BOSTON — After a bad game on Tuesday against Brown University, Merrimack College hockey rebounded in a big way on Saturday night, besting Hockey East rival Northeastern, 4-3, at Matthews Arena.
Ethan Bono scored his fifth goal of the season to put the Warriors on the board at the 11:28 mark. The Warriors carried that lead into the late stages of the first period before Northeastern forward Cam Lund scored on the power play to tie the game, 1-1, at the first intermission.
“The first goal is huge,” said Merrimack coach Scott Borek. “I was comfortable with our first period. They had 21 shots, but most were from the outside. We covered the weak side of the rink well.”
The Warriors, now 6-7-1 in Hockey East and 10-13-1 overall, exploded for three unanswered second-period goals. Josef Mysak scored his first goal as a Warrior at the 0:52 mark of the second period off a feed from Ryan O’Connell. Seamus Powell scored a power-play goal just over five minutes later to double Merrimack’s lead, and Caden Cranston scored a goal at the 10:42 mark, giving the Warriors a 4-1 lead at the second intermission.
The Huskies scored two late goals, including an extra-attacker goal, but the Warriors held on for the win.
Max Lundgren made a career-high 43 saves
Merrimack sophomore goaltender Max Lundgren stopped 43 shots in the win. Lundgren was consistent all night and made two huge saves in the final two minutes while Northeastern pressured with the extra attacker on the ice.
“That save he made on the weak side,” Borek said. “Wow. And he got there and it hit him right in the chest. He tracked really well tonight. He made a couple of saves that not many goalies would make, and he made all of the saves he should have made.”
Lundgren is 3-2 in his last five starts, including two wins over the Huskies.
Multiple D step up in Bookman’s absence
Zach Bookman was out of the lineup with the lower-body injury he suffered against Brown on Tuesday night. Bookman’s injury isn’t expected to be long-term, which is welcome news for the Warriors.
“[Not playing Saturday] was the right decision,” Borek said. “He’s pretty sore. He didn’t practice after the Brown game. But I don’t think it’s long-term. I don’t know if he’ll be ready for next weekend, but if not, the weekend after that could be in play. We’ll see.”
In his absence, multiple defensemen stepped up. Freshman Nathan King filled Bookman’s spot with a power-play unit.
“I was really happy with [King],” Borek said. “He’s a younger play. We weren’t even sure if he was going to come in this year back in the spring. He played really well.”
Seamus Powell scored a goal and had two points. Josef Mysak scored his first Merrimack goal.
“[Powell’s] confidence is through the roof now,” Borek said. “He’s contributing offensively but there were a couple of times, even when he was caught deep, he was getting back and playing both ends of the rink. That’s what makes him a really good player. He took a lot of minutes for us tonight.”
Mysak’s goal was a product of mid-week skill work.
“That was a nice shot,” Borek said. “I give a lot of credit to [Dan] Jewell and [Jimmy] Mullin. After the Brown game we did a skills day on Wednesday. Dan worked on releases and getting the puck through from the point. That goal was a good example of that work. Jimmy worked on releasing from the weak side, and we did that a lot today, too.”
O’Connell comes up big defensively
Freshman forward Ryan O’Connell blocked a shot with just over 20 seconds left that helped seal the win for the Warriors.
“Sometimes, when you put a freshman out there in that situation, your bench can look at you like you’re crazy,” Borek said. “But Ryan has gained a lot of trust not just from me, but our entire bench. He made a big play for us there. He just plays the right way all the time. Every shift, in every zone.”