NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack men's hockey team will welcome James Hagens and the Boston College Eagles to Lawler Arena on Friday night as part of a two-game weekend series.
Hagens, who was selected seventh overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2025 NHL Draft, is tied for second in the Hockey East in points scored (15 goals, 16 assists in 24 games) despite having missed two games while playing for Team USA at the 2026 World Juniors.
The first of two games between the Warriors and Eagles will be held at Lawler Arena at 7 p.m. ET. Merrimack then will travel to Boston College on Saturday night.
"He's obviously an elite player," Merrimack men's hockey coach
Scott Borek said of Hagens. "He's been an elite player since he got in the league a year ago. He's long, he really sees the rink very, very well. He's highly competitive at the puck. It's hard to take him off his game. He just has an elite level of skill physically. But his strongest part of his game, I think, is just the way he reads the rink and plays the game without the puck. He poses a big challenge for us, which we're looking forward to taking on."
Boston College (16-9-1 overall, 10-6-0 in Hocket East) is in second place in the highly-competitive conference. Merrimack (14-12-1, 7-9-1) is tied for sixth with Maine (23 points in conference play).
With seven games remaining on their schedule, including a two-game road trip to Maine and three-game homestand against Vermont and UMass-Lowell, the Warriors know they'll need to play their best hockey over the final stretch.
"At this point of the year, because the games mean so much to both teams, I'm not sure if it's the team we're playing as much as it is the change in the calendar to February," Borek responded when asked if playing a team like Boston College provides any added juice. "We understand Boston College is one of the best teams in the country, and it's always a big challenge. It's one that we're excited about, and we're looking forward to having them here.
"We just got to play our game, stay true to ourselves, not make it a transition fest. Just play our game and play harder than they do. If we can do that, we'll give ourselves a chance to be successful."
Slap shots
- The Warriors return to action after a 10-day break. In their last outing, a 9-5 victory over Stonehill, the Warriors scored their most goals in a game since 2016.
- The line of Nick Pierre (one goal, two assists), Justin Gill (one goal, three assists) and Trevor Hoskin (two goals and two assists) combined for 11 points in Merrimack's win over Stonehill. The trio became the first Merrimack line to combine for eight or more points in a game since Nov. 10, 2023, when Michael Citara, Alex Jefferies and Matt Copponi did so against UConn.
- Merrimack enters Friday's game with the most power-play goals in Hockey East (24) and the second-best percentage in the conference (24.5).
- In Hockey East, Trevor Hoskin (27 points), Justin Gill (25 points) and Parker Lalonde (24 points) all rank inside the top 10.
- Merrimack defender Cam Kungle has three points in his last two games and six in his last nine.
- Ryan O'Connell has provided spark off the fourth line in the last two games, scoring the Warriors second goal in both contests and notching three points in total.
- Merrimack took one of three meetings with Boston College last year.
