Links: Box Score
Postgame Comments:
Dennehy
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Three goals in a nearly 40-second span helped lead 10
th-ranked Wisconsin past the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team, 4-1, on Saturday night at Lawler Rink. The Badgers were making their first-ever trip to North Andover, as the Warriors played to a sold-out Homecoming Weekend crowd in their home opener.
The Basics
Score: Wisconsin 4,
Merrimack 1
Records: Merrimack (0-2-1, 0-0-0 HEA) | #10 Wisconsin (4-1-0, 1-1-0 B1G)
Location: Lawler Rink | North Andover, Mass.
Attendance: 2549
Game Duration: 2:28
Rapid Recap
- Down by a goal in the second period, Merrimack drew even at the 7:12 mark to ignite the Homecoming Weekend sellout crowd.
- The difference in the game, however, was a three-goal spurt by the Badgers that came in a 39-second span. After converting a power play opportunity at the 12:01 mark, Wisconsin added two more goals off deflections at 12:15 and 12:40, respectively, to take a lead it would never relinquish.
Scoring Summaries
- Wisconsin struck early to grab a lead 1:38 into the game. Following a faceoff win, the Badgers moved the puck across the goal line where an initial shot from Tim Davison was stopped, but Jason Ford knocked in the rebound from the right circle to give the visitors the lead.
- Merrimack drew even at 7:12 of the second period thanks to a gritty effort by sophomore Tyler Irvine (Livonia, Mich.). Classmate Logan Coomes (Northville, Mich.) retrieved the puck from the Merrimack zone and skated it into the Wisconsin end, sending a shot in from the right goal line. Wisconsin goaltender Kyle Hayton made the initial save but the puck trickled out to the slot, where Irvine was able to get just enough of the puck to get it through traffic and across the line. The goal was upheld by video review.
- Seamus Malone scored the first of Wisconsin's three goals in 39 seconds off a tip at 12:01 of the second period. Will Johnson threw the puck toward the net from the bottom of the right circle, and Malone tipped it home to give the Badgers the lead on the power play.
- Fourteen seconds later, Max Zimmer scored another goal off another tip. Jason Ford dug the puck out from the far corner, and Peter Tischke's point shot from the right side was redirected by Zimmer on the way in to up the lead to 3-1.
- Ryan Wagner concluded the scoring spree for the visitors at 12:40. Tische again sent the puck in from the right point, but this time it was Wagner knocking the puck in out of mid-air to push the Badger lead to 4-1. The goal was upheld by video review.
Notes and Notables
- Irvine and Coomes became the ninth and 10th different point-scorers for Merrimack this season, while Irvine is now the fourth-different goal-scorer.
- Wisconsin became only the third member of the B1G to play a game at Lawler Rink and the first in nearly 21 years. Ohio State (Jan. 17-18, 1997) split a weekend series with Merrimack back in 1997, the only other member of the B1G Conference (outside of associate member Notre Dame) to have played at Lawler Rink.
- Merrimack and Wisconsin were meeting for only the fourth time this weekend; the Warriors are now 1-3-0 in four games against the Badgers.
- Saturday's game marked the collegiate debut of freshman forward Dominic Dockery (Lockport, N.Y.).
Merrimack Lineup
Seney | Petti | Tavernier
Hennig | L. Larsson | Irvine
Babcock | A. Larsson | Tibbet
Coomes | Kramer | McKay
Kolquist | Kovacevic
Biega | Carle
Dockery | Titcomb
Vogler
Pantano
Halladay
Up Next
Next weekend, the Warriors will head to Duluth, Minnesota, for the first time in nearly 17 years to take on last year's national runner-up, the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. Puck drop each night is set for 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
