NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's ice hockey team looks to right the ship as it turns to the final month of the regular season, as the Warriors open February in Orono to take on the University of Maine in a two-game weekend series. Puck drop Friday is 7:30 p.m.
Inside the Series
- While Merrimack is just 21-68-9 all-time against Maine, nearly half of those wins have come over the past seven seasons.
- Since the start of 2010-11, the Warriors are 10-10-3 against the Black Bears (although just 4-8-1 at Alfond Arena).
- Merrimack and Maine have also met in three of the last seven postseasons, with Merrimack sweeping a two-game quarterfinal series in 2011 before the Black Bears won in three games in 2012. Maine also won a best-of-one matchup in 2014
- Last February, Merrimack rallied for an overtime win at home and then erased another second-period deficit on the way to a tie and a season series victory at Lawler Rink.
- Merrimack owns a 12-27-6 record at home against Maine compared 9-40-3 in Orono.
'Mack Facts
- Merrimack is looking to snap a four-game losing streak, as its last win was a 3-0 victory against Connecticut on Jan. 12. The Warriors are 7-15-4 overall on the year.
- Merrimack has just three road wins in 14 tries (3-9-2) compared to 4-6-2 at home.
- Senior Brett Seney has moved into the team lead with 24 points on a team-high nine goals (tied with classmate Jace Hennig) and a team-leading 15 assists.
- Junior Ludvig Larsson (8) and sophomore Sami Tavernier (7) are close behind in goal-scoring, while senior Jared Kolquist is the highest-scoring defenseman on the team and ranks third overall with 18 points (4g, 14a).
- Seven total Warriors have surpassed the 10-point threshold on the year.
- Seney leads the Warriors with six power play goals (6th/HEA). He also ranks tied for second in the league with 17 power play points, while Kolquist and Hennig rank fourth and sixth with 14 and 13 power play points, respectively.
- Goaltender Craig Pantano has earned all of Merrimack's wins this season and has started 19 of the last 21 games; he is 7-9-2 with a 2.32 GAA and .917 SV% on the year.
Black Bear Bites
- Riding a five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2), Maine enters the weekend at 14-9-4 with an 8-6-3 mark in league play. They sit in sixth place in the league standings.
- The Black Bears are coming off a road weekend sweep of UMass by 3-2 scores.
- Three underclassmen pace the Maine offense; sophomores Mitchell Fossier and Chase Pearson are tied for the lead with 24 points, with the latter owning a team-high 18 helpers, while rookie Eduards Tralmaks has 21 points on a team-high nine goals.
- Senior Nolan Vesey and junior Rob Michel have three power play goals for Maine.
- Freshman Jeremy Swayman has 20 starts in net for Maine and owns a .248 goals-against average, as well as a .927 save percentage. He has gone 11-5-3 in that span.
- Maine ranks 10th nationally in scoring offense (3.30) and 33rd in scoring defense (2.96); the Black Bear power play ranks 30th (18.8) while their PK ranks 58th (75.6).
- Ron Gendron is in his fifth season at Maine; he started the year 49-82-17 all-time.
Up Next
Merrimack will have one of its quickest turnaround this season when it travels to UMass to conclude the season series on Tuesday (Feb. 6) night. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
