Sophomore Jordan Fox scored his third goal of the season with 4:09 remaining in the third period, and freshman goaltender Patrick Watson made 36 saves as Merrimack College earned a 2-2 with UMass Lowell in Hockey East action Friday night at Lawler Arena.
Jeremy Hall and J.R. Bria scored for the River Hawks, who outshot the Warriors 38-23 on the evening and saw their record move to 10-17-2 (7-13-2 HEA).
UML took a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 9:07 of the first period when Hall took a pass from Danny O’Brien on the left wing boards and beat Watson to the glove side for his 12th goal of the season. The River Hawks outshot the Warriors 15-6 in the first period.
Merrimack (5-19-5, 2-15-5 HEA) tied the game at one when sophomore Jeff Royston one-timed a pass from junior Justin Mills for his third goal of the season. Mills forced a turnover in the River Hawks end and found Royston in the slot for the goal.
The River Hawks struck back on the power play just 1:57 later to take a 2-1 lead. Mark Pandolfo fed a pass from the right wing boards to the left point, where Bria fired a shot past Watson’s glove for his third goal of the season. UML continued to dominate the play throughout the second period and took a 24-11 shot advantage into the third period.
In the third, the Warriors received a four-on-three power-play opportunity when Andrew Martin went to the penalty box for interference at 15:16. Following a timeout, senior Bryan Schmidt sent a shot from the point that was stopped by UML netminder Peter Vetri, but Fox slapped the puck into the back of the net to tie the game at two. The goal was Fox’s third of the season with assists going to Schmidt and sophomore Hank Carisio.
Vetri made 21 saves for the River Hawks, who finished the night 2-7 on the power play. Merrimack, meanwhile, failed to convert its first eight chances before Fox’s tally.
