Several current, former and future Warriors are taking part in NHL Development Camps across the country.
In Vancouver, former All-American turned Hobey Baker nominee Joe Cannata may well earn the backup job with the Canucks after former Boston College standout Cory Schneider was traded to the New Jersey Devils during this year’s NHL Draft.
His backup both in High School and College, Merrimack senior Sam Marotta, also received an invite.
In Chicago, Merrimack junior Quinn Gould is performing during his week with the club. After 9 points in limited play following an injury last season, Gould scored a goal to help his Team B defeat Team A in a scrimmage according to ESPN Chicago’s Scott Powers.
Future Warrior Mike Babcock, son of Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock, is taking part in Detroit’s Camp.
Babcock scored 42 points (18-24-42) in 30 games for Detroit Catholic Central High School this past season, and was recently traded to the Fargo Force of the USHL.
Via Mike McMahon at The Mack Report here’s a quote from Fargo assistant coach Jesse Davis.
“Michael is a defensive type of forward who may not put many points up on the board but he’s going to help keep a lot of pucks out of our net”, said Fargo assistant coach Jesse Davis. “He has great speed and we were searching for a player like him. When he became available, we traded for him right away to help fill some of the voids left from a lot of forwards from last year’s team moving on to college hockey.”
If 42 points in 30 games is coming from someone who “may not put many points up on the board,” Merrimack fans should be excited.
Senior Mike Collins and incoming freshman Chris LeBlanc are taking part in Minnesota and Ottawa’s camps, respectively.
Merrimack Hockey to play at Fenway Park for Frozen Fenway in January
“Frozen Fenway” at Fenway Park. Merrimack College is expected to play Providence January 4, 2014
Hockey East officially announced today what has been speculation for the past several months: college hockey is returning to Fenway Park.
Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna said the following in a statement released today:
““We are excited about the return of hockey to Fenway Park. We are particularly pleased that with these two doubleheaders, all of our men’s programs will have had the opportunity to experience Frozen Fenway, including the University of Notre Dame, our newest member.”
When Fenway Park last held its Frozen Fenway event in January 2012, Merrimack College was not one of the schools chosen to participate. This time, however, Merrimack will the opportunity to play against Providence College, a budding rivalry that has resulted in exciting, physical hockey games between the two programs who have become just as tough members of the Hockey East conference as any other school.
The news became official today when the City of Boston approved the necessary permits needed in order to make Frozen Fenway happen.
Merrimack will play Providence College in the first game of a double-header on January 4th, with Boston College taking on Notre Dame University – the newest addition to Hockey East in 2014 – in the later game. The Merrimack/Providence game will be a non-conference game, so the outcome will not affect the Hockey East standings.
“Even though this has been done before, playing at Fenway is still truly exciting for all involved,” Merrimack hockey head coach Mark Dennehy told College Hockey News’ Mike McMahon. “Merrimack is proud to be a part of this event.”
Merrimack Athletics sent out the following press release today:
Former Merrimack College goalie, Joe Cannata (Wakefield, Mass.) has been promoted to the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL for the final two games of the regular season, as announced by the team on Wednesday.
Cannata was a sixth-round draft pick of the Canucks and signed with the team last spring after a stellar collegiate career at Merrimack.
Cannata appeared in 14 games for the Chicago Wolves this season, the Vancouver Canucks AHL affiliate, registering a 2.65 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. Cannata compiled a 6-6-0 record during his stint with the Wolves.
Cannata departed as Merrimack’s all-time leader in wins, games played, minutes played, saves, goals-against and save percentage. He started all but one game in his final two years and allowed only 27 even strength goals (excluding empty netters) in 27 league games as a senior. The Wakefield native surrendered more than two goals only eight times as a senior, as Merrimack went 18-2-4 when scoring two or more goals.
A two-time Hobey Baker nominee and Walter Brown award semifinalist, Cannata was a Hockey East first-team selection as a senior, becoming the program’s first first-team honoree since 1993-94.
John Gustafsson celebrates his first career goal at Boston College on November 16th
In light of Clayton Jardine’s fractured tibula plateau last Sunday at Providence, Freshman John Gustafsson is active and playing in Jardine’s left wing spot today for Merrimack.
Gustafsson is a nice option on a line that was finally starting to click together. With experienced junior Shawn Bates centering sophomore wing Josh Myers as well, Gustafsson adds speed to an already speedy lineup. He also has a strong shot and great finishing ability, so look for that second line to really press BC with their speed today, creating mismatches, rebounds and easy chip ins on open nets.
Gustafsson has 5 points (1-4-5) in 23 games played this season. His only previous goal came against Boston College in November 16th this season. Gustafsson also scored in an exhibition against the US Under 18 Team in December.
The Jardine-Bates-Myers line had seemingly just found their groove, highlighted by 2 huge goals in the January 26th game at UNH, a 4-1 Merrimack victory.
