NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - Trailing late in the third, freshman forward Chase Gresock scored his second of the night to send the game to overtime, helping the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team earn a 3-3 draw against No. 14 UMass Lowell on Saturday night at Lawler Rink.
Senior Alex Carle gave the Warriors an early lead, appropriately enough, shortly after play began following the conclusion of Saturday night's Senior Day ceremony, but the River Hawks lit the lamp twice in the second to temporarily take the lead before freshman Chase Gresock tied it up on his team-high 10th of the year late in the second.
Down by a goal, Gresock would net his second of the night with just 48 seconds left to send the contest to overtime, and that was how the final ledger stood with both sides settling for a 3-3 tie.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 3, UMass Lowell 3
Records: Merrimack (7-22-3, 4-16-2 HEA) | #14 UMass Lowell (18-10-3, 12-6-3 HEA)
Location: Lawler Rink | North Andover, Mass.
Attendance: 2,312
Game Duration: 2:31
How It Happened
- Merrimack got off to a fast start after Carle sent in a shot that bounced off a Lowell skater's stick and in to get the Warriors on the board less than four minutes into the contest. Gresock threaded pass from the left corner up to the top of the right circle, while senior Derek Petti also assisted.
- The hosts had a great opportunity to extend their lead after starting the second on the power play, but instead, a turnover led to a Lowell shorthanded strike to level the ledger at 1:01 of the period. The River Hawks then took their first lead with just over five minutes remaining in the middle stanza on a tally from Chase Blackmun, who was fed the puck from a scrum in the left corner and punched it home from the slot.
- But Gresock answered two minutes later, wrapping up a pretty scoring sequence in transition to knot things up at 2-2. Both Petti and junior Sami Tavernier moved the puck from zone-to-zone to set up the score; Tavernier marched through three defenders before finding Petti for a 2-on-1 with Gresock, as the duo finished the play with a one-timer at the left side.
- Even at two goals apiece after 40 minutes, Lowell broke the deadlock with less than eight minutes to go on Charlie Levesque's fourth of the year, but Gresock's heroics came with 48 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
- Merrimack had a power play after Lowell was called for too many men with just over two minutes left in the extra session, but it ended prematurely after the Warriors were called for a slash to prevent a breakaway. Both sides would then skate 4-on-4 before the River Hawks had a very brief power play to close out the contest, but neither side would light the lamp down the stretch.
Notes & Numbers
- Gresock finished with a game-high three points, tying his career-high from last month at Michigan when he had a 1-2-3 scoring line. His two-goal outing was the first of his career.
- Petti extended his scoring streak to four games with a three-point night of his own, his highest single-game production this season.
- Junior Patrick Kramer went 13-3 on the dots to highlight all Warriors' efforts on the faceoff, while freshman Tyler Heidt had three blocks.
- Merrimack finished 0-1-1 against UMass Lowell on the season and saw its all-time record against the River Hawks go to 42-76-12.
- Goaltenders: Craig Pantano (31 saves, 6-13-2) // Christoffer Hernberg (26 saves, 8-3-1)
- Power Plays: 0-3 | 0-4
- Shots on Goal: 7-5 // 7-18 // 13-8 // 2-3 - 29-34
- Faceoffs: 33 // 30
- Blocks: 12 // 14
Merrimack Lineup
Forwards
Gresock | Petti | Tavernier
L. Drevitch | Kramer | McBride
von-Ungern Sternberg | Babcock | Irvine
Simeone | Seyfert | McKay
Olsen
Defense
Heidt | Kovacevic
Dockery | Carle
Cook | McArdle
Goaltenders
Pantano | Vogler | Halladay
Up Next
Merrimack takes on No. 2 Massachusetts in the final home game of the season this Thursday (Feb. 28), with puck drop from Lawler Rink set for 7 p.m.