The University of New Hampshire men’s hockey took on Merrimack College in a high-scoring game on Saturday, Feb. 8.
The Wildcats went on a power play with 13:22 left in the first period, hoping to be the first on the board. With 19 seconds left in the power play, Alex Gagne shot the puck deep and Marty Lavins redirected the puck into the net. The Wildcats strengthen their lead with another goal 12:59 into the period. Nikolai Jenson shot the puck deep and Connor Sweeney got the rebound in the blue paint and tipped the puck between the legs of Merrimack’s goalie, Max Lundgren. This was Sweeney’s second goal of his career. Merrimack was quick to respond with 5:56 left in the period from a breakaway by Michael Emerson from the edge of the right faceoff circle. Merrimack tied the score with 4:21 left in the period by Hunter Wallace from the center of the right faceoff circle. With UNH on a power play, Gagne scored off a pass from Nick Ring with 2:31 left in the period, taking back the lead.
“All three guys who are leaders on our team and bring it every night and do the right things and really embody how to be a mature athlete. We got some good offensive production, but we just got to bare down and see them through,” said J.P Turner.
Merrimack tied the score 3:05 into the second period by Wallace coming from the right side of the ice into the blue paint. Merrimack gained their first power play of the night with 10:54 left in the period off a holding call on Marty Lavins.
“We had the puck a lot and when you have the puck a lot, you’re probably not going to take as many penalties,” said Head Coach Mike Souza.
Turner gained a breakaway allowing him to shoot a shorthanded goal to the center of the net and take the lead back from Merrimack with 10:12 left in the period.
12:45 left in the third period, Merrimack scored with a slapshot by Ivan Zivlak. UNH challenged for offside, and it was determined to be the case keeping the score 4-3 with the Wildcats in the lead. Merrimack got their goal to tie the score 12:07 into the period by Vann Yuhas coming from behind and sneaking the puck into the right side of the net. Merrimack took the lead for the first time in the night with 9:52 left in the period with a shot from the blue line by Zach Bookman after bouncing off David Sacco’s stick. With 1:32 left in the period, Whale left the net to give UNH a 6-5 advantage in hopes of tying the game and forcing overtime but could not produce.
Souza said, “No one’s going anywhere. We’re going to Maine all together and it’s the only thing I said to the kids after the game. It’s easy to point fingers and it’s easy to assess blame and when you point one, there’s three points right back at you and that includes the coaches. It’s all about sticking together.”
The Wildcats will be back at the Whittemore Center at Key Auto Feb. 21 against University of Massachusetts.
