#7/6 Merrimack Falls to #10/11 Boston University 4-2 Friday
BOSTON, MA – Forty-four shots were not enough Friday night as #7/6 Merrimack fell to #10/11 Boston University 4-2 in front of 5,381 fans at Agganis Arena.
Merrimack (11-4-3, 7-3-1 HEA) rounds out its four-game road trip at #4 Boston College Sunday at 1 p.m. in a rematch of last year's Hockey East Championship. BU (11-6-1, 9-4-1 HEA) takes on the U.S. Under-18 National Team in an exhibition game Sunday at 7 p.m.
Josh Myers (Colorado Springs, CO) opened the scoring with his first collegiate goal, finding a rebound in front of Kieran Millan and backhanding it home at 4:31. Right as a power play expired, Brendan Ellis (Kelowna, BC) worked the puck to Mike Collins (Boston, MA), who threw it on net. Myers grabbed the rebound and finished the sequence to give the Warriors the early lead.
But the Terriers responded with three unanswered goals in the first, as Justin Courtnall scored just 14 seconds later, followed by power play goals from Alex Chaisson at 5:30 and Alexx Privitera at 18:27 to give the hosts the 3-1 lead after one period as the Warriors surrendered three first-period tallies for the first time since February 23, 2010.
Merrimack cut the deficit in half as Kyle Bigos (Upland, CA) netted his second of the year on the power play at 9:45 of the second. Collins worked with Shawn Bates (Ft. Saskatchewan, AB) to push the puck to the point to Ellis, who fed Bigos across the blue line. Bigos faked a slapper and used Myers as a screen to wrist it past Millan.
Sahir Gill pushed the lead back to 4-2 at 17:23 of the second, as he took advantage of poor clearing attempts by a tired Merrimack unit. Max Nicastro fed Gill who one-timed it past Joe Cannata (Wakefield, MA) to give BU the two-goal lead after two despite Merrimack outshooting the Terriers by a 14-10 margin in the second.
Merrimack poured on the pressure in the third, firing 20 shots, but point blank late chances from Ellis, Bates and Justin Mansfield (Arlington, MA) were denied by Millan, who preserved the victory for the Terriers.
Ellis was Merrimack's lone multi-point producer, picking up two assists in the loss and now is tied for second among Hockey East defensemen with 13 assists. His 15 points lead Merrimack in scoring.
Gill had a goal and an assist, leading the Terriers, while Millan stopped 42 shots, two shy of his career high, for his 70th career victory.
Cannata turned aside 32 shots in the loss, making numerous odd-man opportunity stops, keeping his team in the game in the third.
Out chancing BU 74-54 in the game, Merrimack was 1-for-5 on the man-advantage, firing 10 shots, while BU finished 2-for-4 on the power play after scoring on each of its first two opportunities.
With the loss, the season series between BU and Merrimack is tied at one each with both games played at Agganis Arena. The teams conclude the season series on February 3 at Lawler Arena on WBIN and Fox College Sports, with the Warriors going for their second season-series in as many years over BU.
The loss was Merrimack's first in 13 games this season when scoring two or more goals.
