work to do and we have to come back here on Monday and get it
done."
Adam Ross (Red Deer, AB) scored the lone goal
for the Warriors, his second of the season, from Stephane
Da Costa (Paris, France) and Chris Barton
(Calgary, AB) at 4:25 of the first. Da Costa and Barton
forced a turnover down by the Friar net, and worked it to the point
to Ross, who one-timed it from the blue line past Alex Beaudry to
tie the game.
Providence took the early lead on the power play at 1:09, as
Matt Bergland gathered a loose puck in front of Andrew
Braithwaite (Kingston, ON) for his 12th of the
season.
The Warriors controlled most of the game from there, outshooting
the Friars 16-9 in the second and 38-23 in the game.
Beaudry made 37 saves, including a breakaway stop off
Brandon Brodhag (Brooklyn Park, MN) in the second
period. Karl Stollery (Camrose, AB) and
Ryan Flanigan (Rochester, NY) each had four shots,
while Da Costa had a team-best six on goal.
Making his final collegiate start at home, Braithwaite tallied
22 saves, including a third-period breakaway stop on Andy Balysky
in the third period.
Before the game, Merrimack honored its six-member class of 2010:
Braithwaite, Bowen, Sadlowski, Justin Bonitatibus
(Arlington, MA), Pat Kimball (Framingham, MA), and
J.C. Robitaille (Des Ruisseaux, QC).
Hockey East Tournament games will be available for viewing by a
worldwide audience and will be aired through
www.hockeyeastonline.com as well as www.b2tv.com. Fans wanting to
watch hockey games via B2 Networks will need ahigh-speed Internet
connection and a current version of Microsoft Windows Media Player.
Games will be sold on an individual
basis for $8 (US). The Hockey East Tournament men's pass for
viewing all games broadcast by B2 will be madeavailable for $50
dollars. Fans can own a personal copy of each game by going to
www.b2tv.com and downloadingthe event from B2onDemand for a price
of just $19.95 per game.
