NORTH ANDOVER – The No. 11 University of Massachusetts hockey team never trailed, scoring a goal in each period to win 3-2 at Merrimack on Friday night.
With the win, the Minutemen move to 14-6-3 overall and 7-4-2 in Hockey East, while the Warriors fall to 10-15-1 overall and 3-12-1 in league action.
“I really liked our game tonight,” said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. “I thought we played pretty consistent for 60 minutes, good start, good finish. It was a chippy game, which it usually is in here. I was proud of how our guys handled themselves, and I think it was a lot like the Northeastern game, a little adversity, and our kids fought through. We’re starting to win these close games on the road, and it’s a great sign for us.”
UMass opened the scoring just 3:45 into the contest when junior Lucas Mercuri picked off a pass in the neutral zone and sent the puck over to freshman Jack Musa, who found sophomore Cole O’Hara at the back post for the redirection.
Merrimack managed to tie things up at 1-1 before the end of the frame as Devlin O’Brien’s outlet led to a breakaway for David Sacco coming out of the penalty box, which he deposited past goaltender Michael Hrabal at 13:29.
Junior Scott Morrow put the Minutemen back on top at the 6:25 mark of the second period. Sophomore Kenny Connors collected the puck from graduate student Samuli Niinisaari and found Morrow entering the offensive zone as the trailer. Morrow then fired a shot that tucked under the crossbar for his sixth of the season.
The Warriors answered once more, 11:46 into the second, as Sacco and Frank Djurasevic won a puck battle, and Djurasevic sent a feed to Ethan Bono at the net front, which he lofted over Hrabal.
Mercuri potted the deciding goal after winning an offensive zone faceoff with the teams knotted at 2-2 in the third period. Off the draw, he won the puck back to freshman Aydar Suniev, who fed Morrow along the half wall. Morrow dished off to Mercuri, whose seeing eye shot found its way to the back of the Merrimack net at 3:57.
The Warriors ended the night with a 28-21 shot advantage. UMass went 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Hrabal made 26 saves between the pipes for the Minutemen. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Zachary Borgiel, made 18 saves for Merrimack.
UMass will be back in action on Saturday when the squad plays host to No. 6 Maine at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m.
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