BOSTON - The Boston University men's ice hockey team suffered its first home loss in over two months as visiting Merrimack came away with a 5-1 win at Agganis Arena on Friday evening.
The Terriers opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal by freshman Robert Mastrosimone before the Warriors got an equalizer with 2:49 left in the opening period.
The second period was the decisive one as Merrimack stunned the Terriers and the Agganis crowd with a pair of shorthanded goals to take a lead it would not relinquish.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Terriers found themselves shorthanded just 1:45 into the game but ended up turning it into a positive when Mastrosimone used some nifty stickwork above the goalmouth to put the puck past Merrimack netminder Jere Huhtamaa at the 2:37 mark.
- A right-point blast by Dominic Dockery went off a BU defender and in late in the opening stanza to make it a 1-1 contest going into the first intermission.
- The Terriers had three power-play chances in the middle stanza but came up empty on them while allowing the Warriors to pot a pair of shorthanded goals to take control of the game.
- Tyler Irvine, who also had two assists on the night, provided the game-winner at 3:32 of the second before Logan Drevitch made it a 3-1 game just under 11 minutes later with another man-down marker.
- BU put 19 shots on goal in the second period alone but Huhtamaa stopped each of them and made saves on the Terriers' final 35 shots of the night.
- Merrimack put the finishing touches on its win with third-period goals from Patrick Holway and Regan Kimens.
GAME NOTES
- The Terriers are now 0-3-1 in games between the Beanpot over the past four seasons.
- Freshmen Case McCarthy and Sam Stevens assisted on the Mastrosimone goal.
- BU held a 37-28 shot advantage in the contest.
- Freshman Ashton Abel made 23 saves for the Terriers while Huhtamaa finished with 36 stops.
- BU's power play went 0-for-4 while the penalty kill was successful on all three of the Warriors' man-up chances.
UP NEXT
- The Terriers return to action on Monday (Feb. 10) when they take on No. 12 Northeastern in the Beanpot title game.
- BU is looking for its 31st Beanpot crown while the Huskies are in search of their third straight title.
- Game time at TD Garden is set for 7:30 p.m.
- The game will be televised by NESN, NHL Network and TSN5.
