Icecats 3, Merrimack 1
By no means did Hockey East's first-place team (UNH) dominate its basement dweller (Merrimack), but the Wildcats played well enough to survive sluggish stretches and take a 3-1 win over the Warriors before a Whittemore Center sellout of 6,501.
UNH (21-5-3, 16-3-1) 1-1-1 -- 3
MC (3-20-2, 3-15-2) 0-1-0 -- 1
GAME RECAP
Brett Hemingway started the scoring when he tipped home a Mike Radja shot. Radja started the play by taking a feed from Jamie Fritsch and firing past Jim Healey's stick side. It came during UNH's only power play of the period, and with 3:48 to go in the first frame.
Merrimack then started the second period without a shot in the first 10:40 -- but their first attempt at Kevin Regan went in. Derek Pallardy finished a 2-on-1 rush with Matt Byrnes by tipping the puck home to make it 1-1.
The score stayed that way for just 14 seconds. Off the ensuing faceoff, Jerry Pollastrone rushed toward the right post and got off a shot that sat in Healey's skates. It remained inches from the goal line for a full two seconds until Trevor Smith created a collision and the rubber rolled over the line for a 2-1 lead. Pollastrone was first credited with the goal, then it was changed to Smith.
Radja added his second power-play goal of the game with 16:18 remaining, making a pretty deke around the defender near the top of the offensive zone and finishing on the backhand.
GAME NOTES
- Kevin Regan made 23 saves in net for New Hampshire and has now allowed just one goal in his last three starts against Merrimack.
- Merrimack goaltender Jim Healey made 27 saves in defeat.
- UNH's lineup was the same as it was last Saturday against Maine, but the atmosphere in the arena was -- expectedly -- totally different.
- Merrimack, meanwhile, skated only five defensemen after two regulars received one-game suspensions for actions detrimental to the team.
- The absence of those two defenders may have contributed to UNH's success on the power play (2-for-5), but Dennehy said the size of UNH's rink had a hand in it as well. "It's hard to defend on the pond than it is in a rink," he said. "There are just too many seams."
- Dennehy went on to say he expects there will be "more collisions" in Saturday's rematch at Lawler Arena, and that he believes his rink is one of four Hockey East venues where there is a true home-ice advantage because it is so small and nobody wants to play there. The others he mentioned were the Whitt, Maine's Alfond Arena and Vermont's Gutterson Fieldhouse.
POST-GAME AUDIO
