Second Period Surge Lifts Brown over #8 Merrimack

Saturday, January 7

North Andover, Mass.

7 p.m.

Brown University

5-10-2

Merrimack

14-6-1

Brown

Merrimack

Second Period Surge Lifts Brown over #8 Merrimack

1/7/2023 10:20:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Six Bears recorded multiple points as the Brown Bears (5-10-2) tallied four second period goals en route to a 6-2 win over the eighth-ranked Merrimack Warriors (14-6-1) Saturday night at Lawler Rink.

"I thought we were great from start to finish, the guys were detailed, they played fast, they played with a ton of energy and a high compete-level and we got what we earned," said head coach Brendan Whittet '94. "We earned a really big win over the number eight team in the country in their barn.

"I think the pucks went in for us tonight but I think we've played that way for most of the year, just some nights it hasn't been easy on the offensive side for us. By and large, we've played really good hockey for most of this season and it gives us good momentum as we head into the majority of our season with ECAC play. I like the direction that the team is going."

James Crossman put the Bears ahead 31 seconds into the game, blasting his third of the season past goaltender Hugo Olias (9 saves) from the top of the right circle. Crossman's goal was assisted by Luke Krys and Bradley Cocca.

Brett Bliss doubled Brown's lead with 1:51 remaining in the first, wiring a wrist shot from a bad angle through traffic to beat Olias. Cocca picked up his second assist of the night with Matt Sutton adding the secondary helper.

Brown made it 3-0 off the stick of Lynden Grandberg 3:25 into the second. The sophomore collected a behind-the-back pass from Thomas Manty at the top of the right circle and his snapshot beat Olias. Samuli Niinisaari kick-started the scoring play with the secondary assist.

The Warriors cut into Brown's lead less than a minute later as Filip Forsmark tallied his fourth goal of the season at 4:15 of the frame.

The Bears turned a Merrimack power play in the middle of the frame into offense, striking for two shorthanded goals in 34 seconds to stretch the lead to 5-1.

Nathan Plessis had the first man-down goal at 8:46 of the frame, beating Olias five-hole on a breakaway while holding a defender off. Ryan Shostak and Luke Krys had the assists on the senior's goal.

Cole Quisenberry potted the second shorthanded goal at 9:20 of the period, redirected a beautiful pass from Sutton to chase Olias from the game and bring in Zachary Borgiel (15 saves). Bliss picked up the secondary assist after moving the puck to Sutton in the defensive zone.

Quisenberry added his second of the night at 14:34 of the second to make it 6-1 to record his first career multi-goal game. Quisenberry found the loose puck in the slot and then found the back of the net after Borgiel made initial saves on shots from Sutton and Niinisaari.

The Warriors ended the Bruno scoring run with a shorthanded goal just 39 seconds into the third period. Alex Jefferies recorded his seventh goal of the season with assists from Christian Felton and Slava Demin.

Mathieu Caron (32 saves) shut the door for the rest of the game, recording 12 saves in the third period to keep the Warriors at bay. It marks the tenth game this season Caron has finished with at least 30 saves.

GAME NOTES

Sutton led Brown scorers with a career-high three assists against Merrimack. It marked his third career multi-point game.
Cocca, Krys, and Niinisaari all finished the night with two assists. It marked the third career multi-point game for Cocca and Krys and the second career multi-point game for Niinisaari.
Bliss recorded his second career multi-point game with a goal and assist.
Merrimack finished the night with a slight edge in shots on goal, 34-30. The Bears recorded eight blocked shots compared to three for the Warriors.
Both teams came up empty on the power play with Merrimack finishing 0-for-3 and Brown finishing 0-for-2.
Brown finishes the non-conference slate with a 4-3-0 record with two wins over ranked opponents.
The six-goal night marks the first for Brown since March 9, 2019 – a 6-5 triple overtime win over Princeton in game three of the ECAC First Round Series at Meehan Auditorium.

Brown returns to Meehan Auditorium to host the Union Dutchmen (8-12-1, 3-7-0 ECAC) and the Rensselaer Engineers (8-12-1, 3-7-0 ECAC) next weekend. The Bears square off against the Dutchmen on Friday and the Engineers on Saturday. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.

Gallery: (1-7-2023) MHockey at #8 Merrimack (1/7/23)

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