Quirk lifts UMass to final berth
Cory Quirk and his University of Massachusetts teammates played last night like they weren't ready for their season to end just yet.
Quirk scored the winning goal in the third period, Paul Dainton stopped 30 shots, and the Minutemen secured the eighth and final seed in the Hockey East playoffs with a 4-2 victory over Merrimack in North Andover.
Alex Berry had a goal and an assist and James Marcou added three assists for UMass (14-14-6, 9-13-5), which will travel to Durham, N.H., Friday to face top-seeded and third-ranked New Hampshire in the best-of-three quarterfinals.
Quirk broke a 2-2 tie with 7:43 to play, gathering the puck in the Merrimack zone after the Warriors failed to clear it and beating goalie Andrew Braithwaite (21 saves). Jordan Virtue added an insurance goal 30 seconds later.
Vermont 4, UNH 3 - At Durham, N.H., freshman defenseman Dan Lawson scored twice - including the winning goal at 5:07 of the third period - as the Catamounts (14-13-7, 13-9-5 Hockey East) surprised the No. 2 Wildcats (25-8-3, 19-5-3) and locked up the No. 3 seed in the conference playoffs.
Maine 2, UMass-Lowell 1 - Travis Ramsey's goal at 2:20 of overtime gave the Black Bears the victory in their season finale. But Maine (13-18-3, 9-13-3 Hockey East) was eliminated from postseason contention when UMass defeated Merrimack to lock up the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament.
Ben Holmstrom scored for UMass-Lowell (15-15-4, 10-13-4), which earned the No. 7 seed and will face second-seeded Boston University in the quarterfinals.
ECACHL first round - Brandon Wong and Jamie Bates each had two goals and an assist, and Greg Holt added a goal and three assists as sixth-seeded Quinnipiac (19-13-4) eliminated 11th-seeded Brown (6-21-4), 7-1, at Hamden, Conn. . . . Brandon Harrington scored the winning goal late in the second period as 12th-seeded Dartmouth (12-15-4) forced a decisive third game with a 5-3 victory over fifth-seeded Cornell (15-13-3) at Ithaca, N.Y. . . . Sean Backman scored at 5:11 of overtime as seventh-seeded Yale (15-12-4) rallied from a 2-0 deficit to oust 10th-seeded Rensselaer (11-23-4), 3-2, at New Haven . . . Tyler Burton scored twice, including the winner, as host Colgate (15-15-6) defeated St. Lawrence (13-19-4), 3-2, to even the series at a game apiece.
Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals - Matt Smith had a hat trick for the second straight night and scored the winning goal at 4:17 of overtime as Rochester eliminated Holy Cross, 5-4 . . . Kerry Bowman scored at 1:45 of overtime as host Mercyhurst eliminated Canisius, 2-1 . . . Ken Rowe had two goals, and host Army advanced by scoring the last four goals in a 5-2 victory over American International . . . Michael Coppola's goal at 5:28 of overtime helped UConn even its series with host Sacred Heart with a 3-2 win . . . Greg Flynn and Jeff Hajner each tallied a goal and an assist as host Air Force skated to a 3-1 win over Bentley, eliminating the Falcons. 