Quinnipiac University
Merrimack
No. 12 Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey Falls To No. 20 Merrimack, 4-3
1/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – No. 12 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey lost to No. 20 Merrimack College, 4-3, in a non-conference match-up at Lawler Rink in North Andover, Mass. With the loss, Quinnipiac drops to 15-7-1 on the season while Merrimack improves to 12-6-2 on the year.
For Quinnipiac, Sam Anas (Petawawa, Ontario) scored twice, while Justin Agosta (East Meadow, New York) had two assists in the game. Anas also scored twice in the Bobcats' last trip to Lawler Rank in 2013-14. Quinnipiac freshman Landon Smith (Greenwood Village, Colorado) picked up his eighth goal of the season, while Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) picked up his team-leading 17th assist of the year on Anas' second goal. Peca now has nine points, on the strength of three goals and six assists, in his last nine games. Freshman goalie Sean Lawrence (Granite Bay, California) stopped 15 of Merrimack's 17 shots on goal.
Anas scored the first goal of the game after St. Denis forced a turnover in the Warriors' defensive zone, knocking the puck off the stick of a Merrimack defenseman on an attempted clear. Anas picked up the loose puck and dropped it off to St. Denis below the blue line and slid to the slot where St. Denis sent it back for the one-timer. The goal was Anas' 11th of the year, and his first since Nov. 29, ending an eight-game drought. St. Denis' assist was his fifth of the season.
Less than a minute later, Merrimack's Ben Bahe picked off a pass in the neutral zone and flipped it to Brian Christie who blitzed past the lone Quinnipiac defender in the Bobcats defensive zone before beating Garteig one-on-one to tie the game. Two minutes later, Mathieu Tibbet pulled a puck off the boards and zipped a pass to Brett Seney just above the blue line. Seney skated across the Quinnipiac zone before wiring a pass Justin Hussar in the slot. Hussar re-directed Seney's pass past Garteig to give Merrimack a one-goal lead as the home team head to the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Late in the second period, Quinnipiac went on its first power play of the game after an interference call on Merrimack's Jonathan Lashyn. The Bobcats held the puck deep in the Merrimack zone, wiring shots on goal, but were denied on a pair of Grade-A opportunities by Warriors goalie Rasmus Tirronen. At the end of the power play, Anas took a pass from Justin Agosta (East Meadow, New York) at the point and fired a shot on goal. Landon Smith slid in front of Tirronen and tipped the puck past Merrimack's goalie to tie the game, 2-2.
The lead was short-lived as Merrimack's Christie responded thirteen-seconds later off an assist by Dan Kolomatis. Lawrence started the period for Quinnipiac and turned-back the first five shots he saw before Christie potted his second of the game. Moments later, Seney 's face-off win in front of the Bobcats' goal shot past Lawrence to give Merrimack a 4-2 lead through the first two periods.
With less than half of the third period gone, Anas scored his second goal of the night to pull Quinnipiac within a goal, 4-3, with 9:02 left to play. On the power play, Agosta handled the puck in the corner before dropping a pass to Peca below the goal line. Peca then fed Anas in the slot, who held it before going to his back-hand and flipping it past Tirronen to cut Merrimack's lead in half. Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) was also credited with an assist on the play.
Quinnipiac and Merrimack hit the ice at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.
