Minus the results, Merrimack head coach Scott Borek has seen a lot of positives in his team’s play throughout the last several games.
Senior goaltenders Craig Pantano (Bridgewater, Mass.) and Drew Vogler have often given the Warriors chances to win, despite the team’s 5-15-1 overall record. Six of Merrimack’s first eight games were decided by a single goal, while an improved defensive effort in recent weeks has made the scores closer and made allowing more than five goals six times in an eight-game span a streak left back in the first semester.
Friday night’s 2-1 overtime loss at New Hampshire was another heartbreaker for the Warriors, marking their fifth one-goal loss of the season. But the emotions were much, much different a night later after freshman Chase Gresock scored his fourth goal of the year and Pantano made a career-high 42 saves for a 1-0 win at Northeastern.
“Craig was obviously the best player in the rink and that’s what we needed to get a W,” said Borek. “I’m really proud. We were down a man (playing with five defensemen, with junior leader Johnathan Kovacevic still out of the lineup with an upper-body injury) and the guys battled through. … When Craig needed help, he got it, but for the most part he was helping us.”
Pantano has been in net for all five of Merrimack’s wins this season, including four in shutout fashion and three against Beanpot opponents in the Huskies, Boston University, and Boston College. With Saturday’s effort, Pantano became the first Merrimack goaltender to make 40 saves since current Chicago Blackhawk Collin Delia did on Jan. 16, 2016 at Notre Dame.
A season-high 19 blocked shots provide statistical evidence of the Warriors’ impressive back-end improvements that paved the way for Pantano’s first win since Nov. 10 when Merrimack left Bemidji State with another 1-0 decision.
“Northeastern is one of the best teams in the league in the offensive zone. They were tough to corral but we were moving as well and I think that’s the difference in the D-zone right now,” Borek said. “We’re moving to pucks versus just playing in a straight line, so we’re more difficult. We have people going to the house and sticks going to the house, and we don’t give up that second or third shot, which we were earlier in the year.”
The Warriors played Northeastern in two of their final three games before the holiday break and dropped both decisions in lopsided fashion, 9-1 (Nov. 30) and 7-2 (Dec. 8). Given that and the end to Merrimack’s long skid, the total team effort in victory felt good.
“A lot of luck and a lot of good play in front of me,” Pantano said of his four shutouts entering Tuesday’s non-conference game at Michigan. “As Coach said, there were a lot of plays there that could have been goals that (my teammates) saved. … You like to play against competitive people that are going to try to do all they can to score. They’re in your face, and it’s nice to get some saves.”
Bruno’s Mr. Clutch
Senior Alex Brink may have scored twice and earned Three Rivers Classic Most Valuable Player honors after Brown defeated Robert Morris and Union to win the championship, but junior defenseman Zach Giuttari (Warwick, R.I.) has been a true clutch performer for the Bears.
After leading the Bears with 16 points in 31 games last season, the former Loomis Chaffee standout has logged eight points through his 15 games for this 5-7-3 club that has won three consecutive games. All four of Giuttari’s goals have been game-winners, including each deciding marker in the last three outings beginning with the team’s Dec. 30 win over Army West Point at the Ledyard Classic.
Brown is now 4-1-2 in the last seven games after earning its first win over a ranked team since 2016 and will have an opportunity to avenge its only loss in that stretch (Dec. 29) when Providence makes the trip across town next Wednesday night.
UMass blemished, bounces back, wins gold
Before UMass was handed its first Hockey East loss of the season, the Minutemen and St. Cloud State were the only teams still boasting unbeaten conference records. Visiting UMass Lowell earned a 2-1 win over the nation’s second-ranked team Friday at the Mullins Center, but UMass bounced back to beat American International the next afternoon, 6-1.
Freshman defenseman Marc Del Gaizo was named Hockey East Rookie of the Week after scoring a goal and three assists for his first four-point game as a collegiate against AIC. One of his assists came on brother Anthony Del Gaizo’s game-winning goal in the first period.
Across the continent Saturday night, freshman goaltender Fille Lindberg helped Team Finland capture gold at the IIHF World Junior Championship. Lindberg logged an 18-save shutout against Kazakhstan during the tournament’s preliminary round and joins current teammate Cale Makar (Canada, 2018) and 2006 alum Stephen Werner (2004, USA) as the Minutemen’s all-time World Junior gold medalists.
Sixty not enough
Nine games involving New England clubs from Friday through Monday went to overtime, including five that were decided before the 65th minute. All three Friday contests decided in extra time were league contests, including wins for Harvard in the ECAC and New Hampshire in Hockey East.
No team has played more overtime games this season than UNH. The Wildcats have gone beyond regulation in nine of their 19 games, posting a 2-1-6 record in those contests. UNH defeated Merrimack on a Friday night overtime winner from freshman Angus Crookshank before overcoming a 4-0 deficit to tie Yale at Whittemore Center.
The Wildcats played in 12 overtime games and tied seven in 2009-10, while two of the legendary Jack Parker’s Boston University teams (2003-04 and 2006-07) share the Hockey East record with nine draws in a season.
Loose pucks
― UConn senior Karl El-Mir has logged four multi-point games this season for a club that split its most recent games at the Ice Vegas Invitational. The Montreal native scored the Huskies’ lone goal against Western Michigan before a two-assist game in a 6-3 win over St. Lawrence, raising his team-leading point total to 18.
― The top two Hockey East defensemen in terms of plus/minus are New England native juniors. Providence’s Spenser Young (Brentwood, N.H.) leads the league with a plus-18 rating, while Northeastern’s Ryan Shea (Milton, Mass.) is second at plus-17. Shea’s 34 blocked shots also rank second in the league, trailing only Merrimack sophomore Dominic Dockery (41).
― Bentley is 2-0-1 in the three games in which junior Jonathan Desbiens scores a goal this season. After scoring his first three goals of the season in Atlantic Hockey victories over Holy Cross and Army West Point, Desbiens lit the lamp with 19 seconds to play in regulation in Saturday’s 3-3 non-conference tie with Dartmouth.
― Holy Cross made it two wins in its last three Atlantic Hockey games on Saturday night with a 5-4 triumph over Mercyhurst. The Crusaders had not won a game in that head-to-head series since Nov. 11, 2016, but junior Kevin Darrar’s tally with 10:04 left to play and freshman Erik Gordon’s 27 saves ultimately put the drought against the Lakers to bed.
― Maine sophomore Eduards Tralmaks saved his fourth goal of the season for a critical time as he scored with 48 seconds remaining in Monday’s 4-3 overtime win over Yale. The Black Bears finished non-conference play with four wins, including back-to-back over Colorado College and the Elis since last Wednesday.
