DURHAM, NH – After falling behind by two goals early in the first period, the Warriors forced overtime in a 3-3 tie against New Hampshire on Saturday night at the Whittemore Center. The Wildcats earned the extra competition point by winning the shootout.
The Warriors chased the game almost immediately, allowing two goals in the first 3:45.
“We needed a better start. We didn’t shoot enough pucks,” Merrimack coach said Scott Borek said. “I was happy to see us get a push in the third, but we were a little too cute with the puck. … I think we held the stick because we were chasing the game.”
The first period ended with the Wildcats leading 2-1 Justin Gill scored his 10th goal of the season midway through the frame. New Hampshire controlled much of the second period, but the Warriors stayed within striking distance and eventually tied the game with just under nine minutes remaining.
Ryan O’Connell scored the tying goal at 11:06 of the third period, but the series started moments earlier with a game-saving play by the defenseman Matthew Campbell. As the Wildcats press and Max Lundgren Campbell tried to cover the left post, dove off the hash marks and kept the puck out of an open net.
“They do a good job of getting pucks at the top of their sticks, and Matty made a great play there,” Borek said. “Then it’s no surprise to me who scored the equalizer, right? [O’Connell] had a huge block earlier in the match. He couldn’t even move. But he comes back and just keeps playing, keeps working, and that’s how you get back to a hockey game. Your employees will get you back into it. [O’Connell] did that for us.”
Two minutes later, Parker Lalonde cut down the middle and scored a highlight reel, firing a blistering shot under the crossbar to give the Warriors their first lead of the evening.
That lead lasted until just over a minute remained, when the Wildcats tied the game in familiar fashion. The piece reflected the series from Friday evening, then Caden Cranston broke a second chance Nick Ring at the back post. This time Ring was able to convert.
“They tried the same piece last night and [Cranston] I put a stick on it to break it apart,” Borek said. ‘It was the same play with the same child. The difference this time is that we blocked a lot of shots, and if you lose your feet, it’s hard to get back to the backpipe. I had no problem with how we worked in that last minute. The boys worked their butts off. We just lost our feet and couldn’t recover for the rebound.”
The Warriors generated several quality chances in overtime. Seamus Powell split the defense for Merrimack’s best chance with 1:10 left in the extra period. Then, in the final seconds, a centering feed from a New Hampshire stick deflected and floated over the goalkeeper. Kyle Chauvetteand hit the crossbar.
“I thought we created some good chances in extra time,” Borek said. “We attacked, we didn’t sit back. We defended well. They only had one chance and I thought we had some really good chances.”
After giving up two early goals, Lundgren settled and finished with 31 saves.
The Warriors practice Monday before traveling for Tuesday’s road game against Stonehill at Warrior Ice Arena in Boston. Cranston left Saturday’s game with an injury Nathan King missed the game due to an injury, Borek said.
“We’re going to practice on Monday,” Borek said. “We don’t have many healthy bodies now. We have lost.” [Caden Cranston] tonight, so we only have one extra healthy body. We’ll start light on Monday, get excited again and play on Tuesday.’
Nick Pierre (Soph.) and Gill (Frosh.) both now have 10 goals for the Warriors. This is the first time Merrimack has had two underclassmen score 10 or more goals since it had three in the 2014-15 season. Freshman Brett Seney (11) and Jace Hennig (14), together with second-year students Hampus Gustafsson (11) were the three players.
This was Merrimack’s first shootout since a shootout win over UNH on October 18, 2024.
New Hampshire 3, Merrimack 3 (OT)
at Whittemore Center (UNH wins shootout 1-0)
Merrimack (13-12-1): 1-0-2-0--3
New Hampshire (11-13-1): 2-0-1-0--3
First Period
1. UNH Kristaps Skrastins 2 (Ryan Philbrock, Connor DeTurris), ev, 3:04
2. UNH Marty Lavins 2 (Mordan Winters, Cy LeClerc), ev, 3:45
3. MC Justin Gill 10 (Filip Nordberg), ev, 11:03
Second Period
None
Third Period
4. MC Ryan O'Connell 2 (Daniel Astapovich, Joey Henneberry), ev, 11:06
5. MC Parker Lalonde 9 (Caelan Fitzpatrick, Matthew Campbell), ev, 13:47
6. UNH Nick Ring 6 (Kristaps Skrastins, Conner de Haro), ea, 18:43
Shots: MC 10-5-12-3--30; UNH 8-12-10-4--34
Saves: MC Lundgren (65:00) 31/34; UNH Chauvette (64:29) 27/30
Power Play: MC 0 for 2; UNH 0 for 3
Penalties: MC 4-8:00; UNH 3-6:00#Warriors #battle #early #deficit #salvage #point #Hampshire