Posts Tagged ‘Merrimack’

Listen to Jim Madigan’s remarks after Northeastern dropped a Friday night tilt to Merrimack 4-1.

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Jared Shafran Audio, Hockey, Press Pass Merrimack

Thursday, October 20

9:00 p.m. – Hockey East This Week
No guest panelist this week

Friday, October 21

3:00 p.m. – Dog Pound Sports Sound
Interview: Ken Nichols

7:15 p.m. – Northeastern Hockey Pre-Game
7:30 p.m. – Northeastern Hockey: Huskies at Merrimack College Warriors
from Lawler Arena in North Andover, Mass.
with Alex Faust, Jared Shafran, and Ben Horner

Saturday, October 22

6:45 p.m. – Northeastern Hockey Pre-Game
7:00 p.m. – Northeastern Hockey: Huskies vs. Boston College Eagles
from Matthews Arena
with Alex Faust, Jared Shafran, and Ben Horner

WRBB Sports Hockey BC, Merrimack

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

In an explosive physical game, the Warriors win 4-3 with less than a minute remaining in overtime.

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WRBB Sports Hockey, QuickCast Merrimack

Warriors coach Mark Dennehy continues to be impressed with his team’s winning mentality and attitude:

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Meanwhile, Huskies coach Greg Cronin is looking to refocus his team entering the Beanpot:

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WRBB Sports Hockey, Press Pass Merrimack

Monday, January 31

7:00 p.m. – CAA Full Court Press

Wednesday, February 2

6:45 p.m. – Huskies Pre-Game
7:00 p.m. – Northeastern Basketball: Huskies vs. VCU Rams
from Matthews Arena
with Patrick McHugh, Andy Towne, and Kainani Stevens

Friday, February 4

3:00 p.m. – Dog Pound Sports Sound

6:45 p.m. – Huskies Pre-Game
7:00 p.m. – Northeastern Hockey: Huskies vs. Merrimack Warriors
from Matthews Arena
with Alex Faust, Ben Horner, and Jared Shafran

Saturday, February 5

3:45 p.m. – Huskies Pre-Game
4:00 p.m. – Northeastern Basketball: Huskies at Hofstra Pride
from the Mack Athletic Complex in Hempstead, N.Y.
with Andy Towne, Brandon Challener, and TBA

WRBB Sports Basketball, Hockey Hofstra, Merrimack, VCU

After battling back from an early deficit, the Huskies steal a win on the road against the No. 18-ranked Warriors, 2-1.

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WRBB Sports Hockey, QuickCast Merrimack

Head coach Greg Cronin spoke with WRBB after Saturday night’s 2-1 win at Merrimack.

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WRBB Sports Hockey, Press Pass Merrimack

NORTH ANDOVER, MASS. — Two streaks were broken on Saturday night at Thom J. Lawler Arena.

Six games – The Merrimack Warriors had been undefeated at home in their last six tests dating back to last season, and had gone 16-3-2 in their last 21 at home. That was, until Saturday night.

32 games – Not since January 2nd of this year had Garrett Vermeersch lit the lamp. A span of 32 games had elapsed, but finally the sophomore forward got his name back in the box score, picking up his first goal of the season.

With both streaks coming to a close, Northeastern picked up two significant Hockey East points on the night.

Though Merrimack opened the scoring with Stephane Da Costa picking up his seventh tally of the season (13:22 into the first period), the Huskies responded not by collapsing into a defensive shell as had been the case so many times this year, but rather with aggression and poise, outshooting the Warriors 15-11 in the second.

The big swing in momentum came early in the period, as Vermeersch picked up an ugly rebound in front of Merrimack goaltender Joe Cannata with 2:29 gone by in the second, ending his long scoring drought and leveling the game a one goal apiece.

The game-winner came from Tyler McNeely, buring his team-leading seventh goal of the season at 8:03 in the second period on a rebound after a long shot from Brodie Reid created another rebound chance in front. McNeely had ample space to wrist the shot past Cannata, giving the Huskies the deciding 2-1 victory.

The two goals, ugly shots from short range, were the topic of discussion for Huskies coach Greg Cronin after the game.

“We play so many one-goal games, and a lot of them we’ve lost without the help of a power play,” Cronin remarked, “We’ve got to find a way to get some greasy, ugly goals… it’s going to develop, I think. We’re really in the last stages of this identity evolution.”

The Huskies improve their record to 3-5-3 in conference play, and 3-8-4 overall. The Huskies finish the first half of the season when they visit Boston University on Wednesday night.

Alex Faust Hockey Merrimack