NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The lights might be a bit brighter and the ice a bit crisper.
The Merrimack men's hockey team will travel TD Garden where the Warriors will face UMass Amherst in the Hockey East semifinals on Friday night. The No. 8 Warriors advanced to TD Garden, the home of the Boston Bruins, after an overtime victory over top-seeded Providence on Saturday and a first-round win over No. 9 UMass Lowell last week.
"I'm really excited for our team," Merrimack men's hockey coach
Scott Borek said. "We've gone through a long year, some really good times and some tough times. We started a really difficult year. We got here. We got out of the gate really poorly, and the way we built back in the second half is a real testament to who our guys are, and I'm excited that they got rewarded for it.
"We're really looking forward to it."
It marks the second time in four seasons that the Warriors have reached the Hockey East semifinals.
The Minutemen advanced to the Hockey East semifinals after a quarterfinal win over Northeastern. UMass, after finishing the regular season as the second seed, earned a first-round bye.
"Their goaltending is outstanding," Borek said in reference to UMass netminder, Michael Hrabel, a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. "Typically, they've always had a real strong goalie but Mike Hrabel is taking that to another level. Record-breaking season almost. But we have a very good goalie, too, so I think our matchup there is good.
"Their defense is very active, more active than Providence is. So we got to be ready for them attacking us from the back end. They're just a heavy, physical team. Very similar to the last two teams we just played. Very physical, very heavy on the puck. They're a tough team, and they always have been. This is going to be a tough game, but we're excited about it."
Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET.
Slap shots
- Merrimack's current run has featured some familiarity. The overtime game against the Friars marked the fifth time in nine postseason games that Borek's bunch went to overtime.
- Over the last decade, Merrimack has gone to overtime eight times in 13 playoff games. The Warriors are 5-3 during that span.
- Max Lundgren has recorded 57 saves on 62 shots in Merrimack's two postseason victories. He became the program's all-time single-season saves leader during the quarterfinal contest at Providence, a game in which he tallied 34 stops. Lundgren enters the semifinals with 1,036 saves on the season, which are the most by a Hockey East goaltender and second-most in the NCAA.
- The Warriors enter the weekend with the best powerplay in Hockey East and the sixth-best in the nation. Merrimack leads the conference in power-play goals (34) and powerplay percentage (27%). Merrimack, which has scored three power-play goals during the postseason, has scored a powerplay goal in each of its last five games.
- Trevor Hoskin enters TD Garden having scored three goals in two playoff games. Named the Hockey East Player of the Week, Hoskin has netted the game-winning goal against both UMass-Lowell and Providence, the latter of which came in overtime. Hoskin is riding a four-game point streak entering Friday's game with five goals and two assists in that span.
- Justin Gill and Parker Lalonde followed up their All-Rookie team awards by being named as finalists for the Hockey East Rookie of the Year. Gill has 35 points (16 goals, 19 assists) while Lalonde has 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists).
- The Warriors enter the contest having eight players averaging more than one point per game this postseason.
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