UNH scores two straight third-period goals to force OT.
DURHAM, N.H. – The Wildcats rallied back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game 3-3 in the third period, and after a scoreless overtime UNH would win the shootout 2-0 versus Merrimack at the Whittemore Center on Friday afternoon to earn two Hockey East points. Junior forward Jackson Pierson (Zionsville, Ind.) scored the first goal of the shootout, while senior forward Patrick Grasso (Ankeny, Iowa) clinched the shootout win in the third round.
Junior Angus Crookshank (North Vancouver, British Columbia) and Pierson led the Wildcats with a goal and an assist for two points.
With the tie, the Wildcats are now 5-12-3 overall (5-12-3 HEA), and Merrimack is now 3-10-2 overall (3-10-2 HEA). UP NEXT:
The Wildcats will play the Warriors again at Lawler Rink in North Andover, Mass. on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. on College SportsLive.
At 3:46 into the first period, Crookshank took the initial shot from the top of the faceoff circle to the lower glove-side, where Pierson tipped in the rebound off Merrimack goalie Zachary Borgiel from just outside the crease.
Just over three minutes later, at 6:59 in the first period, the Warriors tied up the score at 1-1 on a power-play goal as Max Newton made a cross-ice pass to Ben Brar, who chipped the puck in from the top of the crease.
Merrimack outshot UNH by an 8-5 margin and went 1-1 on the power play, while the Wildcats went 0-1 on the power play.
Jackson Pierson leads the team with 22 points (Photo by China Wong)
Second Period
Just 23 seconds into the second period, Newton received a cross-ice pass from Zach Uens and took a wrist-shot from the top of the faceoff circle to the upper glove-side of the net for a power play goal to give the Warriors a 2-1 advantage over the Wildcats.
At 17:46, Declan Carlile shot a one-timer from above the faceoff circle, and Logan Drevitch tipped the puck off of his stick outside the crease to the upper glove-side corner to secure the 3-1 Merrimack lead over UNH.
The Wildcats outshot the Warriors 12-8 in the second period, and went 0-1 on the power play while Merrimack went 1-2.
Third Period Cam Gendron scored his second goal of the season (Photo by China Wong)
At 2:11 into the third period, freshman Cam Gendron (Hampstead, N.H.) fired a wrist shot to the upper glove-side from just outside the crease off of an assist from sophomore forward Lucas Herrmann (Lancaster, N.Y.) to cut the Warriors' lead to 3-2.
At 16:12, Crookshank drilled a one-timer from the middle of the faceoff circle, off a pass from Pierson, to the lower glove-side to tie the score up at 3-3.
Angus Crookshank leads the team with nine goals this season (Photo by China Wong)
Overtime
Neither team was able to score in the three-one-three OT period.
UNH outshot Merrimack by a 4-1 margin in the overtime.
Shootout Jackson Pierson scoring in the shootout (Photo by China Wong)
Pierson dodged to the right and was able to put the puck around Borgiel on the lower stick-side from just outside the crease to give UNH a 1-0 lead.
After two rounds UNH led 1-0 as senior goalie Mike Robinson (Bedford, N.H.) made two saves and Borgiel made one.
In the third round, Grasso faked right and fired a backhanded shot to the upper stick-side to win the shootout for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats celebrate the shootout win (Photo by China Wong)
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
UNH outshot Merrimack by a 36-23 margin.
Robinson recorded 20 saves to earn the win, while Borgiel made 33 for Merrimack.
The Wildcats went 0-4 on the power play and the Warriors went 2-3.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE: Luke Reid posted his first multi-point game as a Wildcat (Photo by China Wong)
The Wildcats have played eight overtime games this season and are now 3-2-3. The eight overtime games played are the second most in the nation behind Clarkson's nine.
UNH has played in overtime 33 times out of 90 games over the last three seasons which is .367 percent of the games. UNH is 11-6-16 over this stretch in overtime.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series versus Merrimack, 78-27-13 and are 30-8-4 versus the Warriors at the Whittemore Center.
Freshman Luke Reid (Warman, Saskatchewan) tallied two assists. This was his first collegiate multi-point game.
Pierson leads the team with 22 points on eight goals and a team-leading 14 assists.
Crookshank extended his point streak to four games. He has five goals and five assists for 10 points during this stretch.
Angus Crookshank is on a four-game point streak with five goals and five assists for 10 points over this stretch (Photo by China Wong) HEALTH CARE WORKERS APPRECIATION:
Thanks to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, the UNH men's and women's hockey programs are able to salute the sports medicine professionals who have helped the Wildcats compete and kept our student-athletes and Seacoast community safe during the COVID-19 pandemic by virtually putting them in the Whittemore Center crowd for the rest of the 2020-21 season as 'Cat Cutouts. Check out the gallery of these community heroes by CLICKING HERE.
WATCH the tribute video to UNH's Athletic Training staff.
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