Coming off a winless weekend that featured a heartbreaking loss to Montclair State in the Pink the Rink game, Marist club hockey aimed to get back to their winning ways against Merrimack on Friday night.
Unfortunately for Marist (5-7), they fell flat as Merrimack (2-7-1) cruised to a 6-3 victory. With this loss, the Foxes have lost four straight games, their longest losing streak of the year to this point.
Merrimack junior right wing Dylan Marchand was a thorn in Marist’s side for just about the whole night. Not only did he score four goals, he was also all over the ice making plays and slowing down the Red Foxes from setting up into their systems. His play threw Marist off guard and opened the game for Merrimack to both take over offensively and stifle Marist on defense.
Things started well for the Red Foxes, as they struck first with senior forward John Heaney finding junior forward Chris Citera in the slot for a goal to make it 1-0. That was as good as it would get for Marist, as Merrimack answered back with a goal off a nifty move from Marchand to tie the game up.
From there Merrimack did not look back, as they added two more goals in the period from Marchand and sophomore center Andrew Ferguson. Merrimack took advantage of three straight penalties: senior forward Christian Wilde was clipped for a delay of game, junior forward Tyler Stoneman for tripping and sophomore forward Zachary Taylor also for a delay of game. As a result, Ferguson’s goal came a 5-on-3 powerplay. Marist found themselves in a hole early, and it only grew deeper as Marchand added a third goal to his ledger in the second period, stretching Merrimack’s lead to three.
Penalties were a main factor in what ruined the game for the Red Foxes, as they struggled to stay out of the box once again. Too many penalties have been a problem for the Red Foxes this season and it burned them in this match.
Marist would not go down without a fight, however, as they answered back with a goal that snuck behind junior goaltender Eric Dean to cut the deficit to two and give themselves some momentum. That momentum was sapped after Wilde took another penalty.
Marist initially kept it close and played solid defense to keep the deficit at two, but they fell apart in the third period, as Merrimack added two more goals coming from sophomore right wing Declan Walsh and, once again, Marchand, to put the icing on the cake. The Red Foxes did add a third goal with three minutes to go, but it would be too little too late as their fate was already sealed.
Junior goaltender AJ Schauder had a rare off-game, allowing six goals, the most he has allowed in a match all season. He was pressured by Merrimack’s offense all night long, and their passing in the offensive zone threw him out of position and created open net opportunities that the Warriors took advantage of.
With this loss, the Foxes are amid a four-match losing skid; they will seek to right the ship on Saturday at 3 p.m. when they take on Roger Williams University.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Photo from Kira Crutcher
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