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HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

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  • #46
    Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

    Originally posted by dmjossel View Post
    How in the heck did this morph from an "Is Merrimack Back" thread into a "Marcou for Hobey" thread?

    Merrimack has about two threads on this board, is it really necessary to hijack one of them?
    Hi. Welcome to the board. This is what we do here.

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    • #47
      Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

      Originally posted by dmjossel View Post
      How in the heck did this morph from an "Is Merrimack Back" thread into a "Marcou for Hobey" thread?

      Merrimack has about two threads on this board, is it really necessary to hijack one of them?
      If I made a thread about hijacking threads, someone would find a way to hijack it. It's this board's specialty.
      Places I've seen a college hockey game: Agganis Arena, Alfond Arena, Bright Center, Consol Energy Center, Conte Forum, DCU Center, Fenway Park, Gutterson Fieldhouse, Houston Field House, Lawler Arena, Madison Square Garden, Matthews Arena, Mullins Center, Schneider Arena, Scottrade Center, Sears Centre, Tampa Bay Times Forum, TD Bank Sports Center, TD Garden, Tsongas Center, Tully Forum, Verizon Center, Verizon Wireless Arena, Walter Brown Arena, Wells Fargo Center, Whittemore Center

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      • #48
        Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

        Originally posted by Federal League View Post
        Wouldn't Merrimack had to have been there in the first place in order to be "back"?
        Merrimack was in the 1988 NCAA tournament as an independent and eliminated the HEA champion, Northeastern in the first round. In 1989 the year before they joined HEA they just missed making the tournament under controversial circumstances.

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        • #49
          Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

          Originally posted by dmjossel View Post
          How in the heck did this morph from an "Is Merrimack Back" thread into a "Marcou for Hobey" thread?

          Merrimack has about two threads on this board, is it really necessary to hijack one of them?
          Just be happy one of them isn't about kicking MC out of HEA.

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          • #50
            Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

            Originally posted by ChiefWahoo View Post
            In 1989 the year before they joined HEA they just missed making the tournament under controversial circumstances.
            Was Benedetto involved?

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            • #51
              Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

              Originally posted by Brian Gentry View Post
              Was Benedetto involved?
              LOL legendary post
              Before there was a band there was "the drum guy"

              @SalvucciM

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              • #52
                Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                Originally posted by jjmc85 View Post
                **** you! Do you know how long I had to wait in traffic because of this? And I've never even once thought anything bad about Marcou ever.
                By not muttering about getting the puck to Mikey and repeating the word diver like Beavis you committed a mortal sin. Repent!!

                Chief- If Merrimak keeps this up, I fully expect a MC fan to start a "Kick BU Out of Hockey East!!" thread just for the sake of pay back.

                "I have come up with a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel. ."
                -Blackadder
                "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here. "
                -Casablanca
                "They could maybe hire another officer to catch the illegal immigrant drug dealers breast feeding at Dunkin' Donuts or whatever it is! Thank you!"
                -Somerville Speakout

                2008 POTY

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                • #53
                  Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                  Originally posted by Jon View Post

                  Chief- If Merrimak keeps this up, I fully expect a MC fan to start a "Kick BU Out of Hockey East!!" thread just for the sake of pay back.
                  Who knows, if Merrimack wins on the 13th against BU, they just might
                  - John

                  2013, 2014, 2017: UML Hockey: Hockey East Champions!

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                  • #54
                    Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                    Originally posted by ChiefWahoo View Post
                    Merrimack was in the 1988 NCAA tournament as an independent and eliminated the HEA champion, Northeastern in the first round. In 1989 the year before they joined HEA they just missed making the tournament under controversial circumstances.
                    Well... controversial might be a stretch. Disappointing circumstances, yes.

                    Hrivnak had just bolted to the pros to go play for the Skipjacks in Washington's system. Reports were that he'd become academically ineligible. That left the MC pipes being tended by Craig DalFarra and John... John... darn I can't remember. Where's my media guide... oh yeah, Moltenbrey.

                    The NCAA selection committee looked at this (rightly, if you ask me, although it was disappointing at the time) as if Merrimack's team had been unquestionably weakened. Remembering a game against AIC where a shot was deflected by DalFarra off his stick, straight up into the air, over his head, and down into the goal behind him, it was hard to question them.

                    St. Cloud State got an Independent bid in the tourney that year. Merrimack didn't. The he team never got to see if their offense and defense could have carried them further than they got in '88. I tend to think... not very far.

                    By the time the team got to Hockey East full time, a lot of the players that brought them success as a Division 1 Independent had graduated. A Final Four berth, had the Warriors earned one in '88, might have been a huge boost to recruiting in those first few years. Instead, Merrimack ended up being a much smaller fish in a much larger pond, and getting... well, fried up quite a lot.

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                    • #55
                      Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                      Originally posted by dmjossel View Post
                      Well... controversial might be a stretch. Disappointing circumstances, yes.
                      What kind of schedule was MC playing as an independent? I know UMass killed everyone as an independent, but they played an awful schedule. Niagara had that season where they won like 32 games, but I don't think they played too many teams of consequence (until UNH, right?).
                      It's easy to root for a winner...

