Hockey East coaches talk about the league’s high level of parity every season, but this year’s race may be as tight as ever with six teams separated by only four points from second-place Massachusetts down to seventh.
It has been years since Merrimack was a legitimate contender with the postseason approaching. After another sweep moved them to 8-2 since the calendar turned to 2022, the Warriors do find themselves right in the hunt.
The team’s January success included back-to-back sweeps of Providence and first-place UMass Lowell. This past weekend’s triumphs came against New Hampshire, 5-2, and Maine, 5-0, on home ice.
It has taken time for fourth-year coach Scott Borek (Swampscott, Mass.) to build his program. The Warriors have climbed another step, as the first shutout for freshman Hugo Ollas -- who allowed six goals in a November overtime loss at Maine -- provided a cap to the series on Saturday.
“(Our confidence) is obviously high. We’re happy with these results, it’s been a long time coming,” said Max Newton, the captain who has recorded at least one point in 20 of his 26 games. With a goal and three assists on Saturday, he became Merrimack’s first 30-point scorer since Brett Seney in 2017-18.
“Every game is really an opportunity to take that next step. We’re taking advantage so far.”
The way this weekend transpired was particularly impressive to the coach of the 14-11-1 club. Merrimack scored twice in Saturday’s first and third periods and put on 20 of 44 shots on net in the opening frame against Maine.
“I was really happy with the way our team approached the game (because) we lost the lead the last time we played them after a very similar first period,” Borek said. “I thought we were a little tired after an emotional (Friday) game, but the third period was as good as it has been all year.
“We’re just doing the right things and getting into good positions. … To have this be our reaction (to a similar situation) two months later, I was really pleased.”
The team’s recent keys to success have been many, starting from the goal out. Ollas and sophomore Zachary Borgiel have formed an outstanding goalie tandem, splitting the team’s last four back-to-back weekends and not allowing more than three goals in any game during that stretch. Borgiel stopped 22 shots on Friday.
“I think our team is really confident in front of both guys and they were really happy for Hugo,” Borek said. “The goalies are a microcosm of our team in the fact that our team really roots for each other.”
The Warriors have netted 84 goals in 26 games (3.23 per game), matching Boston University for the conference’s second-highest total. Offense has come from a variety of sources including junior defenseman Declan Carlile, the team’s third-leading scorer.
On Saturday, Maine had no answers for the line of Newton, fellow graduate transfer Steven Jandric and sophomore Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass.). The trio combined for four of the team’s five goals (two by Jandric), 10 points and 20 shots.
Their effort came a night after junior Mac Welsher logged his first collegiate hat trick, winning the game with back-to-back goals in the second period. Welsher had just three goals this season and 11 in his 65-game career before Friday.
“That was a big one for Mac. He’s one of our key guys and does the little things right all the time,” Newton said. “Seeing him get rewarded for that is nice. You always root for those kinds of guys. … When you have good teams and teams that are close, you’re incredibly happy for that guy. That’s the kind of culture we have in here right now.”
After a Jan. 25 loss at UConn temporarily knocked them outside of the NCAA tournament bubble, the Warriors are again the No. 15 team in the PairWise Rankings, putting them third among Hockey East teams and only one spot behind UMass Lowell.
The next challenge? A Tuesday visit from UConn, which just swept Providence and New Hampshire. The Huskies got goals from six different players -- including sophomore Ryan Tverberg who tallied on both nights -- in the latter win.
Talk about a perfect time for another big opportunity for the surging Warriors.
Stirring the ‘Pot
Three of the four Beanpot teams enter Monday’s semifinal round at TD Garden looking to build upon Friday victories. Boston University is the hottest team in the field as it improved to 10-1-1 in a recent 12-game stretch with a 4-0 shutout of Maine, which came in just the second career start for sophomore goaltender Vinny Duplessis.
Northeastern edged past Vermont, 5-4, for freshman goalie T.J. Semptimphelter’s first career win. The freshman has taken over the goal since sophomore Devon Levi departed to represent Canada at the Olympic Games. All four clubs have representatives on the U.S. and/or Canadian rosters in Beijing who will miss their college teams’ February competition.
“There are some good players over there from the four schools, but there are a lot of really good players still here in the Beanpot,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe, whose team will be looking to “four-peat” in the Beanpot for the first time after beating BU in double overtime to win in 2020. “I think all the coaches would tell you the same thing. We’re just as excited, if not more, to be back playing at the Garden. We all missed it.”
Most recently, Harvard earned a 3-1 win over Dartmouth behind freshman Matthew Coronato’s third goal in as many games and a goal and an assist from senior Jack Donato (Scituate, Mass.). Boston College’s loss to UMass Lowell extended its winless streak to nine games (0-8-1).
Bobcats keep writing history
Quinnipiac continued its historic season with 2-1 and 1-0 wins over Union and RPI this past weekend in Hamden, Conn. The latter game on Saturday was the team’s 13th shutout in 23 wins this season, breaking a 22-year-old NCAA Division 1 single-season record. It was also Rand Pecknold’s (Bedford, N.H.) 1,000th game behind the Bobcat bench.
