Men's Ice Hockey Swept by #13 Notre Dame, 5-1
Links: Box Score
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Merrimack College men's ice hockey team fell to No. 13 Notre Dame, 5-1, in its weekend series finale on Saturday night at Compton Family Ice Arena. The Warriors return home next weekend to open a home-and-home series against Northeastern.
The Basics
Score: Notre Dame 5, Merrimack 1
Records: Merrimack (7-11-5, 2-4-5 HEA) | #13/13 Notre Dame (12-4-7, 7-1-2 HEA)
Location: Compton Family Ice Arena | South Bend, Ind.
How It Happened
Hoping to avoid its first seven-game losing streak since last February, Merrimack returned to the ice in South Bend in search of its first win at Compton Family Ice Arena in four tries.
But a turnover and some miscommunication led to a tough-luck first goal allowed, as Notre Dame's Sam Herr punched in a puck that was sitting loose in the crease at the 5:26 mark of the first to give the Irish an early lead. Notre Dame threw 15 other shots on goal that period, but sophomore Collin Delia (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) stopped them all to keep Merrimack's deficit at one heading into the break.
Before the period concluded, however, Merrimack was levied its third penalty of the frame; the Irish started the second stanza on the man advantage and capitalized, as Bobby Nardella's fired a wrister from the far dot just over a minute into the period to push the home side's lead to two.
That lead grew to three moments later, as Mario Lucia tipped in a gritty centering feed from Bobby Nardella to make it a 3-0 game. Meanwhile on the other end, Merrimack was held to only eight shots on goal through two periods, as Notre Dame's defense held the Warriors to only 16 shot attempts up until that point.
Sophomore Brett Seney (London, Ontario) broke through for the Warriors at 9:33 of the third, taking a feed from classmate Mathieu Tibbet (Dover, Del.) and going the length of the ice from the neutral zone right-wing boards down into the Notre Dame zone before beating Fighting Irish goaltender Cal Petersen with a wrist shot.
The Irish responded just over a minute later, as Anders Bjork and Herr each added insurance tallies to seal the weekend sweep for the hosts.
How They Scored
ND #1 | P1 5:26 – After the puck was poked toward the Merrimack net by a Notre Dame skater, miscommunication and a couple bounces resulted in a scrum, and the loose puck was punched in at the far side of the crease by Herr.
ND #2 (PP) | P2 1:18 – Nardella doubles the lead on a wrist shot through a screen from the middle of the left-wing dot.
ND #3 | P2 8:07 – Lucia taps in a centering feed that goes through the crease and winds up at the back door to make it 3-0 Notre Dame.
MC #3 | P3 9:33 – Seney wrist shot from just inside the far circle goes over Petersen's blocker side and into the top-right corner of the net.
ND #4 | P3 8:07 – Bjork wrist shot from the high slot goes over the glove, off the cross bar and in.
ND #5 | P3 17:54 – Herr beats Delia with a snap shot over his blocker side from the bottom of the near circle.
Notes and Numbers
- Merrimack concluded its season-long seven-game road trip 0-7-0; the last time that happened was during the Dec. 5-Jan. 22 of the 2009-10 season, and Merrimack also went 0-7-0 in that stretch
- The Warriors have now lost seven in a row for the first time since 2013-14, and their current 0-7-0 stretch is its worst since going 0-8-1 during a nine-game span in the second half of last season
- The Warriors are now winless in four all-time meetings at Compton Family Ice Arena (0-3-1)
- The 45 shots allowed were the most by an opponent this season and the most since BU fired 55 on net in Game 2 of last year's Hockey East Quarterfinals (March 14, 2015), while Merrimack's 17 shots on goal were the fewest since it registered 19 in Game 1 of that same series (March 13)
- Power Plays: Merrimack 0-2 | Notre Dame 1-6
- SOG (MC-ND): 4-16 // 4-10 // 9-19 // 17-45
Up Next
Merrimack continues league play when it faces Northeastern in a home-and-home series beginning next Friday (Jan. 22) at Lawler Rink, before making the return trip to Matthews Arena the following night (Jan. 23). Puck drop both nights is set for 7 p.m., as the Warriors play their first home game since Dec. 20. Tickets are available online or by calling the Box Office at 978-837-5324 during business hours.
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