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                      • #56
                        Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                        Originally posted by justinD View Post
                        What kind of schedule was MC playing as an independent? I know UMass killed everyone as an independent, but they played an awful schedule. Niagara had that season where they won like 32 games, but I don't think they played too many teams of consequence (until UNH, right?).
                        Here's the schedule from the Merrimack media guide (page 58) for the 1988/1989 season, the year before joining Hockey East. I believe Alaska Anchorage, Alabama Huntsville & Notre Dame were all DI Indepedents at the time. Union was DIII.
                        http://www.merrimackathletics.com/sp...ockey_0910.pdf

                        1988/1989 Schedule (27-7-0)
                        10/28 W 9 vs. Dalhousie! 7
                        10/29 L 2 @ Maine! 4
                        11/4 W 4 vs. Wisco.-River Falls# 2
                        11/5 W 11 @ Plattsburgh State# 2
                        11/12 W 4 St. Anselm 0
                        11/15 L 2 @ New Hampshire 5
                        11/18 W 6 American International$2
                        11/19 W 6 St. Anselm$ 0
                        11/21 W 10 Norwich 3
                        11/23 W 3 @ Notre Dame 1
                        11/25 W 4 @ Notre Dame 3 (OT)
                        11/30 W 11 Holy Cross 0
                        12/2 W 4 @ Northeastern 3
                        12/7 W 4 @ Providence 2
                        12/21 W 2 @ Alaska-Anchorage 1
                        12/22 L 3 @ Alaska-Anchorage 5
                        12/30 L 2 @ Alabama-Huntsville 3
                        12/31 W 6 @ Alabama-Huntsville 2
                        1/4 W 7 @ Holy Cross 1
                        1/7 W 6 Notre Dame 0
                        1/14 W 7 Elmira 3
                        1/17 W 6 @ Bowdoin 3
                        1/20 W 2 Clarkson 1
                        1/21 L 3 St. Lawrence 6
                        1/24 W 4 Babson 1
                        1/28 L 3 @ Union 6
                        1/31 W 7 @ Colby 1
                        2/4 W 6 Salem State 0
                        2/11 W 11 @ St. Anselm 2
                        2/13 L 2 @ American Int’l 5
                        2/15 W 7 Lowell 4
                        2/18 W 13 Connecticut 1
                        ecac east Playoffs
                        3/1 W 12 Mass Boston (SF) 1
                        3/4 W 9 Bowdoin (F) 4

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                        • #57
                          Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                          Originally posted by justinD View Post
                          What kind of schedule was MC playing as an independent? I know UMass killed everyone as an independent, but they played an awful schedule. Niagara had that season where they won like 32 games, but I don't think they played too many teams of consequence (until UNH, right?).
                          I'll have to defer to MikeM or somebody else who has a media guide on hand. They played NU that year in the regular season, as well as St. Lawrence and Clarkson (a split).

                          http://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/27/sp...ndent-bid.html

                          UNH is a team of consequence?

                          I always figured they were Tweedle Dee to Providence's Tweedle Dum, standing guard at the gates that keep the little teams from playing with the big boys (BU, BC, and Team That Used To Be Maine).

                          Just kidding

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                          • #58
                            Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                            Actually I was thinking of '87-88, but there are similarities.

                            That year they beat Brown 4-1, Lowell 5-3, NU 3-2 (OT), UAF 5-1, Clarkson 1-0, and then NU and in the NCAAs before falling to LSSU in the second round.

                            Div1 Losse that year were St. Lawrence 7-3, Lowell 6-5.

                            As Lowell had done in years earlier, the team was pretty dominant in their league (Which was Division II at the time, not III.)

                            Scores like 13-2 over Colby, 9-0 over UConn, 10-3 over Air Force, 10-0 over Union, 13-2 over Umass Boston 7-2 over AIC were typical.

                            Of course they did not have those kinds of gaudy scores against Div 1 teams, but they would have more than held their own. That team was far and away more talented than the teams that actually had to compete in Hockey East in the early 90s.

                            If they had joined a year or two earlier, things might have been quite, quite different. Instead of finishing 8th their first year, they might have been middle of the pack, and it might have helped a lot in recruiting to be able to show that the program was only a few steps away from being night-in, night-out competitive with the country's best teams, instead of being a flash in the pan.

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                            • #59
                              Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                              Originally posted by boblav1 View Post
                              Here's the schedule from the Merrimack media guide (page 58) for the 1988/1989 season, the year before joining Hockey East. I believe Alaska Anchorage, Alabama Huntsville & Notre Dame were all DI Indepedents at the time. Union was DIII.
                              http://www.merrimackathletics.com/sp...ockey_0910.pdf

                              1988/1989 Schedule (27-7-0)
                              Wow, they really stacked up on the powerhouses.
                              Places I've seen a college hockey game: Agganis Arena, Alfond Arena, Bright Center, Consol Energy Center, Conte Forum, DCU Center, Fenway Park, Gutterson Fieldhouse, Houston Field House, Lawler Arena, Madison Square Garden, Matthews Arena, Mullins Center, Schneider Arena, Scottrade Center, Sears Centre, Tampa Bay Times Forum, TD Bank Sports Center, TD Garden, Tsongas Center, Tully Forum, Verizon Center, Verizon Wireless Arena, Walter Brown Arena, Wells Fargo Center, Whittemore Center

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Re: HE after October: Is Merrimack Back???

                                Originally posted by Federal League View Post
                                Wow, they really stacked up on the powerhouses.
                                They played their ECAC schedule plus the teams that would play them. Most teams did NOT want to play them.

                                Div 1 teams had everything to lose and nothing to gain. If they'd won, it would be because they should have. If they lost, it was embarassing. Sort of like Maine losing to Bentley.

                                They won most of the games they were able to schedule, including two out of three against the beanpot and hockey east champion that year, backstopped by All-American Bruce Racine. Then they were the only team to beat the eventual national champion at home that year. The following season, until their netminder became ineligible, they continued to do the same.

                                Yeah, you're right. NU, Clarkson, Lowell... just pushovers, really.

                                I realize it's fashionable to call for the exit of Merrimack from Hockey East these days, but to people honestly think the school was added just to round out the count of eight? That the league office, at the time, given the performance of the team between '86 and '89, didn't look like it belonged there? Not to mention the fact that the ECAC wanted them out and that Division 2 was beginning its collapse.

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