Merrimack beats Lowell in Double Overtime, Advances to Hockey East Championship Game
Merrimack beats Lowell in Double Overtime, Advances to Hockey East Championship Game
BOSTON — Matt Copponi won the draw, got the puck back after a scrum, and sent Merrimack to the Hockey East championship game after a double-overtime goal to give the Warriors a 2-1 win over UMass Lowell in the Hockey East semifinals.
Merrimack senior Jordan Seyfert scored the game's first goal on an incredible individual effort, beating a defender with one hand on his stick with 10:26 left in the third period.
Lowell tied the game with 31.1 seconds left in regulation, and the teams played a scoreless overtime before Copponi won the game at the 90:01 mark.
Merrimack outshot Lowell 42-36.
The Warriors kept their NCAA Tournament chances alive with the victory. Merrimack will earn an automatic berth into the tournament if they defeat BU for the conference championship on Saturday. Otherwise, they still have a shot at an at-large bid with this win in the semifinals.
Merrimack will be playing for its first Hockey East championship. The program joined the league in 1989. Merrimack has only had one other appearance in the title game (2011), in which the Warriors fell to Boston College 5-3.
Merrimack swept the regular-season series from the Terriers. The Warriors beat BU 4-1 at Lawler Arena on Feb. 17 and then 4-3 in overtime (Ben Brar scored a last-second goal) on Feb. 18.
Colorado College upset Denver in the NCHC on Friday, and St. Cloud State beat North Dakota in overtime in the other NCHC semifinal. That allowed Merrimack to remain alive for an NCAA berth even with a loss to Lowell in the semifinal. Of course, the Warriors won the game and will play for a Hockey East championship.