Men's Ice Hockey Faces Maine in Weekend Series in Orono; Catch Saturday on Fox College Sports!
Links: Live Stats (F) // Live Stats (S) | Video (Free!) | Audio (Free) | Follow @MerrimackMIH | Game Notes
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – With only four games left in the regular season, the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team heads north for the penultimate weekend of league play, as the Warriors meet up with the University of Maine for a two-game set in Orono beginning Friday night at Alfond Arena.
The Basics
Date/Time: Friday-Saturday, Feb. 19-20, 2016 | 7:30 p.m.
Records: Merrimack (8-15-7, 2-9-7 HEA) | Maine (7-19-6, 4-12-2 HEA)
Location: Alfond Arena | Orono, Maine
Watch Saturday on Fox College Sports Atlantic!
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Fox College Sports Atlantic! FCS-Atlantic is available on the following channels:
- Comcast Channel 262 (NOTE - this channel listing is for North Andover/Greater Boston area)
- DirecTV Channel 608
- Dish Channel 444
- Fans in the Maine area can also tune in on WVII and WPME
Hockey East Playoff Picture
All teams qualify for postseason; seeds 1-4 earn first round bye; seeds 5-8 host 9-12 in best-of-three first round; winning teams advance, bracket is re-seeded, and seeds 1-4 host best-of-three quarterfinal series; winners advance to Championship Weekend at TD Garden
1. Notre Dame (14 league wins/30 pts)
2. Boston College (12/29) H2H vs. PC, BU
3. Providence (12/27)
4. UMass Lowell (11/26) H2H vs. ND
5. Boston U. (10/23) H2H vs. NU, UVM
6. Northeastern (6/16)
7. Vermont (6/15) H2H vs. NU, UConn
8. New Hampshire (4/13) H2H vs. MC, ME
9. Connecticut (4/12) H2H vs. ME
10. Merrimack (2/11) H2H vs. UMass
11. Maine (4/10) H2H vs. UVM
12. Massachusetts (2/8) H2H vs. UConn
Wins = 2 pts, Ties = 1 pt
H2H = Team has won head-to-head tiebreaker vs. abbreviated team
Tiebreakers: Head-to-head; # of wins in conf. play; Record vs. first-place team, then second-place team, etc.; Coin flip
All-Time vs. Maine:
The Merrimack-Maine rivalry dates back to 1978 and has become fierce over the past five years. Despite sporting just a 19-67-8 all-time record against the Black Bears, Merrimack has gone 7-7-2 in the last 16 games in a span that includes a sweep in the Hockey East Quarterfinals back in March of 2011. In fact, Merrimack and Maine have met in three of the last five postseasons. The Warriors swept the Black Bears on home ice in 2011 before Maine won the following year in a heated three-game series. After a respite in 2013, the two teams squared off back in Orono in 2014 in the winner-take-all opening round of the tournament, as Maine came out on top, 2-0. Maine has won the last five games in the series, and the Warriors are just 8-39-3 all-time at Alfond Arena.
Last Time Out:
- A two-goal outing from freshman Mathieu Foget and an extra-attacker goal from junior Jonathan Lashyn helped Merrimack erase a late deficit and earn a point in the league standings after posting a 5-5 tie against third-ranked Boston College on Saturday night at Lawler Rink.
- Early scoring was the theme for the visitors, who struck just 2:23 into the contest before senior Brian Christie pounded in a pass across the crease to even things up at 14:38 of the first.
- An early tally gave the Eagles the lead again only 46 seconds into the middle stanza
- Midway through the frame, Foget netted the first of his two tallies with the Warriors on the power play, and two minutes later, Hampus Gustafsson who poked another one home.
- The Eagles made the most out of their second man advantage of the night, as Ryan Fitzgerald even the game at 15:54.
- That lead was short-lived, as Foget beat Demko with a snap shot in the right slot thanks to a stellar feed from senior Justin Hussar giving the Warriors a 4-3 lead that they carried into the break.
- But BC would again score within the first three minutes of a period, this time off a faceoff at the 1:56 mark of the third, and then took a 5-4 lead while on a major power play with just under 12 minutes left.
- For the second time in as many weeks – Merrimack forced the game to overtime with an extra-attacker goal. Lashyn threw the puck on net from the right point and it sailed through a partial screen and in to tie the match at 5-all.
- Both sides had some looks in overtime, but despite five combined shots on goal, the horn would sound to give each team a point in the league standings by mean of the draw.
The Black Bears:
- Since the calendar turned to 2016, Maine has gone just 3-8-2 and has lost four straight coming into this weekend's series; the Black Bears are 7-19-6 overall and sit 11th in Hockey East
- Junior Blaine Byron fuels the Black Bear offense with 21 points, and his 13 assists lead the side
- Senior Will Merchant is next on the list with 17 points thanks to his team-high 10 goals, while four other Black Bears have reached double-digits in scoring
- Junior Matt Morris and freshman Rob McGovern have more-or-less split the goaltending responsibilities, although Morris has six straight games and 10 of the last 14; Morris has gone 6-9-3 with a 3.21 GAA and a .910 SV%, while McGovern is 1-10-3 with a 2.75 GAA and .910 SV%
- Maine's paltry offense is third-worst in the country (1.88), and the Black Bears rank 46th on defense (3.19); Maine is also the ninth-most penalized team nationally
- Red Gendron is in his third season at Maine and is 37-56-13 in that span
Up Next
Merrimack finishes up the regular season at home when it welcomes the University of Vermont next weekend. Friday's game will be broadcast live regionally on NESNplus and nationally via the American Sports Network (full channel listing will be posted next week). Prior to Friday's contest, the Athletic Department will hold a special pregame Fan Fest as part of Fan Appreciation Weekend starting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday's game will begin at 7 p.m., and prior to puck drop, the team will honor its senior class.
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For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.
