Merrimack '21-'22: Can't a guy get a thread around here?

[Darius]

I didn't have an issue with any of the coaches challenging over the weekend. What do you have to lose? Offsides are often missed. Goaltender interference can be missed too. You literally have nothing to lose. If you challenge and the goal stands, your season is still over. It's always worth a shot. I think OT goals should always be reviewed for every possible aspect so coaches don't have to challenge but as a coach, you hope something was missed even if it wasn't obvious. Hell, I've seen goalie interference called for a guy skating by and his stick hits the goalie and knocks him off his spot. It's worth it in my mind. It seems like bad sportsmanship, but again, nothing to lose. Season is over with or without the challenge. Might as well take a look at EVERYTHING.

Not when no player is close to the blue line. Not when no player is close to the crease. Yes, you do. Your dignity and the respect of the others. Let the winning team celebrate and enjoy.

 

[HockeyRef]

For real. I would not put it past Coach Pecknold saying something and/or the officials being aware of last weekend.

I noticed at the Manch Regional yesterday that it was very obvious the top seed got on the ice first..Or at least...sure seemed to be? Seemed they (top seed)
got more 'me first' time than usual haha..

 

[MCHOCKEY]

Not when no player is close to the blue line. Not when no player is close to the crease. Yes, you do. Your dignity and the respect of the others. Let the winning team celebrate and enjoy.

BU celebrated just fine on Sunday. As did Merrimack on Saturday night. They knew. And there are ALWAYS players around the crease. ALWAYS. 6 inches too close and poof, disallowed.

 

[J.D.]

Not when no player is close to the blue line. Not when no player is close to the crease. Yes, you do. Your dignity and the respect of the others. Let the winning team celebrate and enjoy.

Ya these were egregious challenges with absolutely nothing to look at. It hurts the game when you have to stop what you're doing and wait on a challenge from a sore loser coach.

With that said, Mack was my pick to knock off a 1 seed. Already happened yesterday but I will stick by it.

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Not when no player is close to the blue line. Not when no player is close to the crease. Yes, you do. Your dignity and the respect of the others. Let the winning team celebrate and enjoy.

100%. A degree of decorum is expected and that challenge was a total bozo-show and that's not even an opinion.

 

[BigAl]

Score didn’t reflect the entire story of that game. That first goal was what we needed to open things up while simultaneously a tough goal to swallow for y’all.

Congrats on a great season and a formidable fight today

 

[ZYanksRule]

Thought you guys were really good tonight. QU got lucky with the first goal, and just plays so well with the lead.

Congrats on a great season. Nothing to be ashamed of with that game tonight.

 

[Bomber]

I came here to see if your coach behaved himself after the loss : )

Congrats on a needle moving season. Hopefully, BU plays their A-game so we have one HE team in Tampa.

 

[HockeyRef]

A great season you guys had! Now you have something to build on, and, now with MC on the map great recruiting days lay ahead...

 

[Split-N]

A tip of this NU Husky's helmet.

 

[Jofa]

I came here to see if your coach behaved himself after the loss : )

Congrats on a needle moving season. Hopefully, BU plays their A-game so we have one HE team in Tampa.

He didn't even behave during the loss. He whined to the ESPN reporter during the timeout interview that Q players were flopping.

 

[Jofa]

A great season you guys had! Now you have something to build on, and, now with MC on the map great recruiting days lay ahead...

MC finished 9th in the country in 2010-11 season in final polls and were ranked #1 at one point during the season. There were no "firsts" accomplished this year they have been to the Finals in HE once before and to the semi's twice before. The took advantage of an extremely down year in HE and took the 14th and last at-large slot in the NCAA's with 7 one -year graduate players. I am not sure any groundwork has been laid for the future. Kudos to them for doing what they did to take advantage of the opportunity.

 

[RENCEB]

Score didn’t reflect the entire story of that game. That first goal was what we needed to open things up while simultaneously a tough goal to swallow for y’all.

Congrats on a great season and a formidable fight today

Thanks. Agree, 1st goal was a tough one to swallow, but they don't ask how, they only ask how many. Thought Merrimack still had a glimmer of hope down 2-0 and on a power play, but once QU scored the 3rd, it was all over but the final score. Stifling defense for the Bobcats, and even if you crack that, you have to get it by Perets. That's a big ask.
Good luck moving forward. I hope those players who stayed the extra year can get it done.

 

[BigAl]

Thanks. Agree, 1st goal was a tough one to swallow, but they don't ask how, they only ask how many. Thought Merrimack still had a glimmer of hope down 2-0 and on a power play, but once QU scored the 3rd, it was all over but the final score. Stifling defense for the Bobcats, and even if you crack that, you have to get it by Perets. That's a big ask.
Good luck moving forward. I hope those players who stayed the extra year can get it done.

Thanks. They’ve played awfully well all year, just hope they bring it again tomorrow cause Ohio St can beat anyone on any given night. Got a special group of older guys

 

[RENCEB]

MC finished 9th in the country in 2010-11 season in final polls and were ranked #1 at one point during the season. There were no "firsts" accomplished this year they have been to the Finals in HE once before and to the semi's twice before. The took advantage of an extremely down year in HE and took the 14th and last at-large slot in the NCAA's with 7 one -year graduate players. I am not sure any groundwork has been laid for the future. Kudos to them for doing what they did to take advantage of the opportunity.

