NORTH ANDOVER — Ty Daneault started the scoring for the Warriors just 10 seconds into the game and Antonio Venuto scored the eventual game-winning goal early in the second period, as the Warriors survived a late push from Dartmouth in a 2-1 win on Sunday.
Nils Wallstrom made 17 saves to earn his second win as a Warrior; it was Wallstrom’s first appearance at Lawler Arena, with his previous five appearances coming on the road.
Here is everything you need to know from Merrimack’s win over the Big Green, with TMR insight and analysis:
It wasn’t pretty, but the Warriors found a way to win
The good: Merrimack limited to Dartmouth to just seven shots on goal through 40 minutes and kept the Big Green off the scoreboard.
The bad: The Warriors only had seven shots on net themselves.
It was a muddy, low-event game through two periods, and the Big Green had a big push in the third, but the Warriors survived thanks to those early goals from Daneault and Venuto.
“All that really matters is we won the game,” said Merrimack coach Scott Borek. “It was evident pretty early that we didn’t have our ‘A’ game and it was evident with about five minutes to go in the second period that we didn’t have our ‘B’ game either. We needed to rely on grinding out a win, and thankfully, we were able to do that.”
The Warriors have won three games in a row and four out of their last five games.
“It’s always better when you win,” said Venuto, a senior captain who scored his sixth goal of the year in the second period. “It wasn’t our best game, but good teams need to find a way to win even when you don’t play your best and we found a way tonight.”
The game was a stark contrast to Friday night, when the Warriors put up 50 shots on Army in a 5-2 win.
The Big Green pressured more than the Black Knights.
“There wasn’t as much free ice in this game,” Borek said. “Army played more passive than we expected but we had a lot of free ice because of that. There was no free ice in this game.”
The Warriors also overcame a strange travel weekend, at least in college hockey. The Warriors had the road game at Army on Friday and had to travel back to face Dartmouth on Sunday, who had been off since last week.
“We got back at 2:30 in the morning and then we had ice at 10 a.m. the next day so we made the guys get up for that, and I take responsibility there,” Borek said. “Our schedule wasn’t the best the last few days, and that’s on me. I take ownership of that. It made it a more challenging weekend, but the guys got us through that.”
Wallstrom makes a strong second-half debut
It was an up-and-down first half for Nils Wallstrom, as he battled an injury suffered over the summer and struggled to find consistency between the pipes.
But Sunday, he made 17 big saves to secure the win for the Warriors. Wallstrom was under serious pressure in the third period.
“Nils played really well,” Borek said. “That’s really the biggest blessing coming out of this game was how he played. He’s really talented, and if we can get him going, with what Max and Ryan have given us, I feel really good about where our team is with the goaltending position.”
Daneault hoping for a big second half
Ty Daneault had a quiet first half last season as a freshman before exploding as a point-per-game player in the second half.
His sophomore season has followed a similar pattern. After a slow start, Daneault has four points, including three goals, in his last three games.
Daneault scored the game’s first goal just 10 seconds into the first period.
“Hopefully, I can ride the wave the way it went for me last year,” he said. “I wasn’t really happy with my first half, I know I can be better, and I’m trying to make it a better second half.”
Daneault has found his groove playing alongside Caelan Fitzpatrick and Harrison Roy.
“Last year it was tough as a freshman adjusting to the new league,” Daneault said. “Early in the year, because we weren’t winning games, our lines were moving around a lot. Now that we’ve settled in with some lines, it’s been great playing with those guys. They’re both great players and it makes it easy. I think we all play off each other well and it opens up chances for us.”
Fitzpatrick has four points (all assists) over this three-game stretch, and Roy has one goal and two assists.