Merrimack College introduced former New Hampshire and Providence College assistant Scott Borek as the eighth head coach of its men’s ice hockey program last month.
Borek, who has 33 years of coaching experience, most recently on Nate Leaman’s staff at Providence, replaces Mark Dennehy (Dorchester, Mass.), who was fired in March after 13 seasons.
"I am honored to lead the Merrimack College men’s ice hockey program," said Borek. "The search committee members have accurately, although modestly, presented the tremendous possibilities that surround the program and the College community. I am excited to get started."
Borek has spent the past 16 years as a Hockey East assistant coach, qualifying for the NCAA tournament 13 times while capturing five Hockey East regularseason championships and one tournament championship. Over that time span, he has recruited 12 All-Americans and 16 student-athletes who went on to play in the NHL.
Serving as the associate head coach at Providence since 2015, Borek’s responsibilities included oversight of recruiting, team defense and the penalty kill. This season, the Friars’ defense was second in Hockey East and seventh nationally. Providence advanced to the NCAA tournament in all three seasons with Borek on the coaching staff.
UConn’s Masonius leaving
University of Connecticut junior defenseman Joseph Masonius signed an AHL contract for 2018-19 with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and joined the team last month, forgoing his final year of college eligibility.
Masonius was a sixth-round selection (No. 181 overall) by Pittsburgh in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
During his three-year career at UConn, he played in 96 games while posting 50 points on 10 goals and 40 assists. He twice led all UConn defensemen in scoring. This past season, he had 16 points on two goals and 14 assists and was a career-best plus-5.
Albertus Magnus going D3
Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Conn., announced plans last month to launch a Division 3 men’s varsity hockey program effective in the fall of 2019.
The joint announcement also brought the news of a partnership between the city of New Haven and the college. The Falcons are due to play at the city-owned Ralph Walker Skating Rink, which has been in the midst of a long renovation process that began in 2016.
The multi-million dollar project to the partly open-air arena includes adjustments to the ice dimensions, upgrades to the rink slab and ice plant equipment, center hung scoreboard, and new locker rooms, seating and concession stands.
No conference affiliation was announced at the press conference. Albertus belongs to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference in most other sports.
Citron named Colgate captain
Colgate head coach Don Vaughan announced that rising senior Ken Citron (Cos Cob, Conn.) has been named captain for next season.
Joining Citron in leadership roles on the team are rising juniors Jared Cockrell (Readfield, Maine) and Bobby Mc-Mann as assistant captains.
Citron has played in 105 games in his Colgate career and is coming off a season in which he played 37 of the team’s 40 games. He made his mark felt on the defensive end, where he led the team and finished second in ECAC Hockey with 78 blocked shots.
Cockrell is coming off a 16-point season in which he scored a career-high nine goals for the Raiders. He led the team with a plus-6 rating and scored three game-winning goals.
Another national honor for Watts
One month after winning the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the best Division 1 women’s player in the country, Boston College freshman Daryl Watts was named National Rookie of the Year.
A vote of Division 1 assistant coaches made Watts, a native of Toronto. the fifth recipient of this award, which was established in 2014 by the Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association.
Watts led the country in scoring with a line of 42-40-82 in 38 games for BC. Her 42 goals were the best in the country, as was her 2.16 points-per-game average.
"She came to Boston College and made a significant impact on our game in just her first season," said BC coach Katie Crowley (Salem, N.H.). "Daryl goes out on the ice every day with the goal to get better and be a great teammate."
Potential donors added
With 51 life-saving marrow donations through its first nine years, the Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive at Yale had given people plenty of reasons to celebrate.
This year’s edition was another success, as the Bulldogs added 464 more potential donors to the Be The Match Registry.
The Yale drive is named in memory of women’s player Mandi Schwartz (1988-2011), whose courageous battle with cancer has inspired the Bulldogs’ efforts. Four teams — field hockey, football, women’s ice hockey and men’s soccer — are primarily responsible for organizing the event.
Campus notes
UNH and Northeastern will face off in a Hockey East game at the 2019 Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it was announced last month. The fourteam tournament, which began in 2015 and also includes Colgate and Princeton, will be held Nov. 29-30, 2019, with each team playing two games. The 2018 Friendship Four will feature Yale, Union, Boston University and Connecticut.…
The fourth edition of "The Frozen Apple" at Madison Square Garden will feature Cornell against Harvard on Saturday, Nov. 24. Tickets for the game went on sale at 10 a.m. on May 1 through www.Cornell-BigRedTickets.com. While Cornell and Harvard compete in ECAC Hockey and even met in the league’s championship game as recently in 2017, this meeting at MSG will be a non-league affair. …
Harvard has named rising seniors Michael Floodstrand and Lewis Zerter-Gossage its captains for next season. The two, who were elected by their teammates, become the 131st and 132nd captains in the 120-year history of Harvard hockey. …
Three days after he closed out his collegiate career by captaining the University of Minnesota Duluth the 2018 NCAA title, Karson Kuhlman signed a two-year National Hockey League contract with the Boston Bruins. Kuhlman will join the Providence Bruins on an Amateur Tryout Agreement for the remainder of the 2017-18 season. Voted the Most Outstanding Player at both the NCAA Frozen Four and the NCAA West Regional, Kuhlman was the recipient of the 2017-18 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Sportsmanship Award.
