Allison Reeb scored 1:36 into overtime on Wednesday night, lifting the #9 seed Merrimack College Warriors to a 2-1 win over #8 Maine in a Hockey East Women’s First Round (preliminary) playoff game at Alfond Arena in Orono.
Maine outplayed Merrimack for most of the first period, with the only powerplay opportunity and holding a shots attempted margin of 23-12 (14-9 on goal). The Warriors rebounded in the later stages of the opening 20 minutes as they returned the favor and had some good looks on net, but neither team cracked the scoreboard and there was no score after one.
With the score still 0-0, Merrimack got their first powerplay 5:23 into the second period, but goaltender Jorden Mattison made some key saves to keep it tied. The Black Bears second powerplay produced the games first goal and their only scoring of the night. Just 26 seconds into that opportunity, Sam Morrison shuffled a puck to a wide open Ida Kuoppala in the low slot who fired a one-timer past Calli Hogarth at 13:39 to make it 1-0 Maine after 40 minutes.
🚨 Ida Kuoppala on the power play! – The Hockey East scoring champion, of course.
🍎: Sam MorrisonMaine leads 1-0!
P2 | 6:22 pic.twitter.com/5BET2hH4ZS— Maine Women’s Ice Hockey (@MaineWHockey) February 29, 2024
A penalty to Morrison right at the 20 minute mark of the period for tripping though would give Merrimack a powerplay to start the third. A former Maine player would get the Warriors even early in that third period near the end of that extra man chance. Celine Tedenby beat a screened Mattison with a wristshot just inside the right post from the high slot at 1:40 to make it 1-1. Both teams had some decent opportunities the remainder of regulation, but couldn’t untie the score as it went to the extra session. Merrimack would win it very early in the overtime, and Reeb was in the right spot at the right time to send her team to the quarterfinals. A shot went wide of the goal and deflected off the end boards behind the net and came onto the stick of Reeb all alone to the right of the net at the left post, as she easily got possession of it and poked it into a half empty cage past the out of position Mattison to end it.
Mattison ended up with 31 saves in the loss for Maine, and Morrison had the lone assist on the Kuoppala goal. The Black Bears, who were seeking their fourth straight trip to at least the quarterfinal round, ends their season with a record of 15-18-2. They would go 1-3 on the powerplay. Natalie Nemes, Ally Qualley, Hayley Chang, and Raice Szott had one assist each in the win for Merrimack. Hogarth stopped 28 shots, as they also went 1-3 on the powerplay. The Warriors, who went 3-0-1 on the year against Maine including this postseason game, improve to 11-21-3 and will travel to Boston to take on second seeded Northeastern in a quarterfinal on Saturday.
Recap by Chris Lessner/ Video courtesy of Maine Women’s Ice Hockey on Twitter (X)/Photos by Anthony DelMonaco
