Salvaggio's Late Goal Forces OT in 3-3 Tie Against Merrimack

Sunday, November 13

Durham, N.H.

4:00 PM

University of New Hampshire

4-5-2, 2-1-1HE

Merrimack College

4-5-3, 0-2-2HE

OT 1

Merrimack

New Hampshire

Photo by: Audrey Powell

Salvaggio's Late Goal Forces OT in 3-3 Tie Against Merrimack

11/13/2016 6:59:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

DURHAM, N.H. -- Junior forward Jason Salvaggio (Hanson, Mass.) scored with 48 seconds left in the third period to help the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team force a 3-3 draw against Merrimack College Sunday night at the Whittemore Center.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: November 13, 2016 (4:00 p.m.)
Score: New Hampshire 3, Merrimack 3 (OT)
New Records: New Hampshire (4-5-2, 2-1-1 HE) // Merrimack College (4-5-3, 0-2-3)
Location: Whittemore Center Arena (Durham, N.H.)

Goal Scorers: New Hampshire – Michael McNicholas (Grasso, Kelleher) - 19:53 - First Period (ppg) // McNicholas (Salvaggio, Grasso) - 16:57 - Second Period // Jason Salvaggio (Kelleher, Cleland) - 19:12 - Third Period (ex)
Merrimack - Hampus Gustafsson (Petti, Spaxman) - 6:19 - Second Period // Tyler Irvine (Hennig, Gustafsson) - 14:17 - Second Period // Chris LeBlanc (Babcock) - 15:28 - Second Period
Goaltenders: UNH – Danny Tirone (4-3-2) - 28 saves (7 | 12 | 7 | 2)
Merrimack - Drew Vogler (4-4-3) - 20 saves (6 | 2 | 10 | 2)

Next Game: Friday, Nov. 18, 2016 vs. Massachusetts (7:00 p.m.) GET TICKETS HERE

WHAT HAPPENED
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead with just seven seconds remaining in the first period with a goal by Michael McNicholas (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), his fourth goal of the season. Tyler Kelleher (Longmeadow, Mass.) played a pass down behind the Merrimack net to Patrick Grasso (Ankeny, Iowa). Grasso fed a pass across the face of the crease to McNicholas who was waiting and one-timed his shot into the net.

Merrimack leveled the score at 6:19 of the second period thanks to a goal by Hampus Gustafsson. Derek Petti started the play as he skated up the ice with the puck from the Merrimack zone and into UNH territory. He played a pass to Gustafsson to the right of UNH goalie Danny Tirone (Trumbull, Conn.) who fired is shot into the net. The Warriors took a 2-1 lead at 14:17 of the second period with a goal by Tyler Irvine. Jace Henning grabbed the primary assist on the play while Gustafsson started the play to get the secondary assist.

Chris LeBlanc padded the MC lead to two goals at 15:28 of the second period with his first goal of the season. Michael Babcock tallied the lone assist on the play.

At 16:57 of the second period, McNicholas scored his second goal of the game on a power play to cut the deficit to 3-2. Grasso dished a pass to into the slot that Salvaggio redirected to McNicholas inside the faceoff circle. McNicholas' initial shot was blocked, but he regained possession of the puck and fired a wrister into the net.

Salvaggio drew the score level at 19:12 of the third period with his fifth goal of the season. Matias Cleland (Longmont, Colo.) played a pass over to Kelleher in the MC zone to the right of Warrior netminder Drew Vogler. Kelleher played a pass across the face of the crease to Salvaggio who was waiting and blasted it into the net.

PENALTIES
New Hampshire: 6 penalties - 12 minutes
Merrimack: 3 penalties - 6 minutes

SPECIAL TEAMS
New Hampshire: 2-for-6
Merrimack: 0-for-3

NEW HAMPSHIRE LEADERS
Points: McNicholas (2), Salvaggio (2), Kelleher (2)
Goals: McNicholas (2)
Assists: Kelleher (2), Grasso (2)

MERRIMACK LEADERS
Points: Gustafsson (2)
Goals: - Gustafsson (1), Irvine (1), LeBlanc (1)
Assists: - Gustafsson (1), Spaxman (1), Hennig (1), Petti (1), Babcock (1)