Men's Ice Hockey Falls to UMass Lowell in First-Half Finale, 5-1, Saturday at Lawler

12/10/2016 12:00:00 AM

Links: Box Score // Highlights
Postgame Comments: Dennehy

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's ice hockey team suffered a 5-1 setback against No. 9/7 UMass Lowell on Saturday night in its final game of the semester.

The Basics
Score: UMass Lowell 5, Merrimack 1
Records: Merrimack (6-8-3, 1-4-3 HEA) | #9/7 UMass Lowell (10-5-3, 6-3-1 HEA)
Location: Lawler Rink | North Andover, Mass.
Attendance: 2549
Game Duration: 2:01

How It Happened

1^st Period

• Similarly to how last night played out, Merrimack and UMass Lowell were scoreless through long stretches of the first in a quick-moving period, but the River Hawks went to a late power play and capitalized, as Joe Gambardella netted his eighth of the year at 16:02 to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the intermission.

2^nd Period

• Merrimack had an early power play toward the beginning of the second frame but couldn't capitalize, keeping the deficit at one.
• That deficit quickly grew, however, as UMass Lowell scored a pair of goals 29 seconds apart off the sticks of Kenny Hausinger and Dylan Zink to increase the River Hawk lead to 3-0.
• The Warriors had two more power plays later in the period but came up empty on both, as the score went unchanged heading to the third.

3^rd Period

• The hosts began to build momentum in the third period and eventually broke through off a goal from junior Jace Hennig (Port Moody, British Columbia), who netted his second goal and first since Oct 21, to get the Warriors on the board with just under seven minutes to play.
• That would be Merrimack's lone tally of the night, however; despite a late power play and a brief 6-on-4 advantage with the extra attacker on the ice, the Warrior offense was stymied by freshman goaltender Garrett Metcalf, who finished with 28 saves over the course of the night.
• UMass Lowell added one late strike at 19:42, as Tommy Panico scored off a one-timer right after a faceoff win to wrap things up for the River Hawks.

Notes & Notables

• Merrimack has come up empty on its last 32 power play chances and is the only team in the country without a power play goal dating back to Nov. 11.
• The loss was only Merrimack's third this season and first since a 3-1 setback against UMass on Nov. 11.

Goal Descriptions

• UML #1 (Gambardella/Forney/Kapla) | P1 16:02 (PP) – While on the power play, UMass Lowell works the puck around the boards and up to the left point. Michael Kapla keeps the puck in the zone with a blind backhand pass that rolls to the right circle to Chris Forney, who waits out the defense before dishing to Joe Gambardella on a 2-on-1 feed to the back post for the goal.
• UML #2 (Hausinger/Goransson/Panico) | P2 5:20 – Mattias Goransson lobs a pass up and over the defense to Kenny Hausinger, who goes bar-down on a breakaway.
• UML #3 (Zink/Kapla/Master) | P2 5:49 – Puck played along the right wing boards back to the top of the circle to Michael Kapla, who works the puck into the slot to Dylan Zink who toe-drags and scores.
• UML #4 (Forney/Goransson/Kamrass) | P3 12:19 – Chris Forney scores off a one-timer shot from the point.
• MC #1 (Hennig/Kovacevic/Gustafsson) | P3 13:11 – Hampus Gustafsson works the puck from the slot to Johnathan Kovacevic at the right point for a one-timer shot that Jace Hennig tips in.
• UML #5 (Panico/Forney/Kamrass) | P3 19:42 – Jake Kamrass wins the faceoff back to Chris Forney in the left point, who moves the puck to the right point for a one-timer shot from tommy Panico.

MERRIMACK LINEUP
Hennig | Gustafsson | Irvine
L. Larsson | A. Larsson | Tavernier
Petti | Babcock | Tibbet
Drevitch | Kramer | Foget

Biega | Carle
Kolquist | Kovacevic
Lashyn| Cook

Delia
Vogler
Pantano

Game Leaders (MC // UML)

• Points: Three players (1) // Chris Forney (3)
• Goals: Jace Hennig (1) // Five players (1)
• Assists: Johnathan Kovacevic/Hampus Gustafsson (1) // Four players (2)
• Shots: Johnathan Kovacevic (6) // Ryan Dmowski (4)
• Faceoffs Won: Hampus Gustafsson (6) // Evan Campbell (13)
• Saves: Collin Delia (18-for-23) // Garrett Metcalf (28-for-29)

Facts and Figures (MC // UML)

• Power Plays: 0-4 // 1-2
• Penalties: 2 Penalties – 4 Minutes // 4 Penalties – 8 Minutes
• Faceoffs: 20 // 31
• SOG: 8-9 // 9-6 // 12-8 // 29-23

Up Next
Merrimack returns to action when it participates in the Florida College Hockey Classic on Dec. 28-29 in Estero, Florida. The Warriors face Colorado College in the opening round and will take on either Cornell or Northern Michigan the following night.

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