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Men's Hockey: Catamounts' Road Comeback Falls Short Against #5 Merrimack

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Created on Thursday, 08 December 2011 04:14

Written by George Commo

Down 3-2 Late ... Cats Fall 5-2

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Jeff Velleca and Justin Mansfield each scored twice and fifth-ranked Merrimack defeated visiting Vermont 5-2 on Wednesday night in Hockey East action at Lawler Arena. The Catamounts fell to 3-11-1 (1-9-1 HEA) with the loss, while the Warriors rebounded from their first two losses of the season last weekend and improved to 10-2-1 (7-2-1 HEA).

"We had some goals that weren't great against but I thought the game was pretty evenly played,” said head coach Kevin Sneddon. “Our guys did a good job of taking away some of the tendencies Merrimack has. Moral victories don't mean much especially to our guys because they are tired of losing but I thought we played our hearts out tonight. I thought we deserved a better fate.”

With the Catamounts on the power play in the first period, Merrimack took the early lead after a turnover at center ice. Velleca stole the puck at the red line and skated into the Vermont zone down the left wing boards. Velleca deked past Drew MacKenzie in the bottom of the left circle, closed in on goal, and roofed a shot over Rob Madore's right shoulder for an unassisted shorthanded tally at 6:55.

Merrimack doubled its lead at 7:53 of the second period as Velleca took a cross-ice pass from linemate Carter Madsen. Velleca gained the Vermont blueline and took a quick slap shot from the left point that trickled through Madore's five hole to make it 2-0. The Catamounts responded quickly and got right back into the game roughly three minutes later as Mike Collins and Connor Toomey took simultaneous penalties at 11:48.

With two full minutes of 5-on-3 time, Vermont climbed back into the game as Sebastian Stalberg dished the puck to MacKenzie in the left faceoff circle. MacKenzie hesitated for a split second before firing a pass to the right side for Kyle Reynolds, who blasted a one-timer past Joe Cannata to cut the lead in half. The goal was Reynolds' fourth of the year as Stalberg and MacKenzie grabbed the assists.

Less than four minutes later, the Warriors regained their two-goal advantage at the 16:13 mark as Velleca served as a catalyst after netting two early goals. With a delayed call upcoming on Vermont, the senior fed Mansfield in front of Madore and he stuffed it past the UVM netminder. The Catamounts won the shot battle 11-8 in the middle frame but headed into the final 20 minutes down by two.

Vermout cut it to a one-goal advantage midway through the third period on an impressive individual effort from Stalberg. The junior skated through the neutral zone with speed, gained the Merrimack line, and fired a wrist shot into the upper left corner to make it 3-2. Anders Franzon and Nick Bruneteau picked up the assists on Stalberg's seventh goal of the season.

The Catamounts thought they had tied the game 19 seconds later as Stalberg dished a backhand pass to a charging Colin Markison in the right circle. The freshman took a wrist shot that trickled past Cannata and the goal light went on, but it was ruled that the puck never crossed the goal line after video review. Vermont captured the momentum heading down the stretch, but two quick Merrimack goals put the game away.

Mansfield grabbed his second of the game as he took a feed from Carter Madsen near the bottom of the left circle. The freshman closed in on Madore, deked toward the middle, and snuck a quick backhand through his five hole to give Merrimack at 4-2 lead. Just 15 seconds later, Toomey tallied another insurance goal at 14:34 off a cycle play down low. Mike Collins gained control behind the net and fired a quick pass to Toomey in front who tucked it past Madore.

The Catamounts have 10 days off until their next game on Dec. 17 when they host St. Lawrence (5-10-0, 4-5-0 ECAC) at 7:05 p.m. in the final game before the holiday break. Vermont fell against its former ECAC rivals 6-4 last year in Canton, N.Y. on Dec. 18. The game will be televised on WCAXtra, and live video is available for free on CatamounTV.

NOTES: Wednesday night marked the final Hockey East game of the calendar year for Vermont … UVM outshot Merrimack 34-33 and has now outshot its opponent in seven of the last eight games … The Catamounts posted 14 shots in the third period and have now notched at least 14 shots in a period 10 times in their last 11 contests … Rob Madore stopped 28 shots on the night and now trails Joe Fallon '08 (2,907 saves) by just three for sole possession of second place on the all-time saves list … Sebastian Stalberg has scored four of his seven goals this season against top-10 teams ... Arthur Griem made his first appearance of the season on defense.