UNH Wins 3-2 OT Thriller Over Merrimack

Friday, October 25

North Andover, Mass.

7 PM

University of New Hampshire

2-1-1, 1-0-0HEAM

Merrimack

1-5-0, 0-1-0HEAM

OT 1

New Hampshire

Merrimack

Photo by Joey Walker

10/25/2019 2:28:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Charlie Kelleher scores his second career game winning goal

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Junior assistant captain Charlie Kelleher (Longmeadow, Mass.) scored the game-winning overtime goal for the Wildcats on Friday evening as the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team defeated Merrimack, 3-2 in the Hockey East season opener at Lawler Rink.

Juniors Kohei Sato (Nishitokyo, Japan) and Max Gildon (Plano, Texas) also posted goals. Sophomore goalie Ty Taylor (Richmond, British Columbia) made his first start of the season posting 19 saves to earn the victory.

The Wildcats advance to 2-1-1 (1-0-0 HEA) on the season, while Merrimack falls to 1-5-0 (0-1-0 HEA).

UP NEXT: UNH will play at Agganis Arena versus Boston University (1-1-2, 0-0-1 HEA) on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m.

NEXT HOME GAME: The Wildcats open the home season at the Whittemore Center on Friday, November 1 when they take on No. 10 Boston College at 7 p.m. The first of a six-set trading card series will be given away at the game and the UNH Marching Band will perform on the ice. Then the Wildcats will host Dartmouth in a Granite State showdown on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. Individual game tickets with affordable options that start as low as $9 and a convenient six-ticket flexible miniplan can now be purchased for the season by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at (603) 862-4000 or by visiting UNHWildcats.com.

GAME INFORMATION:
Score: New Hampshire 3, Merrimack 2 (OT)
Location: North Andover, Mass. (Lawler Rink)
Date: Friday, Oct. 25, 2019
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Attendance: 1,866

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

HOW IT HAPPENED

At 12:51, Sato skated around the Merrimack defense going on a break away, and sent a shot to the lower right stick side past Jere Huhtamaa to give the Wildcats the 1-0 lead.

In the first period, UNH outshot Merrimack 6-3, while the Wildcats went 0-1 on the power play and Merrimack went 0-2.
Just five minutes after the opening face off of the second period, Merrimack's Declan Carlile released a wrist shot into traffic as it was tipped into the net past Taylor by Joey Cassetti to tie the game at 1-1.
In the second period, each team took seven shots, while UNH went 0-1 on the power play.
At 5:09 of the third period, Gildon intercepted the puck on a clearing attempt by the Merrimack defense and capitalized on the power play, sending a back hand shot that went to the lower right side of the net past Huhtamaa, giving the Wildcats the 2-1 lead.

At 15:52 of the third period and on the power play, Merrimack's Zach Uens fired a wrist shot from the left face off circle that went upper stick side past Taylor, tying the game 2-2.
Then just 27 seconds after the opening face off of overtime, sophomore Jackson Pierson (Zionsville, Ind.) sent the puck into traffic which then landed to Kelleher, who snuck the puck into the low left corner of the net, to give the Wildcats the overtime win over Merrimack 3-2.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

UNH outshot Merrimack by a 23-21 margin.
Taylor made 19 saves, while Huhtamaa posted 20.
UNH went 1-6 on the power-play, while Merrimack went 1-5.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

This was Kelleher's second career game-winning goal. Kelleher has three goals and five assists for eight points over the first four games.
This was Sato's fourth goal of the season.
The game was the Wildcats' third straight overtime contest, as they are 1-1-1 in overtime games this season.
Taylor had his first start in net of the season.
Gildon posted two points on one goal and one assist, to record his 10th multi-point game of his career. He has now 17 goals and 34 assists for 51 career points.

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