If Merrimack wins today, they move up to 13th in the Pairwise Rankings, meaning if the playoffs started tomorrow, which they don’t, Merrimack would be one of 16 teams to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Connor Toomey scores the game-winner in OT last week against BC
There’s a blizzard outside for the third weekend in a row. The weathermen originally predicted another monstrous storm to hit us, but in the wake of those comments the predictions were scaled back and it’s been a relatively quiet weekend as far as snow goes. About an hour ago, no one expected anything significant to happen. Now, just 2 hours before puck drop, it’s snowing so hard it may never snow again. How appropriate.
After Merrimack stormed back into the National Conversation in the past few weeks, capped by a 2-1 overtime victory against Boston College last weekend, things have seemingly calmed a bit. Last week, the anticipation before the game was practically palpable as you walked through campus; every one was buzzing about the Battle for First. The last few days, however, things have cooled unseasonably, but today’s matchup remains crucial to both Merrimack’s playoff dreams and BC’s playoff seeding. With a Merrimack victory, they jump to 13th place in the Pairwise Ranking, good for a spot in the NCAA Tournament should the season end tomorrow.
Maybe it’s a a trap to lure in the unsuspecting Eagles, although after last week’s gritty win from the Warriors, unsuspecting isn’t quite the word I’d expect to us to describe BC. This blizzard could be a sign of things to come this afternoon. It’s about time someone else claimed the Hockey East throne, and while Merrimack stands atop the perch, it’s a damn good time to make one final statement to the perennial champions. There’s a storm coming, Boston College. Look out.
Keys to the Game:
Stay on the Ice!
Merrimack did a really good job of playing intelligent hockey last week to stay out of the penalty box. In total, Merrimack only committed 5 penalties, while BC committed 10, including four in the third period and overtime. The OT Power Play would ultimately give Merrimack the victory as Connor Toomey scored the advantage goal while Pat Mullane was in the box for interference. BC has killed right around 86% of it’s penalties and scored on about 22% of opponents’. If you translate those numbers to the NHL, BC would be ranked 6th and 9th, respectively. Merrimack does not want to get into a special teams battle.
Part of playing smart means smart hitting, which Merrimack in the past has struggled with. They need to get out and make some big hits early, simply sending a message that says “Hey, we’re here. This is our house. We’re not backing down.” If BC comes out and runs the table, sending Merrimack bodies flying in the first, it’ll be a long afternoon. Clip those wings and hurt their confidence early and it’ll go a long way.
Defense, Defense, Defense!
Merrimack defenders love to dive on the ice and block pucks and did so again last week, blocking 17 shots taken by BC shooters. Diving for pucks and saving the goalie is a staple of Merrimack hockey, and they need to keep it up if they want to win again today. While Sam Marotta is playing tremendously in net, BC has 5 players with 20 or more points, and 3 above 30. This team is tremendously skilled and will pepper Marotta with shots every chance they get, especially if they get rolling on the Power Play. Marotta may be playing like a superstar right now, but he can’t do it alone.
Capitalize on Offensive Chances
You’re not going to score a lot of pretty goals on these BC defensemen. Period. Parker Milner is playing some of the best hockey of his career in net as a senior as well, and while he’s never really played well at Merrimack, he’s still very good. Merrimack needs to get into their offensive rhythm early on and consistently keep it at their pace throughout the game, period-to-period. They can very easily score goals in bunches, but BC may be the biggest threat to match this feat in the league, as evidenced by the teams’ first meeting where Merrimack scored 3 goals in 5 minutes to take a commanding 3-0 lead, only to watch it disappear 7 minutes later. They need to get the puck on net, get a defender in front of Milner to block his view, and just keep chipping away until an ugly goal or 3 find the back of the net.
Tonight at J. Thom Lawler Arena, the no. 19 Merrimack Warriors take on the no. 4 Boston College Eagles in a battle for sole possession of first place in the Hockey East standings. After a lackluster 6-7-3 first half, including a 4-4-3 record in Hockey East, Merrimack sat in just 6th place heading into the Christmas break. The first half let down could be summed up in one game – a 4-3 loss at Boston College on November 16th.
That Friday night, the Warriors jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the second period on the then no.1 ranked Eagles after a scoreless first. All three Warrior goals came in a 4:36 span. Understandably excited, the young Merrimack squad seemingly lost focus following those dominant four and a half minutes.
“It was like the first two rows at a Justin Bieber concert,” said Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy.
“The giddiness of our team being up three-nothing on the number one team in the country was palpable. You’ve got to be laser focused at the point, and I knew there was a lot of hockey left to be played.”
Merrimack would end up giving up that lead just as quickly as they had earned, as the Eagles scored 3 goals of their own in a five minute stretch that followed, capped off by an early 3rd period goal that would put the Eagles ahead for good.
”It was a learning experience,” explains Dennehy. “We can’t take much from it now, but it was a precursor to where we are today and showed that we can play with the best teams in the country.”
