| Date |
Friday, Feb. 26, 2021 // 4 pm
Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021 // 4 pm |
| Matchup |
Merrimack (4-10-2, 4-10-2 HEA)
#8/8 Boston University (9-2-0, 9-2-0 HEA) |
| Location |
Walter Brown Arena // Boston, Mass.
Lawler Rink // North Andover, Mass. |
| Links |
Watch // Live Stats (Fri.) // Listen (Sat.) // Live Stats (Sat.) // Game Notes |
| Social |
Twitter // Instagram |
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Unbeaten in its last three games, the Merrimack College men's hockey team looks to maintain its home ice advantage for the first round of the Hockey East playoffs this weekend when it battles #8/8 Boston University.
The Warriors enter the weekend with the final home playoff spot in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs, while the Terriers are on the hunt for the first overall seed in the tournament. Friday marks the first time the teams have met at Walter Brown Arena since Nov. 13, 2004, which was months before the Terriers moved to their new home, Agganis Arena.
Five Things To Know
- The Warriors' special teams have been historically good as of late. The products of assistant coaches Josh Ciocco and Dan Jewell combined to be nearly perfect last weekend against UNH when the power play went 6-for-7 in two games and the penalty kill was unbeaten on 10 opportunities to make it 13 straight opposing power plays killed entering Friday. The power play also went 4-for-4 Saturday at Lawler, which marked the first four power play goal outing for Merrimack since October 2017.
- Declan Carlile also enjoyed a historically good two games against the Wildcats. His three assists Friday in Durham marked a single game career-high in points and his four helpers in total on the weekend earned him Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors. His 3.33 blocked shots per game pace continues to lead the nation after he got in the way of 12 shots in the past three games.
- Midseason transfer Max Newton has proven himself as a premier player in Hockey East after steady growth the past three seasons in Alaska. The forward has seven points in as many games and has a convincing lead atop the team in faceoff percentage with his .575 success rate.
- After a battle all season long in 2019-20 for the starting goalie job, Zachary Borgiel has emerged as the go-to man down the stretch for the Warriors. The freshman is unbeaten in his last three starts and had a .922 save percentage and 2.27 goals against average in those contests.
- The Terriers were the last team to play a game in Hockey East, but have been on fire ever since. They enter Friday winners of nine of their first 11 and have three players (David Farrance, Jay O'Brien and Logan Cockerill) averaging over a point-per-game.
Inside the Matchup:
| Merrimack (4-10-2, 4-10-2 HEA) |
Category |
#8/8 Boston University (9-2-0, 9-2-0 HEA) |
| 2/20 vs New Hampshire (W, 6-2) |
Last Time Out |
2/20 at RV/RV Connecticut (W, 3-2 OT) |
| 2.50 |
Scoring Offense |
3.64 |
| 3.75 |
Scoring Defense |
2.45 |
| 28.0 |
Shots/Game |
25.8 |
| 28.7 |
Shots Allowed/Game |
33.3 |
| 14-61 |
PPG-Chances |
8-50 |
| .230 |
PP% |
.160 |
| 54-70 |
PK-Chances |
42-50 |
| .771 |
PK% |
.840 |
| 82-175 |
Penalties-PIM |
59-129 |
| 10.9 |
PIM/Game |
11.7 |
| 474-512 |
Faceoffs (W-L) |
297-366 |
| .481 |
Faceoff % |
.448 |
Up Next
Hockey East is now announcing schedules on a week-by-week basis. One more regular season weekend remains before the Hockey East tournament is set to start Mar. 10.
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For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.
