University of Maine
Merrimack
Men's Ice Hockey Skates Past Merrimack 4-3
2/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
NO. ANDOVER, Mass. – Devin Shore (Ajax, Ontario) had a goal and an assist to lead the University of Maine men's ice hockey team to a 4-3a win over Merrimack on Friday evening at Lawler Arena in North Andover, Mass. Nolan Vesey (No. Reading, Mass.) dished out a pair of assists in the game for the Black Bears.
Maine improves to 11-17-3 on the season and 6-9-2 in Hockey East play. Merrimack falls to 14-12-3 overall, 5-10-2 in conference play.
Maine opened the scoring with a pair of goals 49 seconds apart in the second period. Brady Campbell (Blenheim, Ontario) passed to Mark Hamilton (Winthrop, Mass.) just inside the blueline. Hamilton had his shot go just inside the goal post for his first career goal at 16:07. Stu Higgins (Troy, Mich.) also pucked up an assist on the play after winning the face-off that resulted in Campbell getting the puck.
Maine added to its lead at 16:56. Brian Morgan (Windham, N.H.) carried the puck up the ice and passed to Steven Swavely (Reading, Pa.) who had a shot that Merrimack goalie Rasmus Tirronen stopped, but was unable to control. Ben Hutton (Prescott, Ontario) was trailing the play and had the puck deflect right to him. He fired it into the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season.
Maine extended its lead to 3-0 early in the second period. Devin Shore (Ajax, Ontario) got the puck from Dan Renouf (Pickering, Ontario) and got a step on the defense. Shore made a nifty move and beat Tirronen for his 11th goal of the season.
Merrimack then scored a pair of goals in just over four minutes to cut the lead to 3-2. John Gustafsson had an unassisted goal at 5:35, while Jace Henning poked the puck past Maine goalie Matt Morris (Ridgewood, N.J.) from just outside the crease at 9:44.
Maine got the two goal lead back at 16:23 of the second when Shore fed Will Merchant (Eagan, Minn.) and his shot from the face-off circle beat Tirronen. Nolan Vesey (No. Reading, Mass.) also assisted on the goal for the Black Bears.
Merrimack pulled to within one goal at 4-3 with 17.8 seconds remaining in the game. The Warriors pulled Tirronen in favor of an extra attacker and Brian Christie beat Morris from the high slot.
Maine outshot Merrimack 33-29 in the game. The Black Bears were 0-for-6 on the power play, while Merrimack finished the game 0-for-2.
Maine goalie Matt Morris made 26 saves on goal for the Black Bears. He improves to 5-6-2 on the season. Tirronen made 29 saves in goal for the Warriors. He falls to 10-8-2.
The two teams conclude their two-game weekend series on Saturday, Feb. 14. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 PM as it has been moved up due to the impending snowstorm.
