The Merrimack Warriors men's ice hockey team is a

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) Division I

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

program that represents

Merrimack College Merrimack College is a private Augustinian university in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine with an initial goal to educate World War II veterans. Its campus has grown to a campus with nearly 40 bu ...

. The Warriors are a member of

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

. They play at the 2,549-seat J. Thom Lawler Rink in

North Andover, Massachusetts North Andover is an affluent town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 30,915. History Native Americans inhabited what is now northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European c ...

, which underwent renovation in 2010. Merrimack's 92.08% capacity during the 2013–14 season was second in Hockey East.

History

The Warriors started intercollegiate play in 1954–55, as the college offered more support to the program in the form of a modest budget, new uniforms and varsity letters. Babson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Keene Teachers were among the first intercollegiate competition Merrimack hockey faced that year. And for the first time, the college recognized hockey as a varsity sport. They were successful in the late 1970s and early 1980s while playing in the ECAC Division II. Merrimack won the division II national title in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

and were the runner up in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. They became an NCAA Division I independent team in 1984 but did not play a schedule against predominantly Division I teams until they joined the Hockey East conference in 1989. Led by Coach Ron Anderson, a new era began for Merrimack hockey in 1989 when the Warriors competed in their first season as a member of the Hockey East Association. That team posted an overall record of 10–24–1, but pulled off the surprise of the season by taking eventual league champion Boston College to a third and decisive playoff game. And after being picked for the bottom part of the league in three of the last four seasons, the Warriors continued to baffle the experts by battling for home-ice advantage all season long while defeating several Top 20 teams. And with the roots of the Merrimack hockey tree that were planted in Hockey East seven years earlier firmly entrenched, the 1996–97 Warriors entered a new chapter in history by qualifying for a Hockey East playoff home ice berth. The 1997–98 team raised the bar a little higher by upsetting top-ranked Boston University in the quarterfinals and earning a trip to the conference semifinals at Boston's FleetCenter. The 1998–99 season began yet another era in Merrimack hockey history with the dawning of the Serino age. On April 24, 1998, Chris Serino became just the sixth head coach in the program's history. The Warriors posted a mark of 11–24–1 in Serino's inaugural campaign, and senior forward and captain Rejean Stringer was named an All-American, Merrimack's first ever in the University Division. In Serino's second season, the Warriors set an NCAA record for consecutive overtime contests by playing in six straight at the end of January, and in 2000–01, the Warriors notched 14 victories, the most for Merrimack since 1996–97. Several of those victories were over nationally ranked opponents. In 2002–03, senior goaltender and captain Joe Exter led Merrimack to a surprising race for home ice throughout much of the season, including the team's first-ever regular season Division I tournament title with wins over host Rensselaer and Wayne State at the 52nd Annual Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Hockey Tournament in late December. Exter was selected to the All-Hockey East Team by league coaches. Long-time assistant coach Stu Irving was also honored, as the American Hockey Coaches Association presented him with its Terry Flanagan Memorial Award in recognition of an assistant coach's career body of work. The season also saw the inauguration of the Blue Line Club, the program's official support organization. The program struggled in the highly competitive Hockey East. The 2006–07 season, in which they won only 3 games, was the nadir of their struggles. In the 2010–11 season, however, they had unprecedented success against several of the nation's top teams. They finished the regular season 22–8–4 and were ranked 9th in the nation. Merrimack gained a home ice advantage for the first round for the first time since 1997. The program received its first No. 1 ranking in the USCHO Poll during the 2011–12 season. Mark Dennehy was fired as the team's head coach at the conclusion of the 2017–18 season following a 12–21–4 record and a sixth straight losing season. Scott Borek was hired as the team's head coach on April 9, 2018.

Season-by-season results

Source:

All-time coaching records

As of the completion of 2021–22 season

Awards and honors

NCAA

Individual Awards

Tim Taylor Award *

Stéphane Da Costa Stéphane Da Costa (born 11 July 1989) is a French professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Born in France, Da Costa moved to the United States as a junior to ...