You're right, they were #1 a couple of weeks in the '10-'11 season, They had the reigning National Rookie of the year in Stephane Da Costa and Joe Cannata in net. That was a terrific team. They finished in 4th place in HE that year, took BC to well into the 3rd period in the HE Championship, and lost to Notre Dame (ugh!) in OT in Manchester.

They also made the HE semi's in an enormous upset over BU in '98, Coach Ron Anderson's last year.

This year was their best regular season finish EVER in Hockey East (2nd place). That qualifies as a "first" for me.

Alex Jefferies was named a 1st Team Hockey East All Star. He's only the 4th Merrimack player to achieve that, and the 1st since Mike Collins in '12-'13. Again, not a "first" but a pretty nice accomplishment. (I get it, for BU 1st Team All Star selections are almost a given).

They brought in 5 "1 year" grad students, not 7. Messner transferred from Wisconsin in his Junior year, and Seyfert has been at Merrimack all along and has dealt with hellacious injuries.

I get it. You and many fans of the other "thoroughbred" programs hate the idea of bringing in grad students; you don't need to. You just continue loading up on US National Team guys and high draft picks. For the rest of us, until it is no longer an option, I hope Borek leverages it to the hilt.

Good luck to BU in their 23rd Frozen 4.

 

[HockeyRef]

You're right, they were #1 a couple of weeks in the '10-'11 season, They had the reigning National Rookie of the year in Stephane Da Costa and Joe Cannata in net. That was a terrific team. They finished in 4th place in HE that year, took BC to well into the 3rd period in the HE Championship, and lost to Notre Dame (ugh!) in OT in Manchester.

They also made the HE semi's in an enormous upset over BU in '98, Coach Ron Anderson's last year.

This year was their best regular season finish EVER in Hockey East (2nd place). That qualifies as a "first" for me.

Alex Jefferies was named a 1st Team Hockey East All Star. He's only the 4th Merrimack player to achieve that, and the 1st since Mike Collins in '12-'13. Again, not a "first" but a pretty nice accomplishment. (I get it, for BU 1st Team All Star selections are almost a given).

They brought in 5 "1 year" grad students, not 7. Messner transferred from Wisconsin in his Junior year, and Seyfert has been at Merrimack all along and has dealt with hellacious injuries.

I get it. You and many fans of the other "thoroughbred" programs hate the idea of bringing in grad students; you don't need to. You just continue loading up on US National Team guys and high draft picks. For the rest of us, until it is no longer an option, I hope Borek leverages it to the hilt.

Good luck to BU in their 23rd Frozen 4.

Agree with all of your points here! Nothing wrong with leveraging any/all talent opps that are out there. Like you said in your last statement most teams don't have the luxury of recruiting the talent BU BC etc can. Remains to be seen how things go...

 

[RENCEB]

Not sure I'd get much traction with a "stand alone" off season thread, so we'll continue on here.

7 Grad students moving on. Hope they enjoyed their time up in North Andover, as they gave all of us a lot of reasons to cheer this year.

Fantastic to see that Alex Jefferies will be returning for his Sr. year. He had a terrific season, but was not as "visible" in the playoffs as I would have hoped. Here's hoping that 1 more year and a bit more "edge" is beneficial for him.

Mac Welsher and Filip Forsmark have committed to coming back for their 5th year. Not sure of Ben Brar's status. With Matt Copponi returning after a stellar Soph. season, that is 3 of their top 6 scoring forwards coming back.

Defense looks really solid. Zach Bookman showed a ton of confidence with the puck as a freshman. Christian Felton was on the HE Tournament Team and Mike Brown was a rock. Ivan Zivlak, Trevor Griebel and Kevin Sadovski will compete for blue line time.

Warriors will be VERY strong in net with Zach Borgiel and Hugo Ollas both returning. Goalie situation for Merrimack is a lot better than for a number of other HE teams.

A couple of players coming in through the transfer portal, including former UNH Captain Chase Stevenson. Always good to add leadership. He had 12 goals for the Wildcats this past season and I'm sure he'll be a key contributor next season.

'23 recruits include Ty Daneault who was one of the top goal scorers in the AJHL this year, and potentially Ethan Bono from the BCHL ('23 or '24).

Looking forward to another exciting year next year!

 

[RENCEB]

Great to hear that Ben Brar is returing next year. 14-12-26 in '22-'23. This means Warriors are returning their top 3 scorers.

 

[Darius]

Gift from Richard, Susanna Gallant to fund upgrades, modernizations for Merrimack’s Lawler Rink:

https://www.uscho.com/2023/06/19/gi...es-modernizations-for-merrimacks-lawler-rink/

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

"Thanks to a transformative multi million-dollar gift from Richard and Susanna Gallant, the college’s board of trustees approved significant renovations that will update several aspects of the storied facility"

Storied facility! Sounds like the old Boston Garden or Fenway.

Hope everyone is having a good offseason.