Just some friendly reminders about two events Merrimack College will hold before/after both of this weekend’s games at Lawler Arena.
First, on Friday, athletic director Glenn Hofmann and head coach Mark Dennehy will speak at a hockey town hall meeting that will take place at 6 p.m. inside Cascia Hall. They’ll discuss the next phase of renovations to Lawler Arena, as well as other aspects of the hockey program.
Cascia Hall is the white church-looking building next to the Campus Center. If you park in the main lot (across from Deegan Hall and Santagati Hall), you’ll see the building.
After the Warriors take on UConn, fans are welcome to lace up their skates and take to the new ice sheet at Lawler Arena. Kids tickets are just $5 for the Sunday game, and the kiddies will also receive a free Fuddruckers meal certificate.
Lowell Devils head coach John MacLean chats with my colleague, Bill Burt, at our E-T offices about taking the job in Lowell. Around the 3:30 mark, MacLean mentions Merrimack. Turns out the Stanley Cup winner grew up with former Warrior and Merrimack Hall of Famer Mike Boyce, and remembers coming to Lawler Arena to watch his childhood friend play for the Warriors, as well as some others.
Stephane Da Costa was named Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday.
In just his second career game, Da Costa had a natural hat trick in the first period and netted five goals in all, leading Merrimack to a 6-3 victory over Army Saturday night at Lawler Arena.
Da Costa’s night marked the first time since Merrimack joined hockey East 21 years ago that a Warrior has scored five times in a game, and it was the most goals by a single player in the 36-year history of Lawler Arena. He became the first Hockey East player since Boston College’s Brian Gionta on January 27, 2001 to score five goals in a game and is the first player to score five goals and get a natural hat trick as part of his first collegiate goal in Hockey East history.
The freshman also had 11 shots on goal, most by a Merrimack player since joining Hockey East, and had three power play goals, which are tied for the second most in NCAA history and the most since November 6, 2005.
Merrimack (2-2), off to its best start at home since the 2000-01 season, hosts #11 Vermont Friday at 7 p.m. in its conference opener.
Stephane Da Costa – Merrimack Forward
(Note: Da Costa asked after the recorders were off to thank the fans. He raved about the atmosphere and wanted to make sure the fans got noticed.)
Stephane Da Costa has arrived, folks. The rookie potted five goals, including a natural hat trick in a 10-minute span of the first period, to power the Warriors to a hard-working win. Here are some tidbits on a history-making night for Da Costa and the Warriors:
-Stephane Da Costa became the first Hockey East player since Brian Gionta (1/27/01) to score 5 goals in a game.
-Da Costa is the first player to score five goals and get a natural hat trick as part of his first collegiate goal.
-He is the first Merrimack player to score five goals since Merrimack joined Hockey East 21 years ago.
-It’s also the most goals scored in a single game by a Warrior since going Division 1.
-Five goals by Da Costa were the most by a Warrior since Alex Sitkachev scored four goals in 2000. It’s second behind only Bob Magnusson’s six goals scored in a 9-2 win over Babson in 1980 in the ECAC East Quarterfinals.
-His was the first natural hat trick by a Merrimack freshman, ever.
-His five goals are the most in a game by a Hockey East freshman since Joe Flanagan (UNH) in 1989.
-His three power play goals are the tied for the second most in NCAA history and the most since November 6, 2005.
-He netted the first Merrimack hat trick at home since 2003 (Marco Rosa).
I can’t say enough how about impressive Da Costa was against Army. Obviously, with five goals, it shows. He has a presence on the ice, he brings some electricity. It doesn’t even take him touching the puck – he hops over the boards and you can’t help but be on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what he’ll do next. And to be honest, I think he’s a better puck distributer than a goal scorer. Get ready, Merrimack fans, because this is a special player. Take advantage of watching him live while you can. Players like this don’t come around too often.
As good as Da Costa was, and he was excellent (11 shots!) his linemates and teammates played a real strong game as well. It wasn’t without its mishaps for the Warriors, who allowed Army back in the game after a 3-0 lead, but Merrimack went for the knockout punch in the third period, which is something this team has not been able to do in a long, long time.
Joe Cucci had a terrific game, assisting on three goals. John Heffernan keeps impressing me with his presence on the ice and his strength – he’s much stronger than he was at B.C. High.
Glenn Stewart is in charge of running the Warriors’ penalty kill, which has been fantastic through four games. It will go a bit overlooked due to Da Costa’s magical performance against Army, but the Warriors killed all four Army power plays, and totaled an 8-for-8 weekend on the kill including the Holy Cross game. The Warriors are 19 of 21 on the year on the PK (90.4%).
Francois Ouimet, who was out of the lineup on Friday, returned with a spark, scoring to put the Warriors ahead 4-2 late in the second period. Ouimet also registered four shots on net.
I was a little disappointed that Merrimack let Army back in the game after leading 3-0. Army was able to make it 3-2 before the end of the first period, including scoring a shorty off an odd-man rush coming the other way.
The Warriors were very aggressive, both on the forecheck and in their own end. They attacked the puck no matter where it was or who had it. Army was never able to hold possession or gain any momentum.
He didn’t register a point, a shot and was a -1, but I thought J.C. Robitaille had a nice game against Army. He played physical on the forecheck and will use his playmaking ability to start setting Chris Barton and Jesse Todd on fire before long.
NORTH ANDOVER — Freshman Stephane Da Costa scored Merrimack’s first three goals (in a span of exactly 10 minutes in the first period) on Saturday night against Army for a natural hat trick in just his second collegiate game.
UPDATE — At the 1:29 mark of the third period, Da Costa scored his fourth goal of the night.
