Marcus Antonelli – Sports Editor
Photo by Nate Tacey (@natetaceyphotography)
BOSTON, Ma. – The Warriors came into Friday at Matthews Arena in great need of some big points that could help them climb up in the Hockey East. Northeastern, however, protected their Dog House.
Merrimack still only has 12 points in the Hockey East. After last night’s 5-3 loss, that ties them for 9th in the conference with Northeastern. The Warriors have dropped to 27th in the Pairwise, way outside the chance for an at-large bid for the tournament.
The first 20 minutes saw 1-1 on the scoreboard. Huskies forward Cam Lund got on the board three minutes in but a minute later, Merrimack struck right back. Filip Forsmark caused a turnover deep in Husky territory and found Ben Brar to tie it.
In the second period, pandemonium settled in for the Warriors. Their line completely fell apart, conceding three straight goals. Northeastern had tallies from Justin Hryckowian, Jack Williams, and Gunnerwolfe Fontaine.
âIt didnât get away from us, we gave it away,â said Head Coach Scott Borek, âWe just tried to be too fancy….We just gotta play better without the puck, you got to play better without the puck.â
Then came the third, and it wasnât much better. Jack Williams netted his second of the night, which forced Coach Borek to make a goaltending change, putting Hugo Ollas in for the remainder of the game. Zachary Borgiel had made 15 saves on 20 shots until that point.
âHe wasnât getting a lot of help, and the goals they were scoring were backbreaking ones,â tells Borek, âWe really didnât give him (Borgiel) much of a chance tonight, thatâs all we have to do is give our goalies a chance, we didnât do that tonight.â
Ethan Bono scored not far after, which gave him his 5th goal on the season. Ty Daneault also scored a power-play goal which made it 5-3, the final score.
Two of Northeasternâs goals came on the powerplay, they went â in the special teams category. Merrimack, while receiving 4 power plays, only scored on one of them.
The Warriors will have a chance to collect some points on Saturday at 7 PM. The team will have their Alumni Night, where theyâll honor former players and coaches.
For more coverage on Merrimack Menâs Hockey follow me on Twitter (@antonelli7jr) for all things Warriors Hockey. Donât forget to check out the Beacon Newspaper website for articles on games, players, and more!
