| Prd | Time | Team | Score | Type | Scored By | Assists |
| 1st | 2:39 | MER | 1-0 | EV | Michael Babcock (1) | Patrick Kramer/1, Mathieu Foget/1 |
| 1st | 11:36 | MER | 2-0 | PP | Alex Carle (1) | Johnathan Kovacevic/3, Brett Seney/5 |
| 2nd | 11:24 | MER | 3-0 | EV GW | Hampus Gustafsson (4) | Jace Hennig/4, Johnathan Kovacevic/4 |
| 2nd | 18:27 | COR | 1-3 | EV | Matt Buckles (1) | Jared Fiegl/1, Alec McCrea/1 |
| 3rd | 17:23 | COR | 2-3 | PP EA | Mitch Vanderlaan (1) | Dwyer Tschantz/1, Trevor Yates/1 |
| Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final |
| Cornell | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Merrimack | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Shots on Goal | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | SOG |
| Cornell | 9 | 18 | 8 | 35 |
| Merrimack | 13 | 11 | 9 | 33 |
| Team Stats and Records | PP | PIM | SHGF |
| Cornell (0-1-0) | 1/6 | 8/27 | 0 |
| Merrimack (3-3-1) | 1/7 | 6/12 | 0 |
| Cornell Goaltending | MIN | GA | 1 | 2 | 3 | Saves |
| Mitch Gillam (L, 0-1-0) | 31:09 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 15 |
| Hayden Stewart | 27:41 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 15 |
| Empty Net | 1:10 | 0 |
| Merrimack Goaltending | MIN | GA | 1 | 2 | 3 | Saves |
| Drew Vogler (W, 3-2-1) | 60:00 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 7 | 33 |
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - The Merrimack College men's ice hockey team built a 3-0 lead and withheld a late rally to push its unbeaten streak to four games with a 3-2 victory over Cornell on Friday night at Lawler Rink.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 3, Cornell 2
Records: Merrimack (3-3-1, 0-0-1 HEA) | #RV Cornell (0-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC)
Location: Lawler Rink | North Andover, Mass.
Attendance: 1967
Game Duration: 2:23
How It Happened
- Merrimack scored the game's first goal for the third time this season just 2:39 into the contest, as sophomore Michael Babcock (Northville, Mich.) buried a gritty goal to give the Warriors an early lead.
- About 10 minutes later, Merrimack's power play scored for the sixth time in seven games as sophomore Alex Carle (Anchorage, Alaska) snuck in a shot from above the far circle for his first strike of the season at 11:36 to make it a 2-0 lead that the hosts carried into the second stanza.
- After fending off a Cornell 5-on-3 power play chance, Merrimack hit the three-goal threshold at 11:24 of the second after senior Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden) recorded his fourth of the season off a transition rush to put the Warriors up by a 3-0 margin.
- Cornell got off the schneid with just over 90 seconds to play in the middle stanza, as Mat Buckles put away a rebound that bounced out into the crease to get the visitors on the board and make it a two-goal game heading into the final period.
- Merrimack nearly had a fourth goal at the midpoint of the third period after freshman Sami Tavernier (Morzine, France) curled around the net and attempted a wraparound shot that nearly crossed the line, but video review confirmed a no-goal.
- The Warriors also had a five-minute major power play and nearly two full minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage minutes after that, but couldn't convert, as the lead stayed at two heading to the final moments of regulation.
- After getting a late power play chance, Cornell pulled the goaltender for the extra skater and quickly capitalized to make it a one-goal game off the stick of Mitch Vanderlaan with 2:37 left.
- That was the closest the visitors would get as sophomore Drew Vogler (Florissant, Mo.) let in nothing else, as he tied his career-high with 33 saves to help Merrimack secure a win in its first-ever home matchup against the Big Red in program history.
Goal Descriptions
MC #1 (Babcock/Kramer/Foget) | P1 2:39 - Michael Babcock stuffs in rebound that kicked out in the crease. Patrick Kramer took the original shot from the slot after Mathieu Foget plays the puck in from behind the net along the left wing side.
MC #2 (Carle/Kovacevic/Seney) | P1 11:36 (PP) - Brett Seney plays puck from the right goal line extended all the way through to Mathieu Foget, who misses wide on a sharp-angle shot. The puck bounces to Seney at the end boards, who plays it back to the center point to Johnathan Kovacevic, who lays it to the right for Alex Carle who's shot through traffic found the bottom-right corner of the net.
MC #3 (Gustafsson/Hennig/Kovacevic) | P2 11:24 - Johnathan Kovacevic chips the puck up and out of the defensive zone, off the boards and into a scrum of bodies before the puck finds Jace Hennig in the neutral zone. Hennig taps it ahead to Hampus Gustafsson, who skates the puck to the top of the right wing circle before beating Mitch Gillam over the right shoulder.
CU #1 (Buckles/Fiegl/McCrea) | P2 18:27 - Alec McCrea sends the puck on net from the left circle and Jared Fiegl tips it on the way in; Drew Vogler makes initial pad save but Matt Buckles puts home the rebound from the crease.
CU #2 (Vanderlaan/Tschantz/Yates) | P3 17:23 (PP/EA) - Puck played into the left wing corner where Trevor Yates colelcts it and touches it to Dwyer Tschantz, who curls and sends a behind-the-net feed from the left goal line extended to the bottom of the ring wing circle for a one-timer goal from Mitch Vanderlaan.
MERRIMACK LINEUP
Hennig | Gustafsson | Irvine
Seney | A. Larsson | Tibbet
Babcock | Kramer | Foget
Coomes | L. Larsson| Tavernier
Biega | Kovacevic
Kolquist | Titcomb
Carle| Lashyn
Vogler
Pantano
Game Leaders (MC // CU)
Points: Johnathan Kovacevic (2) // Six tied (1)
Goals: Three tied (1) // Mitch Vanderlaan/Matt Buckles (1)
Assists: Johnathan Kovacevic (2) // Four tied (1)
Shots: Hampus Gustafsson (6) // Matt Buckles (6)
Faceoffs Won: Alfred Larsson (16) // Jake Weidner (13)
Saves: Drew Vogler (33-for-35) // Mitch Gillam (15-for-18) / Hayden Stewart (15-for-15)
Facts and Figures (MC // CU)
Power Plays: 1-7 // 1-6
Penalties: 6 Penalties - 12 Minutes // 8 Penalties - 27 Minutes
Faceoffs: 38 // 35
SOG: 13-9 // 11-18 // 9-8 // 33-35
Up Next
Merrimack will concludes a stretch of three games in five days when it remains continues league play with a Saturday night trek to Dover to battle the University of New Hampshire. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.