TROY, N.Y. – Senior forward Matt Johnson (Eden Prarie, MN/Green Bay) had a hat trick and Rob Ricci, a freshman forward, (Brampton, ON/Cedar Rapids) notched a goal and two assists to lead Merrimack College to a 5-3 non-conference win over Rensselaer before a season-high 4,330 fans at the Houston Field House.  With the victory the Warriors improve to 3-3-0, while the Engineers, who had won four straight games, fall to 4-3-0.

Merrimack opened the scoring on a Johnson 5-on-3 power-play goal at 5:36 of the first period.  Senior defenseman Bryan Schmidt (Bloomington, MN/Tri-City) fed Johnson in the slot, where he took a shot that was stopped.  Johnson collected his own rebound and put it past the Rensselaer goalie for the goal.

The Engineers tied it up 1-1 with a goal from senior Mark Yurkewecz (Troy, NY/Cushing Academy), who jammed the puck out of a pileup in front of the net and past Warriors goalie Jim Healey (Holyrood, NF/Wexford).  Seth Klerer (Thornhill, ON/North York Rangers) and Jake Morrissette (Fruitvale, BC/Williams Lake Timberwolves) were awarded the assists.   Johnson notched his second power-play goal of the game just three minutes later when Ricci found him from the goal line and Johnson redirected the puck into the goal at 12:40.

Rensselaer senior Brad Farynuk (Enderby, BC/Vernon Vipers) tied the game at 2-2 at 4:43 of the second period with a power-play shot that sneaked by Healey.  Jake Luthi (Palmer, AK/Sioux Falls Stampede) and Kevin Croxton (Calgary, AB/Camrose Kodiaks) earned the assists.  Croxton put the Engineers ahead 3-2 at the 15:44 mark when he slammed home a pass from senior Alexander Valentin (Kosice, Slovakia/Cedar Rapids Rough Riders).  Valentin, a defenseman took the puck around the net and fed Croxton, who was standing alone at the post.  Oren Eizenman (Tononto, ON/Wexford Raiders) was also credited with an assist.

Johnson tied the game at three with a slapshot from between the circles at 6:49 of the third period with Merrimack on the power play.  Schmidt, who fed the puck to the slot, and Hank Carisio (Cheshire, CT/Springfield) got the assists.  It was Carisio who got the eventual game-winner, scoring from the bottom of the right circle at the 11:00 mark.  Ricci, who set up the game-winner, added an empty net goal at 19:22 to seal the victory for the Warriors.

Healey finished with 22 saves in the Merrimack net, including ten in the third period, for the victory.  Sophomore Jordan Alford (Red Deer, AB/Canmore Eagles) tallied 32 stops for Rensselaer.

Rensselaer returns to action on Friday as it opens up its ECACHL season on the road at Clarkson at 7pm.  Merrimack is back in action on Wednesday as it hosts Hockey East rival UMass-Lowell at 7pm.