NORTH ANDOVER — Greetings from Lawler Arena, where tonight the Merrimack Warriors welcome Army for the third meeting in as many seasons between the programs. Merrimack beat Army 4-1 at Lawler Arena in 2007-08 and the Warriors picked up a 1-0 win last season at West Point, with Joe Cannata picking up a shutout in his first career game.
Army will start junior Jay Clark in net. He’s 0-1-0 with a 5.07 GAA and .821 save percentage this season. For his career, he’s 10-13-6 with a 2.84 GAA and .913 save percentage.
It wasn’t a pretty win, but a win is a win and the Warriors will take it. This was a quirky game. I didn’t think that Merrimack played its best game – there were fairly large portions where Holy Cross controlled the play – but the Warriors still found a way to win. Ultimately, good teams find a way to win games when they don’t play their best. Merrimack has seen BC, BU, and others win games against them when they didn’t play their best. Tonight, for the Warriors’ sake, the shoe was finally on the other foot.
His effort might go unnoticed, but Joe Cannata came up big for the Warriors in this one. As was pointed out in some interviews, Cannata made all the saves the Warriors needed him to make, though none were real flashy. It’s true that sometimes the best thing for a goalie is not being noticed. He made saves with his body and controlled rebounds. He was very good in this game but because he made it look easy, it might get overlooked.
Chris Barton once again scores a goal the Warriors needed, and once again, it was a hard-working effort. Barton now has four goals in three games to start the season.
Quietly, Jesse Todd has had an excellent start to the season. His four points in three games aren’t even what stands out most to me — Todd is a team-leading plus-5. He was one of two Warriors with multi-point nights, along with linemate J.C. Robitaille, who is also at a point-per-game clip early in the season.
Of Merrimack’s seven goals thus far, six have come from the Barton-Todd-Robitaille line. It’s both concerning (other lines need to score) and encouraging (they are a go-to unit right now). With the way Stephane Da Costa played, he could help solidify a second scoring line behind the Barton-Todd-Robitaille unit that has played quite well to start the year.
The atmosphere at Lawler Arena on Friday was tremendous. It was great to see the large turnout from the students and people in general. For a non-conference game against an opponent that doesn’t traditionally draw well, the crowd was electric and into the game all night. It wasn’t just the numbers that I was glad to see, but the atmosphere it created.
I don’t know any other way to say it — Stephane Da Costa, despite being held off the scoresheet, was excellent. He provides electricity every time he touches the puck. Mark it down, he will be one of the best Warriors to ever put on a uniform, without exaggeration. He creates space for himself and everyone on his line.
Overall I thought Merrimack played a very smart hockey game. One instance that stands out was Todd, on the penalty kill, in the first period. He has the puck deep in the offensive zone after Barton had a SH chance. Instead of working the puck towards the net (a possible turnover, odd-man rush the other way), he carries the puck all the way to the Merrimack end and gives it to one of his defensemen for a dump back into the zone. Just a smart play.
Merrimack’s penalty kill was excellent throughout the night (the Warriors are now 15/17 on the year). MC killed a big five-minute power play in the second period that I thought was a turning point in the game. The Warriors not only kept Holy Cross off the scoreboard, but also really smothered any momentum.
From what I could tell, MC was in a diamond formation (1-2-1) on the PK when four skaters were on the ice. I like how that setup has worked thus far. It eliminates anything from coming from the middle of the ice and, although usually the setup is susceptible to plays down low, the Warriors have big enough defensemen to cut off those passing lanes.
Merrimack had stretches where it didn’t get pucks to the net. I was impressed with the puck movement, especially in the first period, but then the shot chart showed just three chances coming from inside the tops of the circles. I call that “Sergei Samsonov Syndrome.” You can be as flashy as you want, but if you’re not getting pucks to the net, it does you no good. Merrimack did a much better job getting pucks to the cage in the second period, with a whole bunch of shots coming from the low slot (see shot charts below)
This is the chart from the first period (my highlighter didn’t come through well, but can you see it slightly). Notice all the shots on the perimeter. This was all with MC moving the puck very well in all situations. And really, the shots weren’t even from the perimeter. Most aren’t even from the side walls inside the tops of the circles, they’re all right up the middle and from a long distance.
This is the second period. A much better job by the Warriors getting their shots off in close, and making plays off of rebounds. Not only are those shots in close, but they’re in the middle. Takin those shots from the low slot keeps the goalie off balance. A noticeably better job by the Warriors. Even the shots from the point were in closer and spread a bit more (in a half-circle formation, you’ll notice). Those shots from different angles keep the opposing goalie off balance.
NORTH ANDOVER — The Warriors get goals from Chris Barton, Jesse Todd and J.C. Robitaille in the win. Joe Cannata (1-1-0) makes 26 saves for his first win of the season.
NORTH ANDOVER — Greetings from Lawler Arena, where tonight the Merrimack Warriors open the 2009-10 home schedule against the Holy Cross Crusaders.
Fraser Allan, who missed all of last weekend’s series with North Dakota recovering from knee surgery, will make his 09-10 debut tonight, as will freshman Stephane Da Costa, who had his eligibility cleared by the NCAA on Thursday.
Freshman Stephane Da Costa has been cleared by the NCAA and will make his collegiate debut tonight, when the Warriors welcome Holy Cross to Lawler Arena for the home opener.
Da Costa finished fifth in the USHL with 67 points last season (in just 48 games) including 31 goals. His points-per-game average were third best in the league (Da Costa missed a portion of December’s games while playing for Team France at the IIHF World Junior Championships).
Tickets for tonight’s game are still available by visiting Merrimack’s online ticketing service. All tickets for the Holy Cross game are just $5.
Mike McMahon