NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – There's plenty of reasons to be excited when the Merrimack College men's hockey team takes the ice for the first time for the 2021-22 campaign Thursday evening in Rhode Island to battle Providence.
Merrimack returns 20 players from its 2020-21 roster, including all five of its top scorers in the form of
Filip Forsmark,
Liam Walsh,
Alex Jefferies,
Declan Carlile and
Logan Drevitch. On the back end of the ice,
Zachary Borgiel fought and won the starting job in the goal and looks to maintain the job entering the new campaign. The Warriors had an abrupt end to last season after they were red hot entering the final weekend of the Hockey East regular season. Merrimack had won three of its final five games, including a pair of ranked victories and would have had tons of momentum going into the postseason.
A key story line for the team entering the winter are the additions made through the transfer portal. Merrimack scooped up a pair of now former Denver Pioneers, as
Steven Jandric and
Jake Durflinger both joined the Warriors after long careers for their graduate student seasons and both are expected to be in the lineup against the Friars. The team also solidified its defense core when it picked up
Christian Felton from Bentley.
FORWARDS
The Warriors should have some of the best depth at the position that they've seen in years. Forsmark, Walsh, Jefferies and Drevitch return as top scorers, but Jandric has 86 points in 127 career games and
Max Newton returns with 50 points in 102 games, including seven points in just nine games last winter after he joined the team in the middle of the season. A few seasons after a massive freshmen class of nearly 20 players came to North Andover, the group is primed for a big season, including a few forwards.
Regan Kimens (20 points in 49 career games),
Ben Brar (18 points in 47 games) and
Mac Welsher (14 points in 44 games) have a lot of scoring upside and can move up and down the lineup. After he missed the past season and a half with injuries,
Jordan Seyfert returns for his senior season and expects to be in the lineup Thursday night as well.
Matt Copponi is the lone freshman in the lineup tonight for the Warriors, but
Mark Hillier and
Devlin O'Brien should contribute throughout the year as well.
DEFENSEMEN
Merrimack returns one of the most experienced defense groups in Hockey East.
Zach Uens and
Declan Carlile have been a top pair defense group in the league since they first stepped foot on campus two seasons ago and have also both been key offensive contributors with 57 combined points in 96 games.
Zach Vinnell emerged last season as a dangerous power play man and should get plenty of minutes along with classmate,
Liam Dennison. A couple of newcomers are set to make their collegiate debuts this evening, as
Mike Brown and
Adam Arvedson are slotted into the lineup against the Friars. Arvedson's Swedish countryman,
Ivan Zivlak, should find ice time along with Felton and
Kevin Sadovski.
GOALTENDERS
Borgiel topped the team in minutes played last season and appeared in 15 of the team's 18 games. He won four games and had a .883 save percentage to go with a 3.10 goals against average.
Troy Kobryn returns after he made a trio of starts last season and has now played in 23 games in his Warrior career. One newcomer joined the goaltending core in the form of
Hugo Ollas. The 2020 New York Ranger draft pick has plenty of size at 6' 8", 253 pounds and should contend along with Borgiel and Kobryn for playing time.
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