Boston, MA-- The Merrimack Men's Hockey team scored four times in the first period and nine in total as they defeated the Stonehill Skyhawks by a final score of 9-5 at the Warrior Ice Arena in Boston on Tuesday night.
Merrimack only needed 73 seconds to get on the board as Trevor Hoskin scored on a two-on-one with Nick Pierre and Justin Gill notching an assist each. Ryan O'Connell scored eight minutes later to put the Warriors up 2-0. Shortly after, Stonehill would break through on the powerplay, but a quick counterpunch would see Joey Henneberry tipping in the shot from O'Connell. Cam Kungle scored his first goal of the season with 16 seconds left in the period off of a Michael Emerson assist to go into intermission with a 4-1 lead.
This is the second time this season the Warriors have scored four times in a period (previously on Nov. 21st, at LIU).
In the second period, Stonehill got on the board after the first media break but the Warriors added to their lead when Hoskin scored his second goal of the game on the powerplay, and then Caelan Fitzpatrick nettied a rebound for a shorthanded goal and a 6-2 Merrimack lead.
In the third period, Stonehill would score early, but the Warriors took command from there with Daniel Astapovich scoring 41 seconds later, Nick Pierre scored on the powerplay and Justin Gill tallied shortly after for the ninth goal of the evening. These were the eleventh goals of the season for both Pierre and Gill. Stonehill would get two more in the late going but it was too little too late as the Warriors got the 9-5 victory.
The last time Merrimack scored nine goals in a game was on November 23rd, 2001 when they defeated Colgate 9-5 at the Syracuse Invitational.
The Warriors have a weekend off before returning to Hockey East action in ten days time when they take on the Boston College Eagles at Lawler Arena on Friday, February 13th. Puck Drop is at 7 PM and the game can be seen on ESPN+.
For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on X, Instagram and Facebook.
