MINNEAPOLIS — Although few would have guessed by looking at the number of fans in attendance, there was hardware up for grabs Saturday afternoon at Mariucci Arena.
Despite trailing after the first period, Massachusetts-Lowell downed Merrimack 3-1 to capture the Mariucci Classic title. As is usually the case during the tournament, Minnesota not playing led to a very light crowd for the matinee championship game.
“The fact that there was very few people in the stands made the game more challenging, but at the same time a championship is a championship,” Massachusetts-Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. “We’re very proud to win this year’s tournament.”
Dylan Zink scored his second goal of the game for Lowell with about four minutes left in the third period to get the game-winning goal. Zink scored earlier in the second period to tie the game at one goal apiece.
“That’s a really good team,” Zink said of Merrimack. “We’re going to play them two more times and they’re good defensively. On both of those goals I just tried to past their first shot blocker.”
The River Hawks blocked 19 shots during Saturday’s game and Merrimack blocked 14.
“They don’t give you much, they’re an excellent hockey team,” Bazin said. “Our game plan was to try and get puck behind the defensemen and do as good of job as we can possessing the puck.”
Merrimack played a similar style of hockey to that which helped it down Minnesota 3-2 on Friday evening during the first period on Saturday. The Warriors were outshot 14-4 by the River Hawks, but held a 1-0 lead after one thanks to Dan Kolomatis’ wrist shot from the high slot nearly seven minutes into the game.
The Gophers outshot Merrimack 42-17 on Friday, but fell 3-2 to the Warriors. Though the two games may have looked similar on paper, Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy saw some differences.
“I though the two games were a little different,” he said. “Minnesota came at us a little harder last night and we played hard to box out. I don’t think they had very many grade-A chances.
“I didn’t think we were ready to play tonight, to be honest with you. First of all, kudos to Lowell, right now they’re the benchmark. If that’s the case, we didn’t measure up.”
Dennehy complimented the play of goaltender Rasmus Tirronen, who made 81 saves this weekend, and said that some players played really well. However, he stopped short of saying that the team had a good all-around effort.
Evan Campbell hammered home an odd-man opportunity with a minute and a half left in the game to make the score 3-1. Tirronen was in the process of leaving the ice for an extra attacker when Lowell stole the puck near center ice. He made it back to the net, but wasn’t in an ideal position to try and make a save.
