Men's Ice Hockey Clinches No. 7 Seed and Home Playoff Series with 2-0 Win over Vermont
Links: Box Score | Highlights | Dennehy Postgame Comments | Christie Postgame Comments
BUY HEA TOURNAMENT 1ST ROUND TICKETS: Thursday // Friday // Sunday
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After honoring its six representatives from the Class of 2016 on Senior Night, the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team locked up the No. 7 seed in the 2016 Hockey East Tournament and home ice advantage in the Opening Round after sweeping its weekend series against the University of Vermont with a 2-0 victory on Saturday night at Lawler Rink.
The Warriors will host 10th-seeded New Hampshire in a best-of-three series THURSDAY, March 3, at 7 p.m. Game 2 will be played on Friday (March 4), also at 7 p.m., and Game 3 – if necessary – will fall on Sunday (March 6) at 7 p.m.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 2, Vermont 0
Records: Merrimack (11-16-7, 5-10-7 HEA) | Vermont (12-20-3, 6-13-3 HEA)
Location: Lawler Rink | North Andover, Mass.
Hockey East Playoff Picture
All teams qualify for postseason; seeds 1-4 earn first round bye; seeds 5-8 host 9-12 in best-of-three first round; winning teams advance, bracket is re-seeded, and seeds 1-4 host best-of-three quarterfinal series; winners advance to Championship Weekend at TD Garden
1. Boston College (15 league wins/35 points) – No. 1 seed after winning season series vs. Providence
2. Providence (16/35)
3. Notre Dame (15/32)
4. UMass Lowell (12/28) – Wins tiebreaker vs. BU thanks to 1-1-0 record vs. BC; BU went 0-1-1
5. Boston U. (12/28)
6. Northeastern (10/24)
7. Merrimack (5/17)
8. Connecticut (6/16)
9. Vermont (6/15)
10. New Hampshire (4/14)
11. Maine (5/12)
12. Massachusetts (2/8)
NOTE – Not confirmed by Hockey East; other scenarios may exist
Wins = 2 pts, Ties = 1 pt
H2H = Team has won head-to-head tiebreaker vs. abbreviated team
Tiebreakers: Head-to-head; # of wins in conf. play; Record vs. first-place team, then second-place team, etc.; Coin flip
How It Happened
With a chance to clinch the No. 7 seed in the 2016 Hockey East Tournament on the line with a win, Merrimack welcomed back Vermont to Lawler Rink also looking for its first weekend sweep of the same Hockey East opponent since November of the 2012-13 season.
Penalties muddied up the late portions of the first. Vermont momentarily went to a five-minute major power play, but the Catamounts committed back-to-back infractions 23 seconds apart to give the Warriors a 4-on-3 power play through the final two minutes of the period, but the hosts were unable to capitalize and the game entered the second still scoreless.
Vermont had a bit more than two minutes of carry-over time from the aforementioned Merrimack major penalty, but the Warrior penalty kill stayed perfect, and then came through again moments afterward to keep it a 0-0 contest.
Merrimack would get another power play near the midpoint of the second but mustered only two shots on goal during that man advantage. The two sides would play 4-on-4 with about five minutes to play in the period, but the game stayed knotted at 0-0 heading to the third.
Larsson changed that just past the 4:00-mark, racing down the left wing side and beating Vermont goaltender Mike Santaguida with a snap shot up high to push the home side up by a goal. Juniors Jonathan Lashyn (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) and Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden) each helped set up the tally.
Vermont had an opportunity to tie it with a power play midway through the third, but Merrimack's penalty kill came through again. The Warriors would have a power play of their own moments after the Vermont man advantage expired, but they, too, would come up empty, as both sides stayed separated by a goal heading into the final minutes.
Santaguida would head to the bench with about 90 seconds to play looking for the extra-attacker equalizer; instead, Gustafsson would flip the puck up out of the zone onto the stick of senior Ben Bahe (Stillwater, Minn.), who cashed in on the empty-net marker to wrap up the Warriors' first weekend sweep against the same league opponent since a home-and-home sweep of Northeastern on Nov. 2-3, 2012.
How They Scored
MC #1 (L. Larsson/Lashyn/H. Gustafsson) | P3 4:06 – Snap shot high from the middle of the near circle.
MC #2 (Bahe/H. Gustafsson/Christie) | P3 19:12 – Wrist shot from the top of the circle into the empty net.
Notes and Numbers
- Larsson's goal was his first in over two months and third of his freshman season; the last time he lit the lamp was on Dec. 20 against Canisius at home
- Freshman goaltender Drew Vogler (Florissant, Mo.) turned away all 26 shots he saw to pick up his first career shutout and first by any Merrimack goaltender since 2015 graduate Rasmus Tirronen blanked Vermont in a 0-0 tie last Feb. 21 in Burlington
- Merrimack will host a home playoff series for only the third time since joining the Division I ranks in 1984-85; the previous two were in 1996-97 (Boston College, loss) and 2010-11 (Maine, win)
- Goaltenders: W – Drew Vogler (26 saves, 3-4-1) // L – Mike Santaguida (23 saves, 4-10-2)
- Power Plays: Merrimack (0-3) // Vermont (0-4)
- SOG (MC-UVM): 10-5 // 8-10 // 7-11 // 25-26
- Faceoffs: MC - 43-of-75 (57.3%)
Up Next
Merrimack begins postseason play when it hosts 10th-seeded New Hampshire in Game 1 of the Opening Round of the 2016 Hockey East Tournament beginning Thursday, March 3, at 7 p.m. Game 2 will be held on Friday (March 4), also at 7 p.m., and Game 3 would fall on Sunday, March 6, at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.MerrimackAthletics.com/Tickets, over the phone (978-837-5324) or by visiting the Box Office during business hours (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.).
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