NORTH ANDOVER, MA - The Merrimack hockey team was downed on Saturday afternoon at Lawler Arena by the US Under-18 team by the score of 3-1. Freshman John Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden) was the lone Warrior to find the back of the net.
Merrimack (5-7-3, 4-4-1 HEA) will return to action on Tuesday night in a non conference game against Army at 7:00 p.m. inside Lawler Arena. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at www.merrimackwarriors.com or by calling the Merrimack College box office at 978-837-5324.
The only Merrimack goal of the night was scored just under five minutes into the final period as Gustafsson took a feed from fellow freshman Vinny Scotti (Vineland, NJ) and beat the US goaltender, Thatcher Demko, just under the cross bar.
The game was won by the US Under-18 team in the first period despite multiple scoring attempts by sophomore Josh Myers (Colorado Springs, CO) as they were able to get on the board just over a minute into the contest as Tyler Kelleher beat Merrimack starting goalie Nick Drew (Andover, Mass.) between the legs.
The visitors increased their lead to two with just 47 seconds remaining in the opening frame as Michael McCarron found the back of the net. Kelleher and Evan Allen picked up the assists on the power play tally.
The US team finished the scoring in the third period just two minutes after Merrimack scored as Hudson Fasching beat Rasmus Tirronen (Espoo, Finland) over the shoulder, making the score 3-1.
All three Merrimack goalies saw action in the defeat as Drew made a career-high nine saves. Sam Marotta (Bridgewater, Mass.) finished with 14 saves in the second period and Tirronen pushed away eight shots in the third.