With our next preview in preparation for the season that is slowly creeping up on us, we’ll look at the Merrimack Warriors, a team that made the NCAAs and was just one game away from a Hockey East title last season.

Last season: 25-10-4 (16-8-3 Hockey East), finished 4th. Eliminated in Hockey East final by Boston College.

What happened: The Warriors had possibly the best season in program history last year. Even though they finished the regular season in fourth place, they were in the conversation for best team in the conference all season long. Head coach Mark Dennehy had his team focused and prepared for everything thrown at them. The team won 25 games (including a 14-2-1 overall record at home), got home ice in the Hockey East playoffs, and made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Although they came up just short in conference, they put up a great fight in the finals and lost to a tremendously talented Boston College team. If there was a game they wished they had back, it was their NCAA contest with Notre Dame. The Warriors squandered a late lead and ended up losing in overtime, finishing their historic season with a bad taste in their mouth. But the 2010-2011 Warriors team should have nothing to be ashamed of, they proved to everyone around the country that Merrimack is for real.

Key Losses:

• Stephane Da Costa (F): Like it or not, Da Costa was the heart and soul of last year’s team. He NHL talent and could not only score, he set up a ton of goals too, finishing with a line of 14-31-45 in 33 games. When he came back from injury late in the season, it gave the team a huge boost, even if he wasn’t at 100 percent. No matter what happens this season, Da Costa will be greatly missed. One thing’s for sure, we’ll all be watching for him in Ottawa.
• Joe Cucci (F): Cucci was another big key to the Warriors success. He is an example of a player who bought into the Dennehy system from the beginning. After things didn’t work out with Northeastern, Cucci had a solid career with Merrimack and capped it off with a scoring line of 14-22-36 in his final season.
• Chris Barton (F): Barton was able to get himself on the score-sheet plenty of times last season and his scoring touch will be missed this year as the Warriors look to stay in contention for home-ice.

Key returns:

• Joe Cannata (G): Cannata’s decision to stay in college for his final year of eligibility was the best news Merrimack got all summer. He has the experience they need in net to be a legitimate contender in the Hockey East, just like they were last season when he finished with a GAA of 2.48 and a save percentage of .911. He is probably considered the top returning goaltender in the conference.
• Karl Stollery and Kyle Bigos(D): Both of these blueliners logged serious minutes last season down the stretch. Merrimack is going to need them to stay healthy and do the same this season. The back-end hasn’t changed too much for the Warriors but these two will definitely be leaders back there and will have to stay out of the box, setting a good example for the defensive newcomers.
• Mike Collins (F): Collins hit the 30 point mark last season as a freshman. If he can build on that this year he has the potential to be a top player in the conference. The question is, will be be able to put up those kind of numbers on a Da Costa-less team?

2011-2012 Outlook: Merrimack should be one of the better teams in the Hockey East this season. With most of their back-end returning, there is no reason why they can’t be a home-ice team once again. How they deal with the loss of Da Costa offensively will be their biggest question, but they have enough young players around that with the right coaching from Dennehy, they can be a contender for years to come. Don’t expect Dennehy to jump ship anytime soon either, as he was given an extension after his success last year.

–Jared Shafran

Jared Shafran Hockey Fall Preview, Hockey East, Merrimack