NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. -- Domination.
That was the name of the game on Saturday night for the Merrimack Warriors as they cruised to a 6-0 victory over the visiting Maine Black Bears in the first of three consecutive meetings between the teams in Hockey East play. With their third win in the last four conference games, dating back to Dec. 1, 2012 at Providence, the hosts jumped back over .500 in the league with a 6-5-1 record.
Junior Sam Marotta was stellar between the pipes for the Warriors as he stopped all 30 shots he faced en route to the team’s first shutout of the season.
After coming in to replace junior Martin Ouellette early in the second period, rookie Matt Morris of the Black Bears was rarely tested, but he allowed junior assistant captain Brendan Ellis to snap a one-time shot over his blocker side shoulder at the 9:03 mark.
Sophomore Connor Toomey, who also scored a goal in last Saturday's 4-1 win at Vermont, started the play with the feed to the top of the left circle for Ellis' third goal of the year and second in three games.
Joshua Kummins covers Hockey East for SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.