Warriors collapse in third period, get swept by BU

BOSTON — In a weird way, it was the perfect script for a road game. Despite allowing the first goal of the game just 23 seconds into the first period, Merrimack had a lead over Boston University going into the third period on Saturday night.

But then the wheels fell off.

The Terriers scored four unanswered goals in the final 18 minutes en route to a 5-2 win over the Warriors at Agganis Arena. BU swept the Warriors in the weekend series.

“Tough loss,” said Scott Borek. “I’m unhappy we lost.”

“In the first few minutes of the third, we have three or four Grade A chances that we didn’t capitalize on. We really needed one of those, because you knew that they were going to have a huge push. I think it’s sort of my fault. I didn’t play a lot of guys tonight. I think we lost our legs near the end of the second and never really recovered. They had a great push. They’re an exceptionally talented team.”

The Warriors shortened the bench early, especially with their forward group. Merrimack was without Matt Copponi, who was suspended for his hit on Cade Webber on Friday. The top three lines played the bulk of the minutes.

The first two goals Merrimack allowed in the third period were essentially breakaways. Jeremy Wilmer scored 2:13 into the period to tie the game 2-2. About five minutes later, the Terriers picked off a pass while killing a penalty, and Nick Zabaneh scored a shorthanded goal to give the Terriers a lead.

“We made an assumptive pass on the first one, and the second one, we needed to manage the puck better,” Borek said. “We tried to make a play, but we can’t be a complicated team. It’s not in our arsenal. We have to keep it simple. We took some steps today, but more steps have to be taken.”

Ethan Bono emerges with two goals on the weekend

The Warriors have had two freshmen emerge in back-to-back weekends.

Last weekend, Ty Daneault scored his first three NCAA goals when the Warriors won the Turkey Leg Classic over Army and Bentley. This weekend, center Ethan Bono scored his first two NCAA goals, was promoted to the power play, and was on the ice when the Warriors had goaltender Zachary Borgiel pulled for the extra attacker late in the game.

“Ethan is an incredibly humble young man,” Borek said. “When he got here, he was almost referring to other people because he’s such a good guy and has so much humility. I think he’s starting to realize that he can compete here and play at this level. Not only can he play at this level, he can be a bonafide player at this level. He had a great weekend.”

Bono was the only Merrimack player with a positive winning percentage (8-5) on faceoffs Saturday night.

NOTES: Christian Felton tied for the team lead in shot attempts with Frank Djurasevic and Ty Daneault (7). Felton also led the team with four blocks. … Merrimack dropped to 2-5-1 when allowing the first goal. … The Warriors dropped to 2-6-1 in Hockey East play.

NEXT: The Warriors will conclude the first half of the season on the road at Yale on Friday night.

Boston University 5, Merrimack 2
at Agganis Arena
Merrimack College  (6-6-1-2):   2-0-0—2
Boston University (11-3-1-1):   1-0-4—5
First Period: 1. BU Quinn Hutson 8 (Luke Tuch, Macklin Celebrini), ev, 0:23; 2. MC Ethan Bono 2 (Christin Felton, Mac Welsher), ev, 7:46; 3. MC Alex Jefferies 8 (Ty Daneault, Filip Forsmark), pp, 14:46.
Second Period: None.
Third Period: 4. BU Jeremy Wilmer 2 (unassisted), ev, 2:13; 5. BU Nick Zabaneh 1 (unassisted), ev, 7:27; 6. BU Tom Willander 3 (Nick Zabaneh, Lane Hutson), ev, 16:30; 7. BU Sam Stevens 2 (Macklin Celebrini, Case McCarthy), en, 19:58.
Shots: MC 8-3-14—25 ; BU 10-14-14—38
Saves: MC Borgiel (57:09) 33/37 ; BU Caron (60:00) 23/25
Power Play: MC 0 for 4; BU 1 for 5
Penalties: MC 5-10; BU 6-12
Attendance: 5,747