NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Fueled by four different goal-scorers and a nearly 40-shot output by the offense, the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team won its lone exhibition game of the preseason, as the Warriors skated by St. Francis Xavier, 4-1, on Saturday night at Lawler Rink.

Meeting for the second year in a row after skating to a 2-2 draw last October, Merrimack scored less than four minutes into Saturday night's contest to set the tone for a four-goal output.

Two freshmen lit the lamp to stake the Warriors to a 2-0 lead; first, rookie Derek Petti (Tewksbury, Mass.) completed a nifty tic-tac-toe sequence that included feeds from junior Chris LeBlanc (Winthrop, Mass.) and sophomore Marc Biega (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) to make it 1-0 at 3:33 of the first. Despite another 12 shots on net, Merrimack took that 1-0 lead into the locker room.

Three straight penalties led to the Warriors' second goal; with the extra skater on, sophomore Aaron Titcomb (Charlestown, Mass.) ripped a shot from the point that kicked out to the near circle, and freshman Ludvig Larsson (Malmo, Sweden) was waiting to cash in, potting the rebound to double the hosts' lead at 9:56.

That two-goal lead doubled by the time a minute had elapsed in the third; first, while a man down, senior Ben Bahe (Stillwater, Minn.) used a backhand deke to slide in the Warriors' third goal off a feed from junior Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden), and less than 30 seconds later – with both sides skated 4-on-4 – LeBlanc set up sophomore Brett Seney (London, Ontario) to make it a 4-0 affair.

X-Men forward Kristoff Kontos (Penetanguishene, ON) scored the lone X-Men goal late in the third period, assisted by Zack MacQueen (Woodstock, NB) and Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, NS).

After sophomore Collin Delia (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) pitched a shutout with 19 saves through two periods, freshman Drew Vogler (Florissant, Mo.) recorded five saves while manning the pipes over nearly 18 minutes in the third. Classmate Craig Pantano (Bridgewater, Mass.) turned away four shots in just 2:14 to close out the contest.

Inside The Numbers
- Eight different skaters recorded a point for the Warriors, while LeBlanc and Gustafsson dished two assists apiece to lead the team
- StFX netminder Drew Owsley turned away 33 shots for the visitors
- Merrimack finished with a 37-29 lead in shot attempts
- Both sides came up empty on the power play, with the Warriors finishing 0-for-6 while holding StFX to an 0-for-4 mark

Courtesy Merrimack Sports Information