Hockey Falls 3-0 to UMass in Regular Season Finale; Will Face BU in HEA Quarterfinals
AMHERST, MA – The Merrimack hockey team was defeated on Saturday night in the regular season finale at the University of Massachusetts, 3-0. With the loss, Merrimack earned the No. 6 seed for the Hockey East quarterfinal round and will take on third-seeded Boston University.
Playoff ticket prices will be released on Sunday at noon and they will be available for purchase online at www.merrimackathletics.com. Playoff tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at 978-837-5324 starting Monday at 10 am. Group tickets will not be available online; please call the box office for group rates and information on Sunday at noon.
Merrimack (15-15-6, 13-11-3 HEA) will be on the road for the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East playoffs on Friday night as they will travel to take on #3 Boston University. The time of the game will be announced on Sunday. The 13 conference victories for the Warriors marks the second most in school history.
The Minutemen struck first in the opening period with 14:52 remaining as Adam Phillips took a behind-the-back feed from Rocco Carzo and beat Sam Marotta (Bridgewater, Mass.) on the first power play of the night.
After the Warriors were unsuccessful on a five-minute major power play along with a two-man advantage for the final 55 seconds of the major, UMass extended their lead to 2-0 as Conor Sheary found a loose puck in front of the Warriors net and found the back of the net behind a diving Marotta.
Just under three minutes into the second period, Marotta kept the score 2-0 in favor of the Minutemen as he made a huge diving save on the 5-on-3 penalty kill for the Warriors. The Warriors weren't so lucky just over 10 minutes later as the Minutemen took the 3-0 lead as the Colin Shea point shot hit off a Merrimack defender and just found its way under the cross bar with 6:58 to play in the second period.
After two periods of play, the Warriors were outshot 19-14 and they were held to 0-for-3 on their power-play opportunities while only recording five shots on goal.
Mike Collins (Boston, Mass.) had the Warriors best chance to score late in the third period on the power play as he ripped a wrist shot from the right circle, but the UMass goalie made a nice glove save to preserve his shutout. The Warriors were outshot in the third period 14-10 and for the game by a margin of 33-24.
With no points on the night, Merrimack leading scorer, Collins finishes the season with 32 points in conference action, just four points behind Boston College's Johnny Gaudreau for tops in the Hockey East. Collins led the race by two points heading into action tonight but Gaudreau finished his night with six points to take over the scoring lead.
Last night's hero, Connor Toomey (Billerica, Mass.) finished the game with a team-high four shots on goal while seven other Warriors recorded at least two shots on goal in the loss.
Marotta finished the game with 30 saves in the losing effort while Steve Mastalerz finished with 24 saves in the shutout.
Merrimack finished the game going 0-for-6 on the power play while the Minutemen finished the game going 1-for-6 on their chances.
Merrimack is now 9-2-0 over their last 11 games against UMass and a 3-2-0 record at the Mullins Center.
The last time Merrimack played Boston University in the Hockey East quarterfinals was during the 2009-10 season when the current seniors were freshmen. The Warriors were defeated in three games by the Terriers.
