Northeastern Trips up Men's Ice Hockey, 3-1, Saturday
Links: Box Score | Dennehy Postgame Comments
BOSTON, Mass. – Northeastern raced out a two-goal lead in the opening 10 minutes of the contest and then carried play through most of the third period before icing it with an empty-netter, as the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team fell, 3-1, to the Huskies on Saturday night at Lawler Rink.
The Basics
Score: Northeastern 3, Merrimack 1
Records: Merrimack (8-4-1, 4-3-0 HEA) | Northeastern (2-9-1, 2-5-1 HEA)
Location: Matthews Arena | Boston, Mass.
How It Happened
For only the third time this season, Merrimack found itself down by two goals just 10 minutes into the game. The Warriors had dropped each game in those previous situations (Mercyhurst – Oct 25; Providence – Nov. 7), and looked to buck that trend on Saturday.
Northeastern didn't need much longer than two minutes to open the scoring; after an errant Merrimack pass was picked off near the blue line in the Warrior defensive zone, Ryan Rosenthal cycled the puck to Nolan Stevens behind the net; the latter connected with his brother, John Stevens, who one-timed it just enough to squeeze through the pads of freshman netminder Collin Delia (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), making it a 1-0 Northeastern lead at 2:04 of the first.
The first penalty of the game put the Huskies to the man advantage, and they would quickly capitalize; NU's leading scorer, Dalen Hedges, came up with a rebound from his own shot, moved to his left and snuck a shot into the top-left corner of the net through a screened Delia to double the hosts' lead at the 10:07 mark.
Early in the second, senior Justin Mansfield (Arlington, Mass.) was handed the puck on the left faceoff dot and managed to sneak a wrister off the far pipe and in; sophomore Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden) and junior Ben Bahe (Stillwater, Minn.) each assisted on the play that brought the Warriors to within one just 4:01 into the middle frame.
Shortly after, Merrimack had its only power-play chance of the night and saw several juicy looks by both units, but was kept in check by NU netminder Clay Witt.
Merrimack had several opportunities to draw even, including a look from senior Dan Kolomatis (Basking Ridge, N.J.) that hit the left pipe, and a pair of 2-on-1 rushes that Witt managed to keep out, but could not connect over the length of the second and all of the third, as the Huskies iced it with a late Mike Szmatula empty-netter to give the Huskies only their second win in 12 tries.
Inside The Numbers
- Merrimack was outshot for the second time on the weekend, 29-25, and only outshot the Huskies in the second period (10-8)
- The Huskies controlled the faceoff battle, winning 49-of-72 (68.0%) of the faceoffs
- Only three combined power plays were granted in the game, as the Huskies finished 1-for-2, and Merrimack 0-for-1
- Delia finished with a 26-save performance, while Witt turned away 24 shots for the hosts
Up Next
Merrimack will return to the ice after Thanksgiving for a two-game homestand against Clarkson starting Friday (Nov. 28) at Lawler Rink. Puck drop both days next weekend will be 4 p.m.
--
For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.
