LOWELL, Mass. – Norm Bazin and UMass Lowell aren’t used to finishing Hockey East seasons during the first weekend of March.
For the 10th-seeded Warriors of Merrimack College, it took overtime periods in both games of their opening Hockey East postseason series at Tsongas Center to end the River Hawks’ season and five-year run of championship appearances, but they got the job done.
Sitting alone at the top of the right crease, senior Jace Hennig banged in a rebound off linemate Brett Seney’s shot 13:59 into the extra session, lifting the Warriors to a 3-2 win over the seventh-seeded River Hawks. It completed a series sweep on road ice and was Merrimack’s fifth straight victory in a postseason overtime contest, dating back to a pair of 2015 first-round triumphs at Northeastern.
“I can’t tell you how much respect I have for Norm Bazin, his program, and what he’s been able to do here,” said Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy, whose team will carry a 12-19-4 record into next weekend’s quarterfinal series at No. 1 Boston College. “We knew what sort of Herculean task it was to come in here (against the) defending champs. His kids play the right way, class act.
The game-winning goal was a combination of three seniors as Mathieu Tibbet fed a pass to Seney, whose initial shot was turned away by Lowell junior Christoffer Hernberg. Hennig stood atop the right crease for the rebound and made no mistake, depositing his 11th goal of the season and the league-leading seventh of his career in a Hockey East postseason game.
“When we have two guys like that driving down the left, I’m just going as hard as I can to the net to try to get the rebound,” said Hennig. “The puck just came right off the pad, right on my stick, and in the back of the net.”
And they had to right the ship. Lowell was dominant in the third period, holding an 11-3 shot advantage. The River Hawks completed a two-goal comeback to tie the game with junior Connor Wilson’s eighth goal of the season at 8:31.
Rookie defenseman Anthony Baxter slid a pass through the low slot and right onto the tape of Wilson, who was alone on Merrimack goaltender Craig Pantano’s blocker side for a one-time finish. From there, Pantano finished the final period of regulation with 10 saves, including one on a point-blank bid by Jake Kamrass in the late minutes.
“Both of these games could have gone either way,” Dennehy said. “Tonight was a little bit different ― a little more up-and-down. They took it to us at times, but I thought we were resilient and I thought we righted the ship. That overtime couldn’t come fast enough. In the third period, we were leaking some oil. I thought Pantano played great and we got contributions from most everybody on our bench.”
Shots favored Merrimack by a 7-6 margin in the first, but the Warriors got the all-important first goal in shorthanded fashion at the 19:21 mark. Seney raced down the left wing and passed to Babcock, who drilled a one-timer for his second goal of the season.
Merrimack fell shorthanded early in the second period, but its lead doubled at the 5:31 mark as sophomore Tyler Irvine sprung Larsson for a breakaway as the latter exited the penalty box following a major slashing penalty. Larsson moved to the backhand and scored his second goal of the season past Hernberg, who made nine of his 24 saves in overtime.
Lowell scored back-to-back goals before surrendering the winner. Before Wilson tied the game in the third, sophomore defenseman Mattias Goransson halved the River Hawk deficit at 8:06 of the second, finishing classmate Nick Master’s centering pass.
As the lopsided numbers would suggest, Lowell had chances to win the game before the regulation buzzer sounded.
“I really thought we were going to finish it on the last shift of the third period,” Bazin said. “We had enough pressure, the goalie couldn’t see the puck, guys were shooting from good angles, but it certainly didn’t have eyes for us tonight.”
In total, the River Hawks peppered Pantano’s net with 70 shot attempts in the contest, 32 of which landed on goal. Two posts were hit. For the Warriors, Pantano’s play was a major confidence boost.
“Craig was fantastic both nights,” Hennig said. “There are so many clips you could pull of him going cross-crease or making a big glove save. When you see a guy like that throwing it all on the line, you really want to step in front of a puck for him and not allow chances to the net.”
On the flip side, Lowell’s season is over. It was not for a lack of effort for Bazin’s club, but the result was a fifth loss in six overtime games on the season. The River Hawks finish 17-19-0 overall.
“I thought we played better than we did last night,” Bazin said. “I thought we had more movement through the neutral zone. We were chasing the game a little bit, but we got that goal in the third period and, again, found a way not to get the winner in overtime.”
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