NO. ANDOVER, Mass. - The Merrimack men's hockey team capped off their 2022-23 regular season schedule with a bang as they defeated the University of Vermont Catamounts to take the season series and wrap up second place overall in the Hockey East standings for the season, the team's ever position finish.
The Basics
Score: #16/16 Merrimack: 4 Vermont: 1
Records: #16/16 Merrimack (21-12-1, 16-8-0) | Vermont: (10-19-5, 5-16-3)
Merrimack got off to the right start as Alex Jefferies scored the opening goal in his second straight game off a forced offensive zone turnover to give the Warriors the early advantage.
Minutes later, Ben Brar would double the advantage for the Warriors as he outwaited the Catamounts defender and made no mistake on his shot, to put the Warriors up two just past the halfway mark of the first period.
Late in the second period the Warriors would get their third goal of the game, after a blue line keep in the puck found Zach Bookman who scored on a top shelf shot to triple the lead.
In the final frame, Vermont would break the shutout early, but the Warriors would almost immediately re-extend the lead back to three as Hugo Esselin would score his second goal of the season, as he was left open at the side of the net and he would hit the target. The Warriors would coast from there and capture their 21st win of the season.
Facts and Numbers:
- Alex Jefferies scored in tonight's game, his 14th of the season and he has recorded at least one point in the last nine games,
- Ben Brar also scored his 14th goal of the season in the win.
- Hugo Esselin and Zach Bookman also scored in the win.
- Ottoville Leppanen and Matt Copponi collected two assists each.
- Christian Felton, Mick Messner, Jordan Seyfert and Slava Demin also all collected an assist each.
- Zachary Borgiel made 15 saves to win his 12th game of the year.
NEXT:
The Warriors will advance automatically to the Hockey East Playoff Quarterfinal because of their second place finish in the standings, they will play yet to be named opponent on Saturday March 11th at Lawler Rink.
