#7 Merrimack Outlasts #10 Men's Hockey 3-2 in OT (Series Tied, 1-1)

Friday, March 4

North Andover, MA

7 PM

University of New Hampshire

11-19-6, 4-12-6HEA

Merrimack College

12-17-7, 5-10-7HEA

OT 1

New Hampshire

Merrimack

Tyler Kelleher's goal opened the scoring and was point No. 99 for him.

Photo by: Elise Austin-Washburn

#7 Merrimack Outlasts #10 Men's Hockey 3-2 in OT (Series Tied, 1-1)

3/4/2016 10:04:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Hockey East First Round, Game 2 (Best of 3)
Date: March 4, 2016
Score: #7 Merrimack College 3, #10 University of New Hampshire 2 (OT)
Series tied, 1-1

UNH –                        2          0          0          0          -           2
Merrimack      1          0          1          1          -           3

Location: Lawler Rink (North Andover, Mass.)
Attendance: 2,549 (3,000 capacity)
Goal Scorers: New Hampshire –Tyler Kelleher (10), Matias Cleland (5)
                         Merrimack – Derek Petti (4), Ben Bahe (11), Ludvig Larsson (4)
Goaltenders: UNH - Danny Tirone (9-18-6) 47 saves (13 | 9 | 15 | 10 - 72:02)
                        Merrimack– Drew Vogler (4-5-1) 21 saves (5 | 7 | 6 | 3 - 72:02)
Next Game:
Game 3, March 6, 7 p.m. at Merrimack

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Tyler Kelleher (Longmeadow, Mass.) had a goal and an assist, and Danny Tirone (Trumbull, Conn.) made 47 saves, but Ludvig Larsson scored a power-play goal at 12:02 of overtime to lift seventh-seeded Merrimack College over 10^th-seeded University of New Hampshire, 3-2, in Game 2 of the best-of-3 Hockey East Association first-round series Friday night at Lawler Rink. The series is tied, 1-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Merrimack, which had been winless in eight overtime games during the regular season, staved off elimination courtesy of Larsson's fourth goal of the season. The center took a pass from Chris LeBlanc at the bottom of the right circle and blistered a slap shot by Tirone for the game-winner.

With Merrimack trailing 2-1 in the third period, Ben Bahe netted the equalizer, his 11^th of the season, on a give-and-go with Hampus Gustafsson at 7:59. Bahe won the puck along the left half-boards to Gustafsson, who returned the puck on a touch pass to the bottom of the faceoff circle. Bahe promptly roofed a wrister. Brian Christie added the second assist.

UNH capitalized on the game's first power play to take a 2-1 lead at 16:49 of the first. It took only 20 seconds to pot the PP goal when Matias Cleland (Longmont, Colo.) blasted a left-wing one-timer past Vogler off a feed from Dan Correale (Prince George, British Columbia). Kelleher secured the secondary assist.

The Wildcats erased a 1-0 deficit at 14:16 of the first period on Kelleher's second goal of the series and 10^th of the season. Richard Boyd (Delray Beach, Fla.) sent a breakout pass from behind the UNH net to Andrew Poturalski (Williamsville, N.Y.) along the left boards. Kelleher seized Poturalski's cross-ice pass and accelerated along the right-side boards before triggering a sharp-angle shot from the extended goal-line that snuck just between the right post and Vogler's left shoulder.

Kelleher has scored goals in back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 7 (at Michigan State) and Nov. 14 (at Merrimack).

Merrimack grabbed its first lead of the series at 4:35 of the first period. Craig Wyszomirski delivered a shot from the left point that was blocked in the mid-slot. Derek Petti, who only tallied two goals during the regular season, scored his second of the series when he collected the loose puck and beat Tirone with a forehand for a 1-0 MC lead.

The Wildcats fell to 11-2-0 all-time in playoff matchups with the Warriors.

UNH slipped to 11-2-2 when leading after two periods and fell to 1-10-3 in Friday games.

Merrimack improved to 2-16-2 when trailing after two periods.

The Warriors went on two of their three power plays during OT.

Overtime records: UNH (0-4-6)/ Merrimack (1-1-7)

PENALTIES
New Hampshire: 3 penalties - 6 minutes
Merrimack: 2 penalties - 4 minutes

SPECIAL TEAMS
New Hampshire: 1-for-2
Merrimack: 1-for-3

NEW HAMPSHIRE LEADERS
Points: Tyler Kelleher (2)
Goals: Tyler Kelleher (1), Matias Cleland (1)
Assists: Andrew Poturalski (1), Richard Boyd (1), Dan Correale (1), Tyler Kelleher (1)

MERRIMACK LEADERS
Points: Derek Petti (1), Craig Wyszomirski (1), Jared Kolquist (1), Ben Bahe (1), Hampus Gustafsson (1), Brian Christie (1), Ludvig Larsson (1), Chris LeBlanc (1), Marc Biega (1)
Goals: Derek Petti (1), Ben Bahe (1), Ludvig Larsson (1)
Assists: Craig Wyszomirski (1), Jared Kolquist (1), Ben Bahe (1), Hampus Gustafsson (1), Brian Christie (1), Chris LeBlanc (1), Marc Biega (1)

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