, C: 2010

All-American Teams

AHCA Second Team All-Americans *1998–99:

Rejean Stringer Rejean Stringer (pronounced Ray-zhawn, Stron-zhay) (born August 21, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played most of his career in the ECHL. Early life and education Stringer was raised in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan ...

, F *2010–11:

, F *2011–12:

Joe Cannata Joe Cannata (born January 2, 1990) is an American professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently playing with Löwen Frankfurt in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Cannata was selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round, 173rd overa ...

, G *2012–13: Mike Collins, F

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

Individual Awards

Rookie of the Year *

, C: 2010 Three-Stars Award *

Joe Exter Joe Exter (born December 19, 1978) is a retired American ice hockey goaltender. He is famous for playing two seasons with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers several months after being in a coma due to an on-ice collision. Career Exter started his caree ...

, G: 2003 Goaltending Champion *

Collin Delia Collin Delia (born June 20, 1994) is an American professional ice hockey goaltender who currently is playing for the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract with the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey Leag ...

: 2017

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

* Mark Dennehy: 2010

All-Conference Teams

First Team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

*1994–95: Martin Legault, G *1996–97: Martin Legault, G *2011–12:

, G *2012–13: Mike Collins, F Second Team *1998–99:

, F *2000–01:

Anthony Aquino Anthony Aquino (born August 1, 1982) is a retired Canadian-born Italian professional ice hockey player. He last played for the Odense Bulldogs, and Rungsted Seier Capital professional ice hockey teams in Denmark, of the top Danish league AL-Ba ...

, F *2002–03:

, G *2004–05:

Bryan Schmidt Bryan Schmidt (born July 27, 1981) is an American professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for Nottingham Panthers of the EIHL. Awards and honors *Regular season MVP, Merrimack College Merrimack College is a private August ...

, D *2009–10:

, D *2010–11:

, D *2011–12:

Karl Stollery Karl Stollery (born November 21, 1987) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He most recently played with HC Bolzano, Italian team of the ICE Hockey League (ICEHL). Playing career Stollery played minor junior hockey ...

, D *2012–13:

Jordan Heywood Jordan ( ar, الأردن; Romanization of Arabic, tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; Romanization of Arabic, tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levan ...

, D *2021–22: Declan Carlile, D Third Team *2016–17:

, G *2017–18:

Brett Seney Brett Seney (born February 28, 1996) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). ...

, F Rookie Team *1992–93:

Mark Goble Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

, F *1993–94: John Jakopin, F *1994–95: Casey Kesselring, F *1995–96:

Darrel Scoville Darrel Scoville (born October 13, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League for the Calgary Flames and the Columbus Blue Jackets between 1999 and 2004, playing 16 regular season games, s ...

, D *1998–99:

Greg Classen Gregory Classen (born August 24, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. Playing career Classen played four seasons of junior hockey for the Nipawin Hawks of the SJHL. He then went on to play two seasons of hockey at Merrima ...

, F *1999–00:

, F *2000–01:

, G *2002–03:

, D *2003–04: Jim Healey, G *2005–06: Rob Ricci, F *2008–09:

, D *2009–10:

, F *2010–11: Mike Collins, F *2018–19: Chase Gresock, F *2019–20: Declan Carlile, D *2020–21: Alex Jefferies, F

Statistical Leaders

Source:

Career points leaders

Career goaltending leaders

''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =

Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various goal-scoring sports that track saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse, it is a statistic that represents the percentage of shots on goal ...

; GAA =

Goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on s ...

'' minimum 30 games played Statistics current through the start of the 2018–19 season.

Current roster

As of September 27, 2022.

Olympians

This is a list of Merrimack alumni were a part of an Olympic team.

Warriors in the NHL

As of July 1, 2022. File:Stephane Da Costa - Ottawa Senators.jpg,

File:Karl Stollery.jpg,

Source:

References

External links

Merrimack ice hockey
a
Merrimack Athletics
{{Hockey East Ice hockey teams in Massachusetts