Since the beginning of their second half campaign on December 29th, the Warriors have seemingly turned the tables around. Fresh off defeats of Hockey East foes UNH and UMass Lowell, both ranked nationally, the Warriors find themselves in the midst of a 7-2-1 stretch that has them back in the national conversation, in 2nd place in their conference, and 20th in the Pairwise Rankings that are taken under heavy consideration when determining the 16 teams that will make the NCAA tournament.
I saw down with Merrimack captain and blue-liner Jordan Heywood to talk about tonight’s battle for first place.
PB: Was your preparation any different this week heading into such a huge match-up?
JH: We’re not really focused on who we’re playing, although it obviously adds to the excitement of the game. There’s big implications, but we try to stay focused on us. We feel that if we prepare properly, we work hard, and do the little things right, that’ll give us the best chance to win and we have the ability to beat every team in the country.
What do you take from the 4-3 loss to this team back in November?
You just can’t get too high with the highs and low with the lows. I think we obviously got too high on the bench, we were pretty excited. But they’re a team who has the ability to score in large volumes pretty quickly. I don’t expect there to be that drastic shift of momentum this time. But, you never know. If it happens you just have to be prepared to go out there the next shift and work even harder.
How do you contain “Johnny Hockey” – BC’s star sophomore and Team USA hero Johnny Gaudreau?
Obviously you have a little more focus at times when he’s on the ice because he’s a tremendous player, but, again, we’re not focusing on what they’re doing or what their players are doing. We just feel that if we stick to our focus and stick to our game plan those little things will take care of themselves.
Is it intimidating squaring up with BC, or is it an exciting challenge?
Yeah, I don’t feel intimidated playing them. It’s pretty easy for teams to be intimidated, though. I remember freshman year, the first game [against BC], feeling kind of intimidated, but you realize pretty quickly that they sweat and they bleed just like you do.
If I had told you 6 weeks ago you’d be playing BC at home for first place on February 15th, would you have believed me?
I think so, yeah. Earlier in the year we saw flashes of how good our team can be, but we also saw flashes of how bad we can be. We were pretty inconsistent at times. But just seeing how young our team was and how well we’ve grown…you don’t want to be overconfident in yourself, but from pretty early in the year I believed we had a pretty good team. We have a lot of good players. It was just kind of part of the process to wait that out and just make sure we’re doing the little things right, so that when it comes to games like tonight, we’re ready.
Was there ever a point where you thought ‘okay, maybe this is a lost season’? Did anyone ever give up?
No, if anyone had given up we wouldn’t be at the point we’re at now. It doesn’t mean there wasn’t frustration. It’s really frustrating, a lot of times, because it’s just saying the same things over and over, but a lot of it is just a process. It takes time for players to mature and develop into the player that the team needs them to be. It’s just coming to the rink every day with the idea that you have to work hard. The teams who really do that over the course of the season are the ones who will be there at the end.
93% of voters in my recent poll say this team can get out of the first round of the Hockey East tournament, while 50% believe you can make the Hockey East Finals and the NCAA Tournament. How far can this team go?
The way that college hockey works is that the team who is playing the best at the right time can go the whole way. You don’t have that 7 game series format. Once you get past the first round it’s just one game, and if you can put together one game then you can beat anyone. You start to build some confidence and anything can happen. You look at BC last year, and they won 19 in a row to end the season when no one, at the beginning, really thought they were going to be that good. I think this team could do that too, I definitely believe that. It’s all about having your players play well at the right time.
Do you feel like you’ve hit that stride the last few games?
I think so. I think it’s just guarding the team against feeling like we’ve arrived at anything, because we haven’t. Sure we’re playing for 1st place, but Providence is a point behind us, UNH is a point behind us. BU is 3 points behind us. You drop two games and suddenly you’re down in fourth or fifth place. No one’s running away with it and I don’t think anyone is going to run away with it. For us every game is against a top 6 or 7 team. Every game is big.
How big are the fans, who still believe in you even after a rocky first half? How big of a boost is it when they’re packed in Lawler?
It’s a huge boost. The first thing every player does when they skate out onto the ice is look down to the fan section to see what the turnout is. When you see that fan section full it definitely gives you a jump in your step. Hearing them chanting, cheering and having fun…it’s a small rink and gets pretty loud in there quickly. It makes a huge difference. We really appreciate it when you guys come out.
So now it’s your turn: who wins tonight’s Battle for First, Merrimack or BC? Vote below!
Sophomores Connor Toomey and Josh Myers “Tebowing” in a picture at the team’s annual Skate with Santa event in December
After a tough first half, the Warriors have come storming back to reclaim a national ranking, this week moving up a spot to #19. Considering the completely different teams we’ve seen on the ice this season, what do you think? Can this team make a deep run in the Hockey East Tournament? Can they still make the NCAAs with a month left? Voice your opinion below, and feel free to chat it up in the comments section!
Blind Obedience 