Coming untied

NORTH ANDOVER – The Scarlet and White put up a fight, but in the end, two third-period goals weren’t enough to lift the No. 15 Boston University men’s hockey team over No. 13/14 Merrimack College last night. The Warriors skated away with a 3-2 victory.

“I don’t think either one of us played up to our capabilities,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “It was a decent hockey game for us, but it wasn’t the type of effort we need if we’re going to beat good teams.”

The Warriors (13-4-4, 7-4-3 Hockey East) netted the game’s first three goals, starting with a tally three minutes into the game. All night long, Merrimack outnumbered the Terriers at the BU (10-6-6, 7-4-4 HE) net, and the first tally was no exception. Junior defenseman Karl Stollery wristed a shot from the left point directly into a screen set by classmate Jeff Velleca directly off a four-on-four faceoff.

Velleca was alone atop the crease, and knocked the puck down with his stick, deflecting it from around the top of his jersey emblem to the white ice inside the cage.
Merrimack netted another four-on-four tally early in the second as junior Ryan Flanigan wristed one past BU junior goaltender Kieran Millan.

Two minutes later, the Warriors struck again, this time just as freshman Charlie Coyle raced from the penalty box at the end of an MC power play. Freshman Brendan Ellis netted the tally by zipping a low liner at the BU net. The puck was tipped by a BU defender trying to hold off MC junior Jesse Todd, and Merrimack took a 3-0 lead as the biscuit ricocheted by Millan.

The Terriers got on the board early in the third with a bit of luck. Coyle, charging up the left wing, flipped what appeared to be a pass attempt toward the cage, where freshman defenseman Adam Clendening was coming quick. The puck took an odd hop on the way over and skipped above the shoulder of MC junior goalie Joe Cannata, just under the crossbar.

A moment later, Clendening –– aided by a shove from an MC defender –– charged through Cannata’s upper body, leveling the goalie with an elbow to the head and ripping his mask off.

“One of their guys just kind of threw it at the net and it was bouncing,” Cannata said. “It was bouncing and I went to play it with my stick. It bounced right over my pad short side . . . I saw [Clendening] out of the corner of my eye. I was trying to cover it up and it popped over me.”

Officials went to a review to judge if the collision had interfered with Cannata’s ability to make the save, but ruled the puck was in the net before Clendening and Cannata connected.

On the power play minutes later, BU cut the lead to one. Junior Chris Connolly centered a pass for Coyle, and the rookie took a couple strides and put the puck on net. After an initial save by Cannata, senior Joe Pereira poked home his 10th goal of the year.

The Terriers had chances down the home stretch, including a gorgeous look inside the crease for junior Corey Trivino. The center  let loose on a bouncing puck with Cannata down and out of the net. As he shot, though, MC defenseman Adam Ross poked his stick through the crease and deflected the puck over the crossbar and out of play. From there, Merrimack leveled the pace, and when junior David Warsofsky tripped Velleca with 2:45 to play, it all but clinched a Warrior victory.

The game didn’t end without some fireworks. With 6.9 seconds left, Clendening was charged with a game misconduct and a five-minute major for hitting MC senior Joe Cucci from behind. The hit left Cucci motionless on the ice for about a minute.

Cucci skated off clearly dizzied by the hit, and though MC coach Mark Dennehy did not clarify much on the senior’s injury, he did answer, “No,” when asked if Cucci was OK after the game.

Parker, who said he had a good look at the hit, downplayed any dirtiness in Clendening’s actions worthy of a misconduct penalty, though said he’d need to see the hit again on replay to be sure.