University of Maine
Merrimack
Maine Downs Merrimack 5-3 to Complete Weekend Sweep
2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
NO. ANDOVER, Massachusetts – The University of Maine men's ice hockey team exploded for four second period goals and went on to defeat Merrimack 5-3 on Saturday afternoon at Lawler Arena in No. Andover, Mass. Brian Morgan (Windham, New Hampshire) led the Maine offense with a goal and an assist.
Maine, which swept the weekend series from the Warriors, improves to 12-17-3 on the season and 7-9-2 in Hockey East play. Merrimack falls to 14-13-3 overall, 5-11-2 in conference play.
The two teams skated through a scoreless first period, but that soon changed as the second period started. Merrimack scored on the first shift of the second period when Hampus Gustafsson had his shot from the top of the circle beat Maine goalie Matt Morris (Ridgewood, New Jersey). Ben Bahe and Brian Christie each assisted on the goal. The Warriors extended their lead to 2-0 just 46 seconds later when Jace Henning scored his 10th goal of the season on traffic in front of the net.
Maine got on the board 28 seconds later when Steven Swavely (Reading, Pennsylvania) tipped a Dan Renouf (Pickering, Ontario) shot past Merrimack goalie Rasmus Tirronen. Brian Morgan (Windham, New Hampshire) also assisted on the goal for the Black Bears.
Cedric Lacroix (Shefford, Quebec) tied the game for the Black Bears when he got a pass from Eric Schurhamer (St. Paul, Minnesota) and had his shot from the goal line beat Tirronen. For Lacroix, it was his third goal of the season. Stu Higgins (Troy, Mich.) also assisted on the goal.
Maine took its first lead of the game when Connor Riley (Massena, New York) fed Morgan in transition. Morgan had his shot from the right face-off circle beat Tirronen for his fourth goal of the season.
Maine extended its lead to 4-2 at 17:35 of the second period. Devin Shore (Ajax, Ontario) carried the puck into the offensive zone and got it to Ben Hutton (Prescott, Ontario). Hutton found Nolan Vesey (No. Reading, Massachusetts) who beat Tirronen for his seventh goal of the season on an impressive goal in transition.
Merrimack pulled to within one goal at 2:18 of the third period when Gustafsson got a pass from Christie and fired the puck past Morris from the slot.
Blaine Byron (Manotick, Ontario) added an empty net goal in the final 10 seconds to make it a 5-3 final. Renouf assisted on the goal for the Black Bears.
Merrimack outshot Maine 31-25 in the game. Maine was 1-for-4 on the power play, while Merrimack finished the game 1-for-6.
Morris made 28 saves in goal for the Black Bears and improves to 6-7-2. Tirronen turned away 21 shots and falls to 10-9-2.
The Black Bears return to action on Friday, Feb 20 when they host Northeastern. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM.
