Senior goaltender Samantha Ridgewell made 35 saves for the Warriors
Ridgewell Stops 35 Shots As Merrimack Defeats New Hampshire, 2-1
Senior goaltender Samantha Ridgewell made 35 saves for the Warriors

DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team was defeated by Merrimack College, 2-1, on Saturday, February 9 at the Whittemore Center Arena. Junior Tori Howran (Bancroft, Ontario) scored a late third period goal, but it was not enough for the Wildcats to come back.

The Wildcats were outshot 12-7 in the first period but rebounded back, outshooting the Warriors 13-6 in the econd and 16-9 in the third. Despite that effort on the shot chart, Merrimack tallied goals midway through the second and third periods to secure the victory and key conference points.

Howran's goal was her fourth of the season; assists came from Paige Rynne (Ancaster, Ontario) and Taylor Wenczkowksi (Rochester, N.H.), for Rynne's seventh of the season and Wenczkowski's sixth. In net, senior captain Kyra Smith (Littleton, Colo.) made 25 saves on 27 shots faced in the contest to put her record to 12-9-2 on the year.


UP NEXT:

The Wildcats will play a home-and-home series against Boston University traveling first to Agganis Arena Saturday afternoon, February 16 at 3:00 P.M. The Wildcats return home next Sunday, February 17 at 2 P.M. for Senior Day, as well as Alumni Day. For tickets, visit UNHWildcats.com or call (603) 862-4000.​


GAME INFORMATION:

Date: Feb. 9, 2019
Location: Whittemore Center Arena - Durham, N.H.
Attendance: 385
Score: Merrimack 2 (15-10-5, 11-9-3 Hockey East) UNH 1 (13-14-4, 10-13-1 Hockey East)

Goals:

UNH (1) - Tori Howran
MC (2) - Chloe Cook, Keisha DiCaire

Assists:

UNH (2) - Taylor Wenczkowski, Paige Rynne
MC (3) - Keisha DiCaire, Dominique Kremer, Mikyla Grant-Mentis

Goaltenders:

UNH - Kyra Smith - 12-5-8 - 25 (2 GA) {57:29} (L)
MC - Samantha Ridgewell - 7-13-15 - 35 (1 GA) {60:00} (W)


GAME RECAP

- After a full 20 minutes of play, UNH and Merrimack entered the locker rooms scoreless. Kyra Smith made 12 saves, and Merrimack's Samantha Ridgewell saved seven shots.

- Merrimack notched the first goal of the game midway through the second period. With traffic in front of the net, Keisha DiCaire could not get a shot off and sent the puck cross-ice to Chloe Cook. Cook sailed the puck from the far right corner just past Smith's glove-side to make it 1-0 at 13:23.

- Upping their lead, Merrimack's Mikyla Grant- Mentis centered a pass across to Dominique Kremer, who took a shot that was blocked. Keisha DiCaire corralled the puck off the block, slipping it past Smith making it 2-0 at 11:31 of the third.

- The Wildcats cut the deficit, 2-1, late in the third with the goaltender pulled. Taylor Wenczkowski tipped a pass to Tori Howran just north of the right faceoff circle. Firing the puck, Howran was able to find the back of the net at 18:16.


BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

- The Wildcats' home record falls to 7-5-2 on the season.

- UNH went 0-6 on the power play; they are now 3-10-3 this season when not scoring a power play goal.

- On the other side, Merrimack went 0-4 on the power play, which puts the Wildcats' penalty kill percentage on the season to 87.3% on the year. They have allowed just 13 power play goals this season.

- With an assist, Taylor Wenczkowski remains atop the UNH scoring leaders with a team-high 22 points on the year.

- The win prevents a UNH season-series sweep with Merrimack. UNH won the season series 2-1-0. It was just Merrimack's third win all-time against UNH.

- With the results, Merrimack remains in fifth in the Hockey East standings with two weekends remaining in the regular season. UNH remains in sixth, with UConn getting a point on the day to tie UNH with 21 conference points. UConn holds the season tiebreaker over UNH.


PENALTIES

UNH: 4-8 MC: 6-12


POWER PLAYS

UNH: 0-6 MC: 0-4


NEW HAMPSHIRE LEADERS:

Points (1): Three Players
Goals (1): Tori Howran
Assists (1): Taylor Wenczkowski, Paige Rynne
Shots (10): Taylor Wenczkowksi
Blocked Shots (3): Talli Warren
Faceoffs (12): Lauren Martin


MERRIMACK LEADERS:

Points (2): Keisha DiCaire
Goals (1): Chloe Cook, Keisha DiCaire
Assists (1): Three Players
Shots (4): Mikyla Grant- Mentis, Katelyn Rae
Blocked Shots (3): Paige Sorensen, Dominique Kremer
Faceoffs (12): Megan Fergusson

Game Summary

Saturday, February 9, 2019

2
1
Game statistics
27 Shots 36
0 / 4 Power Plays 0 / 6
6 / 12 PIM 4 / 8
15-10-5 Records 13-14-4
GOAL SCORERS
Merrimack New Hampshire
Chloe Cook (2)
2nd/13:23
Keisha DiCaire (2)
3rd/11:31  GW
Tori Howran (4)
3rd/18:16  EA
GOALTENDERS
Merrimack New Hampshire
Samantha Ridgewell
60:00, 35 Saves, 1 GA
(W, 14-8-5)
Kyra Smith
57:29, 25 Saves, 2 GA
(L, 12-9-2)

Empty Net
2:31, 0 GA