Men's Ice Hockey Completes Sweep of #1/2 BU with 4-1 Victory Friday Night at Agganis Arena

Men's Ice Hockey Completes Sweep of #1/2 BU with 4-1 Victory Friday Night at Agganis Arena

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Links: Box Score // Highlights
Postgame Comments: Dennehy/Seney/Babcock

BOSTON – A pair of two-goal nights from junior Brett Seney (London, Ontario) and sophomore Michael Babcock (Northville, Mich.) helped spark the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team to a 4-1 road victory against No. 1/2 Boston University on Friday night. By doing so, the Warriors completed their first-ever regular season sweep of the Terriers in conference play, and also picked up their first win at Agganis Arena in over five years.

The Basics
 Score: Merrimack 4, Boston U. 1
Records: Merrimack (10-13-3, 4-7-3 HEA) | #1/2 Boston U. (16-7-2, 9-4-2 HEA)
Location: Agganis Arena | Boston, Mass.
Attendance: 4335
Game Duration: 2:12

How It Happened

  • An early power play chance helped set up Merrimack's opening tally, as Seney found the back of the net for the first time in seven games after beating BU netminder Jake Oettinger with a wrist shot from the far dot to put the visitors on top at 6:25 of the first. Freshmen Johnathan Kovacevic (Granby, Ontario) and Sami Tavernier (Morzine, France) each earned assists on Seney's seventh marker of the year, as well.
  • But BU would get its first power play shortly afterward and cashed in 15 seconds into it, as Clayton Keller extended his point streak to 12 straight games with a rebound goal at 8:06 to tie the game.
  • Following a two-minute sequence of 4-on-4 hockey, Seney restored the Warrior lead after besting Oettinger with another wrister from the left hash at 12:51. Senior Chris LeBlanc (Winthrop, Mass.) carried the puck into the right wing corner, curled back and sent a slick diagonal feed through traffic to find Seney.
  • The Warriors' third shorthanded tally of the season stunned the Agganis Arena crowd, as junior Marc Biega (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) cleared the puck the length of the ice down the right wing boards and Babcock won the footrace against a Terrier defender before skating toward the net and lifting the puck past Oettinger for his third strike of the season and first goal since Nov. 4 against Mercyhurst.
  • Just over four minutes later, it was Babcock again nearly replicating his previous scoring sequence; senior defenseman Jonathan Lashyn (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) found him down the left wing and Babcock used his speed to get behind the defense before unloading another snap shot that found the upper-right corner of the net.
  • That cushion was more than enough for junior goaltender Collin Delia (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), who finished three saves shy of his career-high after turning away 37 shots on the night, including all 21 he saw in the second and third period, combined.

Notes & Notables

  • Merrimack completed its first-ever regular season series sweep over BU with its pair of victories this week; the Warriors also won the season series against BU for the first time since 2013-14 (1-0-1).
  • The victory also snapped an eight-game winless stretch (0-7-1) at Agganis Arena for Merrimack; the Warriors' last victory before tonight came Nov. 11, 2011, in overtime (3-2).
  • Before this week, the only other wins against a team ranked No. 1 in either major weekly poll were, coincidentally enough, against BU in the quarterfinal round of the 1998 Hockey East Tournament. That year, as the No. 8 seed, Merrimack defeated top-seeded BU, 4-1 and 5-4 in Games 1 and 3, respectively, for their only other victories against a top-ranked team.
  • The wins this week were Merrimack's second and third of the year against any ranked team (4-2 vs. Notre Dame, Jan. 14, 2017).
  • Babcock recorded the first two-goal game of his career in Friday's win, while Seney notched his second two-goal game of the season and 18th career multi-point game.
  • After going eight straight games without a power play goal, Merrimack now has at least one in six of its last eight games.

Merrimack Lineup
Seney| Gustafsson | Tavernier
Hennig| L. Larsson | LeBlanc
Babcock | A. Larsson | Tibbet
Coomes | Kramer

Biega | Carle
Kolquist | Kovacevic
Lashyn | Cook
Solow

Delia
Vogler
Pantano

Game Leaders (MC // BU)

  • Points: Jared Kolquist (3) // Three players (1)
  • Goals: Seney/Babcock (1) // Clayton Keller (1)
  • Assists: Eight players (1) // Charlie McAvoy/Patrick Harper (1)
  • Shots: Seney (7) // Three players (1)
  • Faceoffs Won: Hampus Gustafsson (13) // Two players (7)
  • Saves: Collin Delia (37-for-38) // Jake Oettinger (27-for-31)

Facts and Figures (MC // BU)

  • Power Plays: 1-3 // 1-3
  • Penalties: 4 Penalties – 8 Minutes // 4 Penalties – 8 Minutes
  • Faceoffs: 36 // 25
  • SOG: 4-16 // 14-12 // 13-10 // 31-38

Up Next
 Merrimack will continue league play with a home-and-home series with the University of Connecticut starting Friday night at Lawler Rink. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.

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For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.

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