First-year goaltender Yaniv Perets, the owner of a nation-leading .956 save percentage in 19 games, made 16 saves on the way to his 10th individual shutout. The winner of three consecutive ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Month honors, Perets earned the victory after junior Ethan Leyh scored the game-winning goal for the second consecutive game.
The Bobcats now get set for a Tuesday visit from Brown, which earned a 2-1 win over then-No. 11 Cornell last Tuesday before losing to Clarkson and tying St. Lawrence. Freshman Mathieu Caron made 16 of his 32 saves in the third period. Senior Jake Harris scored in two of the Bears’ last three games.
Perets, Duplessis and Ollas weren’t the only locals to pitch milestone shutouts as American International’s Alec Calvaruso also recorded the first of his career, making 26 stops in Friday’s 7-0 win at RIT. Fellow graduate student Justin Young had two goals and two assists for the Yellow Jackets in the first game of a four-point weekend for the team.
Do a split
While AIC closes in on its unprecedented fourth straight Atlantic Hockey regular-season title with three regular-season weekends to play, rivals Sacred Heart and Holy Cross battled to a series split in Worcester.
The split of six points keeps SHU in a three-way tie for sixth place with Niagara and Air Force, while Bentley is two points ahead, even with Army West Point for fourth.
Junior Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) led SHU to the Saturday win with two goals and an assist for his third multiple-point game of the year, while sophomore Jake Higgins scored his first collegiate goal for the Crusaders, who defended their home turf with a 1-0 triumph in Friday’s series. Junior Matt Radomsky recorded the 33-save shutout, the first under first-year Holy Cross coach Bill Riga.
THREE MORE STARS:
Hockey East - Owen Cole-Connor Sodergren-Sam Knoblauch, UMass Lowell
Scoring up and down the lineup has been a hallmark of Norm Bazin’s River Hawk teams, and the trio centered by the senior assistant captain from Tewksbury, Mass., was a key factor in weekend wins against BC and Dartmouth. The line combined for three goals and four assists in the series.
Cole scored a shorthanded, game-tying goal -- the first of his collegiate career -- before junior Zach Kaiser’s winner in the final two minutes of regulation at BC, while Sodergren netted a pair in the first two periods with assists from both of his linemates against the Big Green the next night.
ECAC - Nathan Reid & Ian Carpentier, Yale
Despite the Bulldogs’ losses to St. Lawrence and Clarkson, Reid enjoyed a strong showing in the net and has now started three consecutive games. The sophomore began the weekend with a 29-save performance in an overtime loss to the Saints and stopped 16 in the next game.
Reid’s team managed just three goals over the two games, but classmate Riley Connors (Madison, Conn.) scored his third of the season against SLU before Carpentier (Worcester, Mass.) started his two-point game against Clarkson with a goal. Carpentier, a former Boston Junior Bruin, has 10 points in his last seven games.
Atlantic - Matt Gosiewski, Bentley
Though the results of a two-game sweep at Niagara didn’t go in Bentley’s favor, the junior from Wilton, Conn., put together a five-point weekend with a goal and four assists to become the Falcons’ second-leading scorer (21 points in 26 games) behind only sophomore defenseman Drew Bavaro.
Gosiewski handed out three assists on Bentley’s five third-period goals in a 6-5 Friday loss. He then contributed to both goals in a 3-2 setback the following day, cutting the team’s deficit to one goal in the third period after assisting on a Lucas Vanroboys tally 51 seconds into the game.
THIS WEEK’S HAT TRICK:
1. Beanpot and more: The Beanpot begins another busy week of action around New England as there will also be league games on Tuesday and Thursday nights. In Hockey East, Merrimack will host UConn in a rematch of a hotly contested game played two weeks ago in Hartford, while BU and Providence tangle Thursday in a battle of two more teams jockeying for playoff positioning.
A pair of rescheduled ECAC games are set for Tuesday as Yale visits Princeton and Brown heads across state lines to Quinnipiac. The Thursday action also includes Atlantic Hockey as Bentley begins its two-game set at Sacred Heart.
2. Road trip!: Quinnipiac will have a short turnaround following another winning weekend and a Tuesday game as it heads on a long ECAC Hockey trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The top team in Atlantic Hockey, AIC, will also begin its next challenge on the road with a Saturday game at Army West Point as part of a home-and-home series.
The Hockey East schedule includes single games for New Hampshire (Friday) and Merrimack (Sunday) at Vermont and a weekend set for Maine at UMass, which just swept LIU in a non-conference set. But, the Wildcats will head back home afterwards to entertain first-place UMass Lowell in a Super Bowl Sunday matinee.
3. Holding it down at home: Ivy League rivalries will be showcased on Friday’s ECAC schedule as Harvard will host Yale and Brown heads to Dartmouth. The two traveling teams will meet Saturday night in Hanover, N.H., while the Crimson rests for its second Beanpot contest.
Other pre-Beanpot action on Friday sees BC hosting UConn and Northeastern looking to pick up a win in Lowell in its third and final contest of the season against the River Hawks.
