March 5, 2010
Da Costa, Merrimack on the verge
by Andrew Merritt/
Stephane Da Costa (photo: Merrimack College)
Two weeks into the season, a precocious Merrimack freshman set Hockey East alight with five goals in one game. Not many people outside of North Andover, Mass., knew Stephane Da Costa’s name before the outburst on Oct. 17, but since then, everyone has gotten familiar with the Frenchman – and his game.
If Da Costa had faded after his impressive opening act, no one would have blamed him – freshmen don’t traditionally dominate Hockey East. The same goes for his team, a spunky Merrimack squad that has made some big leaps in recent years but hasn’t seen the postseason since 2004.
But a funny thing happened in the months since Da Costa’s five-spot against Army. The Warriors, perennial also-rans who have struggled to compete in a league where almost every team’s facilities grossly outpaces their small, if charming, rink and old-school amenities, are in the hunt. They’re so in the hunt, in fact, that if the season ended before this weekend’s games, they’d own the eighth and final playoff spot, with a quarterfinal matchup against New Hampshire on the horizon.
February may have had just 28 days in 2010, but it looks like this is the Warriors’ leap year.
We’re not there yet, but the way the 14-17-1 Warriors (11-13-1 Hockey East) are playing, there’s cause for more than just the hope of a good showing this spring. They’ve won seven of their last 12, with key victories over Maine and New Hampshire during that stretch. Meanwhile, Da Costa was named the league’s player of the month for February, meaning he’s still the only player to win that award this year, sweeping the prize for all five months of the season. That’s a league record, and it’s one he cemented with a February that saw him collect 13 points and post a plus-8 rating.
Da Costa leads all Hockey East freshmen in scoring, and his 42 points give him more than any Merrimack player since 2001-02. But his are just a fraction of his team’s noteworthy achievements. To wit: The Warriors have beaten every league team at least once for the first time in program history, and their 11 league wins and 12 home wins are both the highest they’ve collected since moving to Division 1.
It’s been evident that a culture change has been under way in North Andover, that the program has been straining to break free of its image as a wannabe in the East’s strongest league. The Warriors have set team records in recent seasons, but have still been sitting at home after the regular season. A trip to the postseason would be the program’s best sign that things are on the upswing, and the Warriors control their own destiny – not only that, but they’ve got a pair of games this weekend against a Providence team that has mustered just five league wins all season, and has been outscored 78-45 by league opponents in 25 games.
With the bottom half of the standings clustered so tightly that three points separate fourth-place UMass-Lowell from ninth-place UMass, a weekend sweep could even put Merrimack in position to host a quarterfinal series – something the program hasn’t done since 1997.
NEHJ Player of the Week
Parker Milner, fr., Boston College
Do we have a goalie rotation in Chestnut Hill? After Milner’s 4-0 February, it sure seems like it, and his 51-of-52 save effort in a pair of wins last week solidified him as a viable understudy to junior John Muse (East Falmouth, Mass.). Milner’s ability to step in and play above his age might just be the X-factor the Eagles need down the stretch.
Looking Ahead
Boston College at New Hampshire, Friday
This game (7:30 p.m., NESN) kicks off a home-and-home pair between the league’s top two teams, and if the Eagles, three points back from first-place UNH, win this one, Saturday’s finale will decide the regular-season title.
Around Hockey East
Boston College
Cam Atkinson(Greenwich, Conn.) scored his first career hat trick for the Eagles in their 7-0 whitewashing of Merrimack last week, part of a four-game-in-seven-day stretch that saw them go 3-1.
Boston University
A year ago, the Terriers won six of their final seven games to snag the regular season title on the very last day. This year, they could finish anywhere from third to ninth, depending on the result of their series against Northeastern this weekend.
Maine
Jeff Dimmen’s 11 goals are the most by a Maine defenseman since David Cullen scored 11 in 1998-99. Two more this weekend will give Dimmen the school record for goals by a defenseman.
UMass
A very bad season in Amherst seems to have hit its nadir. According to a police report published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Casey Wellman, Paul Dainton, Chase Langeraap and Kevin Kessler (Marshfield, Mass.) were arrested Saturday night on charges of violating a town noise bylaw. And on Wednesday, coach Don “Toot” Cahoon (Lynn, Mass.) was quoted in the Springfield Republican as saying, “I’ve done all the mentoring I can. … This is almost incomprehensible,” in relation to his team’s nosedive over the last month.
UMass-Lowell
Senior defenseman Steve Capraro (Medford, Mass.) played 102 games at UMass-Lowell without ever scoring a goal. He finally broke through Friday, and his tally 3:25 into the game held up as the game-winner against Providence.
Merrimack
Even the goaltender is getting in on the fun for Merrimack: Sophomore Joe Cannata (Wakefield, Mass.) not only made 34 saves against Maine in Friday’s 6-3 win, he also picked up his first career assist.
UNH
The Wildcats played their 10th overtime Friday night – also their third straight – matching a mark not reached since 2002-03. That year, they went 2-2-7 in their 11 overtime contests. This year, they’re 3-1-6 when going to extras.
Northeastern
Time for coach Greg Cronin (Boston, Mass.) to start looking into some lottery tickets. Since he put Kyle Kraemer, Justin Daniels and Tyler McNeely together on a line 13 games ago, the trio has collected 34 points, led by McNeely’s six goals and nine assists.
Providence
Senior defenseman Mark Fayne (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) will go down in Providence history as one of the Friars’ most durable players. He’s played in 137 games during his four years, missing just one.
Vermont
The Catamounts ended up with the perfect matchup to break out of their funk last weekend. Having traditionally done well against Boston University since joining the league – including the first sweep of the Terriers in their own building in 16 years last season – the Catamounts once again took two wins from BU, and 10 of the 12 forwards in uniform had at least a point in Friday’s 7-3 victory.
Andrew Merritt can be reached at feedback@hockeyjournal.com.
