Photo by Eric Wang/The Daily Campus
The Merrimack Warriors saw five different skaters score on its home ice to secure a 5-2 win over the visiting UConn men’s ice hockey team. Merrimack’s third straight win leaves them ninth in the conference overall, just a hair ahead of the tenth place Huskies.
Adam Huska’s 22 save-effort Saturday night could not prevent UConn’s record from slipping to 7-14-1 overall and 2-10-1 in the conference. UConn even outshot Merrimack (7-15-1, 4-9-0 Hockey East) but did not score a goal until the third period.
A slow first 10 minutes of play came to an abrupt end when Chase Gresock gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead off a Sami Tavernier pass at 10:26. Merrimack would sneak in a last-second goal to double their lead before the first intermission. Logan Drevitch received a Patrick Kramer pass at the right side of the crease where he tapped it in for the goal.
The lone score of the second period came for Merrimack at 3:14. Skating along the right side, Derek Petti scooped up a loose puck before putting it in the back of the net for the fourth time this season.
Merrimack wasted no time extending their three goal lead in the third period. A Wyatt Newpower tripping penalty and a Logan Drevitch slashing call a minute later set up an early-period 4-on-4 opportunity. Michael Babcock scored from right in front to extend the Warrior’s lead to four goals.
Karl El-Mir ended the shutout with just 28 seconds left on a Merrimack penalty. The senior took a breakout pass from Jachym Kondelik and beat Craig Pantano, making it a 4-1 game and extending Kondelik’s point streak to four games.
Kondelik scored his third goal of the season at 11:02 when he found himself with a loose puck in front of the net. However, Merrimack would soon put the game out of reach for the Huskies. With eight minutes to play, August Von Ungern-Sternberg scored his first collegiate goal when he lifted a shot past Huska, finalizing a 5-2 score.
UConn will next host Rensselaer Wednesday night in Hartford with puck drop set for 7:05 p.m.
Kevin Arnold is a campus correspondent for the Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at kevin.arnold@uconn.edu.