Merrimack Concludes Road Trip with 5-4 Loss to #19 Lowell
LOWELL, MA - Brandon Brodhag (Brooklyn Park, MN) and Chris Barton (Calgary, AB) scored twice for Merrimack, but the 19th-ranked River Hawks responded with three second-period goals and survived three third-period Merrimack tallies in a 5-4 victory Friday night at Tsongas Arena.
Merrimack (7-13-0, 4-9-0 HEA) finally returns home after 49 days away from Lawler Arena to host Providence College Saturday at 7 p.m. Limited tickets remain and are available online and at the gate. The Winter Warrior pre-game festival will begin at 5 p.m. outside the Volpe Complex.
The Warriors started slowly as David Vallorani notched his 10th of the season on Lowell's first shot, scoring on a wraparound goal just 39 seconds into the game.
Brodhag tied it up, tallying his first goal since November 14, knocking in a rebound past Nevin Hamilton for his sixth of the year. With the Warriors on the power play, sporting the nation's second-ranked man-advantage, Kyle Bigos (Upland, CA) fired it on net from the blue line, and after Jesse Todd (Camrose, AB) had his rebound attempt stopped, Brodhag was there to the left of Hamilton to backhand it into the net to tie the game.
But moments later, the River Hawks, who outshot Merrimack 19-10 in the second, potted a pair of goals 2:27 apart to regain the lead and take control of the game. While on a power play, Kory Falite found a loose puck under Joe Cannata (Wakefield, MA) and buried it for his 12th of the year at 10:04. Then, Paul Worthington made it a two-goal lead, taking a feed from Maury Edwards and one-timing past Cannata at 12:31. Falite pushed the lead to three, netting his second of the game, beating Cannata blocker side at 18:19 of the second and sending the Warriors into the locker room trailing by three.
“The game is easy when there are no consequences – when there is nothing on the line,” head coach Mark Dennehy said. “I was very disappointed with our older players. I’m 42 years old, I don’t need to be screaming and yelling. They have to want it more than I do and I don’t think that’s been the case. If I have to scream to get them going, then this isn’t going to work.”
After Dehner added a power play tally in the third, Merrimack's near comeback began as Barton netted his 11th of the year one-timing the puck directly off a faceoff win from Stephane Da Costa (Paris, France) past Hamilton just 11 seconds after Dehner's marker.
Brodhag then followed with his second of the night, taking feeds from Joe Cucci (Melrose Park, IL) and Todd and one-timing it past Hamilton at 11:56 and cutting the deficit to two.
The Warriors made it a one goal game at 19:15, pulling Cannata for the extra attacker while on the man advantage, and Barton delivered with his second of the game, knocking in a rebound off a Karl Stollery (Camrose, AB) shot. Da Costa also picked up an assist, his second of the game.
But the comeback began too late, as the Warriors failed to register another scoring chance, and Lowell escaped with the one-goal victory. The Warriors outshot UML 19-5 in the third.
“There isn’t a team in this league I don’t want to play in the playoffs and there isn’t a team in this league that wants to play us," said Dennehy. "We just have to get there.”
For Brodhag, it was his second multi-goal game of his career, while Barton has five points in the last two games. Da Costa and Todd each picked up two helpers in the game.
Making his first start since the Badger Classic, Cannata made 25 saves. Hamilton turned aside 33 shots, improving to 6-3-2 on the season.
Dehner finished the game with three points, while Worthington and Falite also had multi-point performances.
Merrimack was 2-for-3 on the man-advantage, while the River Hawks (13-9-2, 7-6-2 HEA) posted two goals in four chances.
