University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Merrimack
Gophers Fall in Mariucci Classic Opener
1/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
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Box Score | Photos | Highlights
MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – Despite outshooting its opponent 42-17 on the night and 19-5 in the third period, the Gopher Hockey program fell to Merrimack on Friday night by a 3-2 margin to open the 24th annual Mariucci Classic.
Minnesota (9-5-1 overall, 1-0-1-0 Big Ten) will now play RIT in the consolation game on Saturday at 7 p.m. while Merrimack (11-5-2, 4-4-1 Hockey East) will take on conference rival UMass-Lowell for the tournament title at 4 p.m.
The Gophers posted their second highest shot total of the season on Friday’s return after almost a month off over winter break, but could only best Warrior goalie Rasmus Tirronen twice on the night. Merrimack’s goalie made 40 saves to move to 8-2-1 on the year while Adam Wilcox suffered the loss with 14 saves to move to 9-5-1 on the season.
Michael Brodzinski scored his second goal of the season at 5:02 of the first period to put Minnesota up 1-0 early when the sophomore fired a wrist shot into the net from the point. A.J. Michaelson and Seth Ambroz tallied assists on the goal. But Merrimack evened the score at 14:59 when Hampus Gustafsson tallied his fifth of the year followed by two goals in the second period – one from Jace Hennig at 5:03 and another from Brett Seney at 13:17 – as the Warriors claimed the lead and never gave it up.
Minnesota dominated the third period with nearly half of its shots coming in the third stanza and cut the lead to one when Connor Reilly scored his team-high eighth goal of the year off a one-time at 8:50. Kyle Rau and Mike Reilly picked up assists on the goal. Connor Reilly has now tallied seven points (five goals, two assists) in his last five games while his five-game point streak is a career long for the redshirt sophomore. The Gophers kept the pressure on for the remainder of regulation but couldn’t find the equalizer.
All five goals on Friday came at even strength as the Gophers went 0-for-4 on the power play and Merrimack went 0-for-2.
In the first game of the Mariucci Classic, UMass-Lowell topped RIT by a score of 7-3 to advance to Saturday’s championship game.
-Pride On Ice-
