University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Fall to Mercyhurst in MAAC Semis
3/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
WORCESTER, MA (March 14) – The University of Connecticut men’s ice hockey team completed its 2001-02 season with a 5-0 loss to Mercyhurst College in a semifinal game of the 2002 MAAC Championship on Thursday evening at the Hart Center in Worcester, MA.
No. 6 Connecticut (13-16-7), earned its fourth straight MAAC Tournament berth, and upset No. 3 Holy Cross, 6-5, in the quarterfinal round on Saturday to advance to today’s game. The game also marks the eighth shutout of the season for the Huskies, the most in the 41-year history of the hockey program. Mercyhurst (24-9-3), the 2001 MAAC Champions, will take-on the winner of the Sacred Heart/Quinnipiac match-up on March 16 in the title game.
Five-minutes into the game, Mercyhurst scored what proved to be the game-winning goal. Louis Goulet crossed a pass in front of the goal crease, and Tom McMonagle flicked the puck into the upper shelf for the score. Adam Rivers also assisted on the goal. Less than two-minutes later, at the 7:11 mark, Mike Muldoon took a shot from just inside the blue line that fell to the left side of UConn goalie Artie Imbriano (Stoneham, MA) to close out the first period scoring. Connecticut’s Matt Grew (Yarmouthport, MA) had one of the Huskies best scoring chances in the first minutes of the game on a breakaway that Mercyhurst goalie Peter Aubry knocked away with his glove.
At the midpoint of the second period, Goulet cleared a puck out of the UConn offensive zone. He caught up with the puck and scored the short-handed goal to give the Lakers the 3-0 lead.
Mercyhurst raised the goal tally to five in the third period. Nolan Brown scored at the 3:32 mark, and Peter Rynshoven followed up with a power play tally five-minutes later.
Imbriano suffered the loss in net for Connecticut recording 27 saves. Aubry earned the shutout for the Lakers, the second in MAAC Playoff history. The last shutout was on March 16, 1999 in UConn’s 2-0 win over Mercyhurst in the semifinals of the championship. Marc Senerchia was credited with the shutout, as Connecticut went on to capture the 1999 title.
