NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Aside from the glaring differences in the colors of their uniforms – bright sport gold and deep maroon – the No. 5 Merrimack Warriors and the No. 11 Union Dutchmen looked like mirror images of each other: tight-checking, hard-skating squads with plenty of grit in their game.

That combination promised a close game, and Saturday's contest didn't disappoint. In a rugged, helter-skelter match that wasn't decided until an empty net goal with 12 seconds remaining, the Dutchmen (9-3-5; 3-2-2 ECAC) emerged from Lawler Arena with a well-deserved 3-1 road victory over the Warriors (10-3-2; 7-2-1 Hockey East).

It was the Warriors' third loss in five games (1-3-1) since being tabbed the country's No. 1 team three weeks ago.

"I thought it was one of our better games of the first half" of the season, said Union coach Rick Bennett.

"At the end of the day, it's about whether your guys are going to show up," said the first-year coach. "And our guys showed up tonight."

In a game that both coaches recognized as a high-energy affair, it was Union's freshman Shayne Gostibehere who perfectly captured the final score: "We just wanted to win. We just wanted it more."

Union, one year and one head coach removed from winning the ECAC Hockey regular-season title and earning an NCAA tournament bid, is still a force. Bennett (ironically, a graduate of Providence, the program former coach Nate Leaman took over this season) has the Dutchmen flying again, especially on the road, where Union was 6-1-3 coming into Saturday's game.

Meanwhile, the Warriors had been trying to put the brakes to a mild three-game winless skid, going 0-2-1 since shutting out Alabama-Huntsville on Nov. 23. However, Mark Dennehy's troops were 5-1-1 at home (and 13-1-1 in their last 15 dating back to last year), so something had to give in this first meeting between the teams since 2004.

And it was the Warriors' resolve, a trademark of the team's run to the top of the rankings, that gave ever so slightly as Union converted two power-play goals for the win.

"I thought throughout the game they played with a purpose," said Dennehy. "We had some indecision.

"I thought we played good at times, but not long enough. There were key times in the game where they did a better job than us."

One critical area was blocked shots: The Dutchmen knocked down 17 Warriors attempts before they could even get to sophomore goaltender Troy Grosenick.

"It takes a lot of heart to block shots," said Bennett. "You have to be willing to pay the price, and we had guys doing that tonight."

Though Merrimack had the slight edge early on, it was the Dutchmen who lit the lamp first, cashing in on a 5-on-3 power play. With MC's Kyle Singleton and Kyle Bigos in the box, Union's Daniel Carr rammed home the rebound of a Kelly Zajac shot at the doorstep to give the Dutchmen a 1-0 lead at 13:37.

The goal was an ominous sign for the Warriors, as the Dutchmen, who have scored first in 14 of their 17 games, had an 8-1-4 record in the first 13 of those matches. And they kept peppering MC's Joe Cannata (34 saves) in the second stanza.

The big senior netminder from nearby Wakefield, who came into the game as one of the top goalies in the nation in both goals against average (1.75) and save percentage (.936), was up to the task. He blunted a Union power play bid when he stopped Greg Coburn on a slick backdoor play at 2:49, and then robbed Carr on a cross-ice pad with a full-stretch right pad stop.

However, the Merrimack crowd fell silent at 14:31, when Cannata hit the ice after another stellar stop, stoning Union's Trevor Mingoia point-blank. After a five-minute delay, Cannata got the green light to stay in the game, and the Warriors pulled even a half-minute later.

At 15:06, Merrimack sophomore Shawn Bates took a pass from Ryan Flanigan, cut to the slot and fired a wrist shot that beat Union's Grosenick gloveside. Merrimack threatened to take its first lead at 17:50, when Rhett Bly broke in cleanly on Grosenick, but the Union goaltender (who has numbers -- 1.78 GAA, .931 save percentage -- that almost rival Cannata's) denied the sophomore's bid.

Not 10 seconds later, Union took a 2-1 lead on a heady play by Gostibehere. The freshman from Florida patiently cruised right to left along the high slot, twice faking a shot, before finally ripping a hard, low wrister from the top of the left face-off circle that beat Cannata cleanly to the far post.

"All he gave me was low glove, and I put it there," said Gostibehere.

"It's a God-given talent," said Bennett of his freshman defender, who played at the South Kent School in Connecticut. "He has that ability."

The Warriors had several decent chances in the third, but Grosenick (20 saves) continued to come up big for the Dutchmen, including a super blocker stop on Mike Collins' point-blank bid with only two minutes remaining.

"(Cannata's) a really good goalie, one of the tops in the nation," said Union's Carr. "But we've got Troy Grosenick, and he's right up there."

Union's Zajac sealed the Dutchmen's ninth win of the season with an empty-net tally with only 12 seconds left on the clock.

For Dennehy, the brief upcoming semester break should provide his team with a welcome rest. "It's a good time to relax, refocus, and then come back and get going again."

It wouldn't surprise either team if the two squads were to meet up again in the NCAA postseason.

"You've got to give a lot of props to them," said Carr about Merrimack. "That's a very good hockey team. We just got a couple more bounces tonight."

And, more than likely, a few more votes in the national polls.