NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's ice hockey team wraps up a stretch of three games in five days when it visits the University of Massachusetts for a pivotal Tuesday night Hockey East matchup. Puck drop from the Mullins Center is set for 7 p.m.
Inside the Series
- Meeting for the 88th time on Tuesday, Merrimack owns a 41-39-7 mark over UMass, and since the 2009-10 season, the Warriors have gone 12-6-2 over the Minutemen.
- Much of that success stems from the team's 23-11-6 record on home ice against UMass, as the Warriors have only gone 18-28-1 at the Mullins Center.
- Merrimack is 5-7-0 in its last 12 trips to the Mullins Center spanning back to the start of the 2008-09 season.
- The two sides split a home-and-home weekend series in late October; UMass blanked Merrimack, 4-0, in Amherst before the Warriors won 5-3 on Saturday at Lawler Rink.
'Mack Facts
- Merrimack snapped a five-game losing streak after topping Maine in overtime on Saturday to improve to 8-16-4 on the year with a 5-12-2 mark in league play.
- Merrimack has four road wins in 16 tries (4-10-2) compared to a 4-6-2 mark at home.
- Senior Brett Seney has moved into the team lead with 27 points on a team-high 11 goals, while senior Jace Hennig (9), junior Ludvig Larsson (9) and sophomore Sami Tavernier (8) are close behind in the goal-scoring leader board.
- Senior Jared Kolquist is the highest-scoring defenseman on the team, leading the team with 17 assists while ranking third overall with 21 points.
- Seven total Warriors have surpassed the 10-point threshold on the year.
- Seney leads the Warriors with seven power play goals (4th/HEA). He also ranks second in the league with 18 power play points, while Kolquist, Hennig and Tavernier rank fourth and sixth with 15 and 13 power play points, respectively.
- Goaltender Craig Pantano has seen the bulk of the time in net and started 19 of the last 22 games; he is 7-10-2 with a 2.41 GAA and .914 SV% on the year.
Minutemen Matchup
- After defeating Northeastern on Jan. 19 to move a game over .500 on the season, UMass has lost its last six games -- four by a goal and one by two -- and has seen its overall record dip to 11-16-1 with a 5-12-1 ledger in league play.
- UMass' impressive freshman class has been a bright spot all year, as the team's top-five scorers are all rookies led by Oliver Chau (21) and Mitchell Chaffee (20).
- Chaffee's 11 goals are most among the Minutemen, while fellow freshman and defenseman Mario Ferraro has dished a team-high 15 assists.
- Eight players in total in double-digit scoring figures for UMass.
- Freshman Matt Murray (4-10-1, 3.09 GAA, .900 SV%) and sophomore Ryan Wischow (7-6-0, 3.04, .895) have started 15 and 13 games, respectively, for UMass in net.
- The Minutemen rank 44th nationally in scoring offense (2.57) and 46th in scoring defense (3.21); their power play ranks 49th (15.1) and penalty kill ranks 40th (79.2).
- Greg Carvel is in his second season behind the bench at UMass and started the year with a 91-111-20 all-time coaching record (5-29-2 at UMass).
Up Next
Merrimack will enjoy a 10-day layoff after its bye weekend but will return to take on New Hampshire and Boston University at home on Feb. 16-17 at 7 p.m. each night.
