NORTH ANDOVER – For the second time in a row, the Warriors were unable to buy a goal and fell 3-0 to UConn on Friday evening at Lawler Arena.
UConn outscored Merrimack 36-19, and the differences were even more striking on shot attempts, with the Huskies holding a staggering 75-34 lead.
“We just didn’t play well,” Merrimack coach said Scott Borek said. “Give [UConn] credit, but I need to focus on us right now. That was probably one of our worst games of the year.
“Our forecheck never got going. They broke up way too easily. We gave them the puck back. Including the first goal, we had the puck and gave it back to them. We don’t roll like that.”
Despite a goalless opening frame, the first period was anything but boring. The teams combined for 36 penalty minutes, including a 10-minute misconduct charge against Merrimack Cam Kungle and UConn’s Carlijn Dezainde. In a bizarre twist, no penalties were taken in the second and third periods.
Goalkeeper Max Lundgren was the main reason the Warriors were stuck within striking distance, turning away several opportunities down the ice while Merrimack was contained in his own zone for long stretches.
On the other end, the Warriors forced the UConn netminder Tyler Muszelik in a handful of highlights, but he went largely untested as the night wore on.
“At the end of the day, this is one game,” Borek said. “It’s not the end of our season.”
Alexandre Blais scored the winning goal in the second period, snagging a loose puck after failing to convert on a wraparound attempt. The goal was scored after the Warriors were trapped in their own end for an extended shift.
The Warriors may have taken a bigger blow than the final score. Come on Parker Lalonde was knocked out of the match after a first-period hit by Blais – the collision set off the scrum that resulted in the misconduct against Dezainde and Kungle – and Lalonde did not return.
“We lost a player tonight and he’s been a big player for us,” Borek said. “But now someone else has a chance. You can’t really say anything about this match. We have to put it behind us and move on.”
They won’t have much time to think about it. Merrimack travels to UConn for a puck drop on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
The Warriors generated almost as many shots from their defensemen (8) as their forwards (11).
Merrimack blocked 22 shots, with Seamus Powell And Ethan Beyer with three each in the lead.
The Warriors finished with the lowest expected goals (xG) of the season: just 1.4.
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