Merrimack plays its game, beats BC
NORTH ANDOVER — Merrimack head coach Scott Borek knew just the way he wanted last night’s game to unfold.
Up against a Boston College team with 10 NHL Draft picks on the roster, the Warriors didn’t want to trade chances with the Eagles. They wanted a tight-checking, physical game that was more of a grind.
At the end of the night, Borek and BC head coach Greg Brown both agreed that the Warriors got their way. Merrimack defeated BC 3-1 on Thursday night at Lawler Arena.
“I really liked our physical play,” said Merrimack coach Scott Borek. “We were able to grind through the game. We don’t want to play them in a skill game and I didn’t think we tried to, and that was the reason we were successful.”
The Warriors outshot the Eagles 30-19. BC’s 19 shots were the lowest the Eagles have recorded since opening night against Quinnipiac, which is one of the toughest defensive teams in the country.
“Merrimack did a better job tonight controlling the play,” said Brown. “They played their game much more effectively than we played ours and it felt like we were on our heels for most of the night. They kept us off balance and didn’t give us many chances.”
Slava Demin gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the first period after Mac Welsher curled up from the corner with the puck on his stick and found Demin at the left point. Demin fired a wrister through traffic in front and it beat Mitch Benson clean. Hugo Esselin provided the bulk of the traffic at the front of the net for the Warriors.
With Merrimack on a five-minute power play due to Lukas Gustafsson’s major penalty for face-washing in the second period, Merrimack freshman defenseman Zach Bookman circled at the top of the zone and cut a puck inside the slot where Filip Forsmark tipped it past Benson to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
BC scored a power-play goal late in the second period to keep the deficit at one goal entering the third, but the Eagles mustered just four shots in the final period and Jordan Seyfert provided insurance for the Warriors with his second goal of the season with just under three minutes to play.
“The one thing about Seyfert is he’s always dialed in,” Borek said.
Merrimack and BC entered the game as the two least-penalized teams in the nation, yet they combined for 33 penalty minutes and 12 power plays. Each team went 1 for 6 with the man advantage.
“I was surprised by how many penalties there were,” Borek said. “But it went both ways. On the major, we had to have a third unit ready to go.”
Added Brown, “There wasn’t a lot of rhythm in the game because of the penalties. You hope your special teams can win you a game in a situation like that. We had the one power-play goal but we didn’t have very many chances. Games that take shape like that can be hard, because you have guys sitting on the bench for long stretches and other guys are playing a ton. It’s hard for both teams because it’s that choppy of a game.”
The Warriors and Eagles will close out the home-and-home series on Saturday afternoon at BC’s Conte Forum. The puck is set to drop at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Ed. Note — Portions of this story will appear in Friday’s Eagle Tribune
Merrimack 3, Boston College 1
at Lawler Arena
Boston College (2-3-1): 0-1-0--1
Merrimack College (5-3-0): 1-1-1--3
First Period: 1. MC Slava Demin 2 (Mac Welsher, Mark Hillier), ev, 8:42.
Second Period: 2. MC Filip Forsmark 2 (Zach Bookman, Ben Brar), pp, 8:29; 3. BC Eamon Powell 1 (Oskar Jellvik, Trevor Kuntar), pp, 16:00.
Third Period: 4. MC Jordan Seyfert 2 (Mark Hillier, Mick Messner), ev, 17:18.
Shots: MC 9-10-11--30; BC 8-7-4--19
Saves: MC Ollas (60:00) 18/19; BC Benson (57:57) 27/30
Power Play: MC 1 for 6; BC 1 for 6
Penalties: MC 8-16:00; BC 6-15:00
Attendance: 2,612