#18 Men's Ice Hockey Falls at #2/3 BU, 4-2, Saturday
Links: Box Score | Postgame Comments: Dennehy
BOSTON – Junior forward Brian Christie (West Chester, Pa.) recorded his second-ever two-goal performance, but No. 2/3 Boston University erupted for a season-high 46 shots on net, as the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team suffered a 4-2 road setback against the Terriers on Saturday night at Lawler Rink.
The Basics
Score: #2/3 Boston U. 4, #18 Merrimack 2
Records: #18 Merrimack (10-5-2, 4-4-1 HEA) | #2/3 Boston U. (10-3-2, 7-1-2 HEA)
Location: Agganis Arena | Boston, Mass.
How It Happened
The hosts used a goal in the first – which was just their fifth first-period goal all season – and two more early in the second to build a 3-0 lead before Christie staunched the bleeding with his sixth of the year late in the second frame.
BU would respond a minute later, as junior Danny O'Regan capped off his first career hat trick with his third of the game and 11th of the season to restore the Terriers' three-goal lead (4-1) at the end of 40 minutes.
Merrimack played its best hockey of the night over the final 20 minutes and put 12 shots on net thanks to three separate power-play chances but didn't light the lamp until Christie tickled the twine for the second time of the night with 5:25 to play.
Freshman goaltender Collin Delia (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) manned the pipes for the first two periods and finished with a career-high 30 saves before giving way to senior Rasmus Tirronen (Espoo, Finland) in the third; the latter turned away all 12 shots he faced in his first game back since exiting the Nov. 21 game against Northeastern just 20 seconds in due to injury.
BU's Matt O'Connor, meanwhile, was strong, registering 30 saves against the 32 shots he faced to improve to 9-2-1 on the season. Delia took the loss and fell to an even 3-3-1.
After BU mustered only 22 shots in total during last night's contest, the Terriers threw 17 shots at Delia in the opening stanza alone and broke through with exactly nine minutes left in the period after O'Regan buried a feed from freshman Jack Eichel to make it 1-0.
The hosts didn't need much time to double their lead at the start of the second, as O'Regan tipped in a blast from defenseman John MacLeod 16 seconds into the period. Exactly two-and-a-half minutes later, Brandon Hickey lit the lamp to push the lead to 3-0, and later in the second, BU nearly had a 4-0 lead on a shot from Cason Hohmann that deflected in, but that was later overturned after video review deemed the puck never crossed the goal line.
Merrimack ended O'Connor's shutout bid quickly while on its second power play of the night, as Christie jammed in a behind-the-net feed from senior Quinn Gould (Fort McMurray, Alberta), with sophomore Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden) assisting on the play, as well.
But BU would respond less than a minute later, as a no-look pass behind the net from Eichel found the stick of O'Regan, who notched the hat trick off a one-timer at 15:51 to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Penalties began to pile up in the third, as Merrimack went to a power play less than a minute in before negating it with a hooking call shortly after. The Warriors' best chance came minutes later, as J.D. Carrabino was sent to the box for cross-checking at 5:03 before Doyle Somerby was given the gate roughly 90 seconds later on a five-minute hitting from behind major and game misconduct, handing Merrimack a brief 5-on-3 power play.
The visitors couldn't capitalize on the two-man advantage and then wasted two minutes of that major power play skating 4-on-4 on an ensuing interference call. After that, the Warriors would have about 2:30 left on the major but came up empty.
With just over five minutes to play, Christie stuffed in a rebound to notch his second-ever two-goal performance and first since Jan. 18, 2014, against Quinnipiac, to bring the visitors to within two. But that would be the closest they would get, as the Warriors fell to 2-16-2 all-time at Agganis Arena.
Inside The Numbers
- BU finished with a 46-32 edge in shot attempts and tallied 17 shots on target in both the first and second period before adding 12 more in the third
- Christie and Gustafsson posted two-point nights for the Warriors, as each recorded their third multi-point games this season
- In addition to O'Regan, Eichel shared the game lead with four points – all on assists – while MacLeod (2) also had two assists for the Terriers
- Christie and Gustafsson led the way with six and five shots, respectively, for Merrimack, while O'Regan posted an impressive 10 shots on target for the hosts
Notes and Notables
Merrimack allowed 40 or more shots on net for the first time in 51 games … Coincidentally enough, the last opponent that put 40 or more shots on net against Merrimack was BU back on March 15, 2013, when the Terriers fired 45 on net in a 3-0 Merrimack loss in Game 1 of the Hockey East Quarterfinals.
Up Next
Merrimack will enjoy a nearly month-long hiatus for exams and the holidays before making its longest trip distance-wise this season, as the Warriors travel to Minneapolis to partake in the Mariucci Classic hosted by the University of Minnesota on Jan. 2-3.
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