Slow Start Dooms #18 Men's Ice Hockey in 4-2 Home Setback vs. #11 Boston College Friday
Links: Box Score | Dennehy Postgame Comments
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After falling behind by three goals near the midpoint of the game, the 18th-ranked Merrimack College men's ice hockey team rallied to make it a one-goal affair but was denied the equalizer against No. 11 Boston College, as the Eagles swept the season series with a 4-2 victory over the Warriors on Friday night at Lawler Rink.
The Basics
Score: #11 Boston College 4, #18 Merrimack 2
Records: #18 Merrimack (14-10-3, 5-8-2 HEA) | #11 Boston College (17-9-2, 10-5-2 HEA)
Location: Lawler Rink | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
Seeking a season split against the Eagles after falling by a goal two weeks ago, Merrimack was forced to play from behind after a pair of Alex Tuch goals less than two minutes apart in the opening frame.
The first marker came just 30 seconds into the first power play of the game, as Tuch ricocheted in a shot from Ian McCoshen at 8:47 to put the Eagles on top. Then at 10:12, it was Tuch again, this time tipping in a shot from Steve Santini to suddenly put the visitors up by a 2-0 margin.
Merrimack came out firing in the second period, using an early power play to start racking up the shots on net, but, despite that apparent shift in momentum, the Eagles pushed their lead to 3-0 thanks to Austin Cangelosi's efforts at 8:22 of the middle frame.
The Warriors would quickly respond, as junior Ben Bahe (Stillwater, Minn.) took a centering feed from senior Dan Kolomatis (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and buried it glove side just over a minute later to get the hosts on the board.
Then, the penalties started to mount. Merrimack went to another power play at 10:23 and a subsequent BC gave the Warriors a quick 5-on-3 advantage, but despite all that power-play time the score remained 3-1 in favor of the Eagles.
Three different players on each side were then sent to the box at 14:14 for coincidental roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct and 10-minute misconduct penalties, but the Warriors wound up with a five-minute major on a cross-check call. After another BC penalty less than a minute after all that, the Warriors got to within one after freshman Brett Seney (London, Ontario) punched in a loose puck that ricocheted off the skate of sophomore Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden) to make it 3-2 with less than four minutes to play in the second.
The third period saw both sides combined for six total shots, with BC's one only coming on an empty-net attempt. But despite the push by the Warriors, BC would ice the game with an empty-netter to account for the final margin of defeat.
Inside The Numbers
- Merrimack outshot BC by a 32-19 margin on the night, highlighted by a 17-7 lead in the second period
- Senior Rasmus Tirronen (Espoo, Finland) turned away 15 shots while falling to 10-6-2 on the year; BC's Thatcher Demko improved to 15-8-2 on the year thanks to his 30-save performance
- Five different Warriors registered points: Bahe, Kolomatis, Seney, Gustafsson, and sophomore Jonathan Lashyn (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)
- Each team finished with one power-play goal; Merrimack went 1-for-6 on the man advantage, while the Eagles totaled one extra-man goal on three tries
- Merrimack won the faceoff battle, taking 41-of-65 faceoffs; Gustafsson won a team-high 13 draws
Up Next
Merrimack will wrap up its season series with the University of Connecticut on Tuesday (Feb. 10) at the XL Center in Hartford at 7 p.m.
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