No. 8 Merrimack Beats No. 3 UConn, Wins First-Ever Hockey East Title

Jack Lawhorne – Student Reporter

Boston, MA — For the first time in history, the Merrimack Warriors are Hockey East Champions.

Merrimack defeated UConn by a score of 2–1 Saturday night at TD Garden to take home the school and program’s first-ever conference championship.

“Everybody in the room has been around long enough to know that this means a lot to everyone associated with the college and our program,” said Merrimack head coach Scott Borek following the win.

“When I interviewed at Merrimack College, I said ‘we’re gonna stop apologizing and we’re going to win a championship.’”

And the fact that we were able to deliver on that, it wasn’t Scott Borek, it wasn’t just the players, it was the entire community. It was the administration. You don’t win without support from the administration. To get us in that position and then to put us over the line was pretty special. And we know college athletics is in a pretty messed up place. And for little Merrimack College to be able to compete, a lot of people have to contribute, and that’s happened on our campus and we were able to get over the line.”

The Warriors went on an improbable run as the No. 8 seed in Hockey East — defeating the No. 1, 2, and 3 seeds in Providence, UMass, and UConn.

“I think it’s unbelievable,” said Merrimack head coach Scott Borek. “We played three incredible teams, really well coached, NHL players on all three of them. And to win those three games… I felt like we came out of the regular season on a heater. We had to beat Providence and that was going to be tough, but we had split with them. But the two teams [UMass, UConn] we beat here, we hadn’t beaten yet this season… so the fact that we got through these two teams is pretty special.”

The Huskies fired 50 shots on goal Saturday night, and Merrimack goaltender Max Lundgren remarkably stopped all but one of them.

“This game can be a cruel game sometimes,” said UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh.

“You know, if this was a basketball game, we probably win by 20.”

“But it’s not.”

“Hats off to Lundgren. I thought he was terrific all night long. And, you know, I thought we were pretty good. I mean, it’s not often you can put up 50 shots and lose a game… It’s just disappointing for our club. There’s no question about it.”

“I was just trying to stay focused,” said Max Lundgren. “I mean, I’m not thinking of how many shots they have or what’s coming next. I’m just trying to focus on the next shot, next shot. And the guys did a great job in front of me, blocking shots, helping me with the rebounds. It was such a team effort today.”

Despite the Huskies dominating in the shot and chances departments, the Warriors struck first, opening the scoring two minutes into the second period, when Trevor Hoskin fired a shot from the slot which missed wide right, but ricocheted right to Ryan O’Connell who was battling in front of the net to notch his second game-opening goal in just over 24 hours.

“Elmer. He’s glue.” said Borek, who revealed his nickname for O’Connell after the Semifinal win over UMass Friday where the sophomore forward scored what proved to be the game-winner.

“And he sacrificed. He didn’t play much, if at all, after that first goal. And he was the loudest guy on the bench. He just always is. He’s the guy that everybody on our team, not just me, everybody on the team, leans into. And for him to score the two goals, it’s just karma. You know, when you live a good life and you live a humble life, good things will happen to you, and that’s what’s happened for Ryan. I’m so proud and so happy for him, because he needed it, and it’s cool.”

UConn finally knotted things up with two minutes left in the second, when Ethan Whitcomb took advantage of a rebound.

But less than a minute into the third, Parker Lalonde stole the puck in the offensive zone and fired it on net. Tyler Muszelik made the save, but a rebound bounced right to a crashing Caelan Fitzpatrick who netted it to retake the lead for Merrimack.

All three goals on the evening were scored off of rebounds.

“Well, both goaltenders are really good, and it’d be very hard to beat Max on a first shot,” Borek explained. “And they both played great. You know, Max, obviously.. He was very busy. And it’s sometimes hard to play goal, the way Tyler had to play goal, you know, where we had some surges, but we didn’t have consistent, sustained pressure. I thought he played unreal. And I think that was probably the only way we’re going to score, is get one off his pads and get him out of position.”

With 8:45 to play in the final period, UConn got a bouncing puck past Lundgren and in the crease where a Husky was and nearly knocked it in, but sophomore forward Nick Pierre somehow cleared it out. UConn then got the puck, though, and a shot at a wide open net. But Pierre again stepped up defensively and blocked the shot, maintaining Merrimack’s 2–1 lead.

“I have tons of pads, it doesn’t hurt if I take a shot,” said Lundgren. “But for players, it can hurt, and I appreciate them so much. It gives me an extra boost of energy.”

The Huskies outshot the Warriors 22–7 in the final period and 50–25 for the game, but were unable to even things back up.

Mike McMahon recalled back in November, early December, amidst a 2–7 stretch for the Warriors, when Borek told him: “I’m telling you, you’re gonna think I’m crazy. This team can win a hockey east championship.”

“We had a lot of opportunities to splinter. You know, you’re 5–10–2, UConn smoked us Friday and Saturday. It would have been really easy for finger pointing, for guys just to maybe not care as much about the we and start leaning a little bit towards me, and they just never did… And they never backed down.”

“I’m so proud to be the coach of this team,” said Scott Borek. “We had a lot of difficult times early, but the way we stuck with it was unbelievable.”

When asked how the team was able to get it done this time around after falling short in the Championship game three years ago, Borek’s answer was clear.

“We didn’t take any penalties. We had the lead in that game, and I don’t know if you remember how frustrated I was with those penalties, but we didn’t take any tonight. We gave [BU] a 5-on-3 and I don’t care who else was on their team but Lane Hudson was, and that’s a problem. We gave him the ice to make a play and he made a play to get them back in the game, and then obviously we got to overtime but we weren’t able to get through it. It was incredibly disappointing knowing that we were right there to win the first championship at Merrimack College, and to have it slip away like that was heartbreaking and nothing short of that. It was the players, and I think I might have even cried on the stage that night because I loved that team so much, just as much as this team. So it’s just nice to be able to bounce back and get it this time.”

“It’s kind of funny, and I hate to say it because the President’s in the room right now, but when I got to Merrimack, the whole attitude of Merrimack is, yes we can. And you know, and it’s infectious. Our basketball coach is on the ice, you know, we’re not individual programs. We don’t silos at Merrimack, it’s one of the things I’m most proud of and happy and why I enjoy it so much. There’s no silos. Yesterday, Joe [Gallo] came into the locker room. I told the guys to calm down. He wound them right back up. And Thursday, I asked him to talk to our team, you know? And so, I’ve said this before. I’m not sure there’s a college in the country that a hockey coach and basketball coach love each other, feel for each other, want each other’s programs to be successful, and that just doesn’t stop with us. it’s everybody else and the entire school as well. So, if you have that kind of collective belief, you can do anything,” concluded Borek.

The No. 4 Merrimack Warriors will head to the Sioux Falls, S.D. Regional to take on No. 2 North Dakota Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.