In a night that was filled with special teams opportunities, Colgate didn’t get enough from its units to get the job done in North Andover against a Merrimack team that was playing its first home game in two weeks.
“I thought they had their way with us in the first two periods; they won all the races and the battles,” said Colgate coach Don Vaughan. “We didn’t get enough out of our go-to guys. Our top players were not our top players tonight, and that’s a tough way to play hockey.”
Colgate’s first line of Evan Peterson, Mike Panowyk and Tim Harrison was held scoreless throughout the game and a combined minus-1 on the night.
“It’s disappointing; I thought we maybe had a chance to win a game we didn’t deserve to,” said Vaughan.
The Colgate power play seemed to struggle after not being able to score on a five-on-three opportunity in the second period and then two different chances late in the third period with a chance to tie up the game with Merrimack up 4-3.
In fact, the power play of Colgate went 1-for-11, with the only goal coming at 2:33 of the second period from Sebastian Weberg.
“It’s really disappointing; I mean you guys are the one’s that watch the game and the way they’re being called,” Vaughan explained. “We’ve been working on our power play, and we have some young guys so I don’t know if they forced some play,”
“We drew it up the way we wanted to, we had the looks, but we just didn’t execute.”
Colgate dropped to 0-2-2 on the year with the loss. The two teams get back at it tomorrow night at Lawler Rink at 7 p.m.
ECAC results
No. 5 Massachusetts-Lowell 5, No. 12 St. Lawrence 2
After going down by two goals, St. Lawrence battled back and tie the game at two on a goal from Matt Purmal late in the first period, but a couple of short-handed goals in the second period and a third-period marker helped Lowell take a 5-2 win.
Clarkson 3, No. 15 Providence 3
Trailing 2-1 late in the first period, Seldon Rempal tied things up at two for Clarkson, then Tyko Karjalaninen gave Clarkson the 3-2 advantage early in the third period, but Providence’s Josh Wilkins tied things up at three. Jake Kielly made 43 saves in the effort for Clarkson.
Rensselaer 3, Niagara 3
After being down 2-1 after the first, Rensselaer battled back with two goals in the third by Lou Nanne and Jared Wilson to take the 3-2 lead. Niagra’s Johnny Curran tied things up at three to end the game in a draw. Renssalear’s Chase Perry made 30 saves in the effort.
Union 5, RIT 2
A two-goal effort from Mike Vecchione helped lead Union to a 5-2 win over RIT. Union’s Alex Sakellaropoulos made 16 saves in the win.
