HAMDEN, Conn. — The Merrimack College men's ice hockey team opened its campaign with a hard-fought loss against the No. 7 Quinnipiac Bobcats, 6-3, on Saturday afternoon.
Merrimack, which was ranked 19th by USA Hockey and 20th by the U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) entering the season, trailed 3-2 with 16 minutes left in the second period before Quinnipiac scored in the final minute of the second and again four minutes into the third.
"Disappointed, obviously, with the result," head coach
Scott Borek said. "For a large portion of the game, I thought we created most of our own problems by turning pucks over through the neutral zone, giving them short rinks. They're a very good team and you can't play them that way. If you don't make them play 200 feet, it's going to be a long night and there were times tonight we made it a long night."
Parker Lalonde,
Ty Daneault and
Caelan Fitzpatrick each scored their first goal of the season while
Nathan King finished with two assists after he took five shots from the blue line.
"I did like the way we stayed in the game," Borek said. "We got behind early, but hung in and kept coming back."
Lalonde got the Warriors on the board when he tied the game, 1-1, at 13:07 of the first period. Daneault cut Quinnipiac's lead, 3-2, at 16:05 of the second period. Fitzpatrick found the net to make it 5-3 at 9:15 of the third period.
Quinnipiac added an empty-netter in the final two minutes.
Up Next: Merrimack will raise its 2026 Hockey East Championship banner
on Thursday, Oct. 8 against the University of New Hampshire. Puck drop is
at 7 pm following a pregame ceremony. You can buy your tickets for Banner Night here.
For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on X, Instagram and Facebook.
