The Merrimack Men’s Hockey team will play against the UMass Lowell Riverhawks in the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament at Lawler Arena, according to a March 10 announcement. This marks the fourth meeting between the two teams this season and their second matchup in less than a week. The game will be broadcast on NESN Plus and ESPN+.
This playoff encounter continues a postseason rivalry that has seen both teams win three games each in their previous six meetings. Merrimack won the last playoff contest between them, securing a 2-1 double overtime victory that advanced them to the Hockey East Championship.
The Warriors enter the postseason with five players—Justin Gill, Parker Lalonde, Caelan Fitzpatrick, Nick Pierre, and Trevor Hoskin—each scoring ten or more goals during the regular season. This is the highest number since the 2010-11 season when Merrimack reached both the Hockey East Final and NCAA National Tournament. Only Providence College matches this statistic among Hockey East teams; no other team has more than three players with ten or more goals.
Goaltender Max Lundgren has played every minute for Merrimack this season, making his 20th game with 30 or more saves in their recent win over Lowell. Lundgren is just 21 saves away from reaching 1,000 saves for the season—a milestone achieved by only two other goalies in program history. Justin Gill scored twice in that same game, surpassing fifteen goals for the regular season—the first Warrior to do so since Hampus Gustafsson in 2015-16—and currently leads the team alongside Trevor Hoskin with 32 points.
Merrimack’s offense has been strong throughout the year; they have scored three or more goals in a period nine times this season and are undefeated (8-0) when doing so. Recent playoff history shows that four of their last five postseason games have gone into overtime, with Merrimack winning two of those contests—including double overtime victories against Boston College and UMass Lowell.
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