NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. -- The Merrimack College men's hockey program announced 18 players from the 2025-26 Hockey East Championship team will be returning to the Warriors for the 2026-27 campaign.
The Warriors do so with the men's hockey transfer portal set to open Monday.
"I'm really excited that we've had so many players decide to return to Merrimack College for next season," head coach
Scott Borek said. "It was obviously a special year for our group, and even the guys who aren't going to be with us deserve a lot of credit for what here over the last 12 months. But having 18 of those players from that championship game return means the world to me personally, but it really says a lot about Merrimack College and Merrimack hockey. We're excited to go forward with them."
Among those returners will be a handful of key contributors including rising junior captain
Caelan Fitzpatrick, classmate
Trevor Hoskin as well as rising sophomores
Justin Gill and
Parker Lalonde. Lalonde led the Warriors in points (37) behind 13 goals and a team-high 24 assists, which ranked third in Hockey East. Gill (team-high 16 goals, 19 assists) and Hoskin (13 goals, 22 assists) both finished their first seasons in a Merrimack sweater with 35 points, which earned them a tie for sixth-most in Hockey East. Fitzpatrick (13 goals, 16 assists) recorded 29 points of his own.
The Warriors also will return rising seniors
Michael Emerson,
Cam Kungle,
Austin Oravetz and
Seamus Powell, and an incoming junior class of
Caden Cranston,
Ty Daneault,
Nathan King,
Ryan O'Connell,
Nick Pierre and goaltender
Ryan Keyes. Â
In addition to Gill and Lalonde, other rising sophomores returning to Merrimack include
Daniel Astapovich,
Ethan Beyer,
Nolan Flamand and
Hunter Mayo.
A key departure for the Warriors will be goaltender
Max Lundgren, who set a program record for saves in a single season. Lundgren agreed to sign an entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins, and has since started practicing in Providence.
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