Merrimack rallies late, ties St. Francis Xavier

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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Merrimack battled St. Francis Xavier at Lawler Rink Sunday night in a game that went down to the wire.

The game went to the third period with Saint Francis holding a 2-0 lead on Merrimack, but the Warriors scored two goals in a 58-second span in the final four minutes to tie the game and send it into overtime, where nothing was solved.

The first period saw some very fast-paced action from both teams.

About five minutes into the period, the X-Men found the back of the net on a shot from the point through traffic from Blake Gal.

Merrimack outshot the X-Men 20-2 in the first 20 minutes.

The second period was a battle of special teams. St. Francis Xavier had to deal with a hit from behind and game misconduct penalties to Gabriel O’Connor, yet outshot Merrimack 8-6 in the period and got a goal from

The third period saw Merrimack put Colin Delia between the pipes for Rasmus Tirronen.

Both teams traded chances in the third, but each goaltender made saves to keep their teams in it.

Trey Lewis made it 2-0 for the visitors with a goal at 13:43, but then the rally started for the Warriors.

Merrimack found the back of the net 16:07 into the period on a goal from Vinny Scotti as he crashed the net and jammed the puck in.

Just 58 seconds later at 17:05, the Warriors tied up the game on a goal from Marc Biega.

In the overtime, both teams were able to create great scoring chances, but neither could put it past the opposing goalies.

Morgan Clark made 47 saves for SFX, while Tirronen and Delia made nine saves each for the Warriors.