Men's Hockey Wins Hockey East Championship; Punches Ticket To NCAA Tournament

BOSTON, MA—The Merrimack College men's ice hockey took the lead in the third period and Max Lundgren made a career high 49 saves to win the program's first ever Hockey East Championship by a score of 2-1 against the #3 seeded University of Connecticut Huskies in front a raucous TD Garden crowd on Saturday night.
 
In the first period, Max Lundgren got off to a hot start, turning away 12 shots, but the game would enter the first intermission scoreless, despite the Warriors earning a 5 on 3 chance.
 
In the second, Merrimack would break the ice in the contest, as Trevor Hoskin's shot banked off the end boards wide and the puck find the way on the stick of Ryan O'Connell who put the puck in the UConn net for his second goal as many games, Cam Kungle also notched an assist on the tally
 
UConn would take advantage of a broken play in the final two minutes to tie the score and send the game to the third period even.
 
In the third, the Warriors would only need 26 seconds to find the go-ahead goal as Parker Lalonde picked up the Huskies turnover and his shot would ricochet to Caelan Fitzpatrick who fired the shot in, bringing the Warrior crowd behind the net to their feet.
 
With the lead secured, the story would be Max Lundgren, who only got stronger as the period went on, stopping shot after shot, 22 in total in the final period, making eight in the final five minutes to preserve the victory and win Merrimack their first Hockey East Championship in their 37^th year in the conference.
 
Postgame, Max Lundgren would be unanimously named as Hockey East Most Valuable Player and Goaltender of the tournament. He would joined by teammates, Trevor Hoskin, Ryan O'Connell (Unanimous) and Nathan King as apart of the 2026 All-Tournament team.
 
Along with a career high in saves, Max Lundgren passed Joe Cannata's record of most minutes played in a single season as he's played 2274:26.
 
The Warriors will await their opponent in the NCAA Regional Round as Selection Sunday is tomorrow afternoon.
 
 
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