Tibbet's Two Goals Help Merrimack Upend Notre Dame, 4-1
Freshman forward Mathieu Tibbet scores two goals for Warriors

Freshman forward Mathieu Tibbet scored two goals for the Warriors
Prd Time  Team Score Type Scored By Assists
1st 17:46  MER1-0 EV Mathieu Tibbet (2)Brett Seney/4, Jace Hennig/2
2nd 2:31  MER2-0 EV GW John Gustafsson (1)Marc Biega/3, Vinny Scotti/4
3rd 4:16  MER3-0 PP Hampus Gustafsson (3)Brian Christie/6, Dan Kolomatis/4
3rd 7:38  MER4-0 EV Mathieu Tibbet (3)Jace Hennig/3, Jared Kolquist/1
3rd 15:04  NDM1-4 EV Robbie Russo (5)Vince Hinostroza/7, Thomas DiPauli/8
Scoring 1st 2nd 3rd Final
Notre Dame  0011
Merrimack  1124
Shots on Goal 1st 2nd 3rd SOG
Notre Dame  271221
Merrimack  106824
Team Stats and Records  PP PIM SHGF
Notre Dame (6-5-1)  0/4 5/10 0
Merrimack (7-3-1)  1/5 5/10 0
Notre Dame Goaltending MIN GA 1 2 3 Saves
Cal Petersen (L, 3-4-1)60:004 95620
Merrimack Goaltending MIN GA 1 2 3 Saves
Rasmus Tirronen (W, 7-2-1)59:421 271120
Empty Net0:180     

NO. ANDOVER, Mass. - Freshman forward Mathieu Tibbet scored a pair of goals to lead Merrimack College to Saturday night's 4-1 win against Notre Dame at Lawler Rink.

Looking to improve to 2-0-1 on the season following losses, Merrimack used stalwart defense and timely scoring in the first and second period before building a four-goal lead with a pair of tallies less than three minutes apart in the third.

Skating with a 2-0 lead, Merrimack went to the power play early in the third and cycled around the right circle to set up the third marker of the game. Senior Dan Kolomatis (Basking Ridge, N.J.) banked a pass off the wall to junior Brian Christie (West Chester, Pa.), who tapped it ahead to sophomore Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden). The center cherry picked a perfect shot into the top-right corner of the net to make it a 3-0 lead on his third of the year.

Just about three minutes later while skating 5-on-5, freshman Jared Kolquist (Hermantown, Minn.) wrapped the puck around the boards to classmate Jace Hennig (Port Moody, British Columbia), who left it for Tibbet in the neutral zone. The rookie used a burst of speed to move into the Notre Dame zone and unleashed a laser into the top-right corner of the cage, upping the Warriors' lead to 4-0.

Merrimack withstood two consecutive penalties to stay perfect on the penalty kill before a Warrior skater covered the puck in the crease, awarding the Fighting Irish a penalty shot. Connor Hurley tried to wait out senior Rasmus Tirronen (Espoo, Finland), but watched as the puck hopped off his stick and missed wide to keep Merrimack up by four.

Five minutes later, though, Notre Dame would snap the shutout on a tip-in goal in tight by Robbie Russo, but that would be the closest the Irish would get before the final horn sounded.

Late in the first period, the all-freshman line made sure those efforts wouldn't go to waste, as rookie Brett Seney (London, Ontario) accelerated down the left wing past the defense and threaded a centering pass to Tibbet, who tapped it into the net at 17:46 for the opening strike. Hennig also figured into the scoring play.

The Warriors didn't need much more than two minutes to extend their lead in the second; junior Vinny Scotti (Vineland, N.J.) tapped the puck on a give-and-go feed in the neutral zone to freshman Marc Biega (Pointe-Claire, Quebec), who found himself on a 2-on-1 rush with junior John Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden). The latter waited out Notre Dame netminder Cal Petersen and went to the backhand for his first marker of the year, pushing the Warriors' lead to two (2-0) at the 2:31 mark of the middle stanza.

That lead would quickly jump to four on the Warriors' two goals in the early goings of the third, as Merrimack picked up its first win against Notre Dame since a 6-0 home win back on Jan. 7, 1989.