Merrimack and New Hampshire will renew their acquaintances this weekend with a home-and-home series, starting Friday night at Lawler Arena before moving to the Whittemore Center on Saturday.
The Warriors won the first meeting between the teams in October with a 5-1 victory. New Hampshire then took an early lead Felix Gagnon scored in the opening period, but in no time the match turned decisive. Merrimack scored three goals in a span of 50 seconds – from 6:56 to 7:46 of the first period – seized control and never looked back. Parker Lalonde led the charge with a hat trick in that match.
“I think they’re an underrated group,” UNH coach Mike Souza said. “I was really impressed with their games against Northeastern. They get really solid goaltending. It’s never easy.” [at Merrimack].
When: Friday/Saturday, 7:00 PM
Where (Friday): Lawler Arena (North Andover, Massachusetts)
Where (Saturday): Whittemore Center (Durham, NH)
TV/stream: Watch (ESPN+) » Watch (INTL)
Talk Hockey Episode. 13: Preview of the UNH series with Scott Borek
– New Hampshire leads the all-time series 75-31-12, but Merrimack has had a decisive lead in recent years. Since January 22, 2021, the Warriors are 8-2-3 against the Wildcats and are undefeated in their last four meetings (3-0-1) dating back to February 3, 2024.
UNH’s last win at Lawler Arena came on October 25, 2019. To put that in perspective: Ben Brar was a freshman on that team, and Jere Huhtamaa was Merrimack’s starting goaltender.
That game was decided after extra time. Merrimack’s last regulation loss at home to UNH dates back even further, to January 18, 2019, when Craig Pantano And Drew Vogler divided tasks between the pipes.
— Merrimack enters the weekend 7-2 in its last nine games. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are coming off a four-game losing streak and are 1-5 in their last six games dating back to Jan. 3.
“I told the team there are two paths you can take,” Souza said. “There’s the path of division and the path of togetherness. I think we all know where a path of division would lead. The opposite is true. These guys are ready to hit the ground running on Monday and we’ve had a good few days of practice. I think they’re eager to get back in the win column, but they understand the challenges ahead… I don’t think we’re far off, but we definitely need a result.”
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