Merrimack-Northeastern Weekend Preview

Hard to imagine that the entire season could ride on a weekend in December; that might be the case this weekend.

Here is what the numbers look like:

Northeastern (2-8-2, 0-7-2 HE)
vs.
Merrimack (1-10-1, 1-6-0 HE)

Friday @ Matthews Arena – Northeastern (7 p.m.)
Saturday @ Lawler Arena – Merrimack (7 p.m.)

OFFENSE
Goals Per Game:
NU – 2.50 (30 in 12 games)
MC – 1.17 (14 in 12 games)

Shots Per Game:
NU – 26.1 (313 in 12 games)
MC – 20.2 (242 in 12 games)

DEFENSE
Goals Allowed Per Game:
NU – 3.17 (38 in 12 games)
MC – 3.92 (47 in 12 games)

Shots Allowed Per Game:
NU – 34.8 (417 in 12 games)
MC – 31.1 (373 in 12 games)

SPECIAL TEAMS
Power Play:
NU – 13.3% (11 of 83)
MC – 7.2% (5 of 69)

Penalty Kill:
NU – 87.4% (76 of 87)
MC – 74.5% (73 of 98)

PIM Per Game:
NU – 21.92
MC – 22.17

NOTES
- Northeastern leads the all time series 32-31-9
- The teams tied all three games they played last season
- The Huskies return Mike Morris (13pts in 12 games) who missed all of last season with a concussion

Merrimack @ No. 2 UNH – Notebook

Well the Warrior’s weren’t able to conquer the offensive explosion that is the UNH Wildcats.

Other than a 20 second span in the second period, it really wasn’t a bad effort. The third period goals for UNH can be chalked up to Merrimack trying different things on offense to try to create some scoring (which has been few and far between this season).

Notebook:

- Freshman goaltender Andrew Braithwaite made 40 saves in his first Hockey East start (he appeared in his fourth game, first HE game).

- The Warriors had their best game in terms of faceoffs all season. They split even with UNH 37-37 on the night. Derek Pallardy led the team with a 12-8 record on the night.

- For the first time all season, Merrimack had more power play chances than their opponents. The Warriors took just four penalties on the night, the least of the season.

- The Warriors have taken two of their first 14 Hockey East points. There are 40 Hockey East points remaining.

- Merrimack has been outshot 373-247 in their first 12 games this season.

- Senior Mike Alexiou, who owned a team-high five game point streak has not scored in his last five games. He is leading the Warriors in scoring. Keep in mind however that he has been shuffled with different linemates as the coaches try to find some combinations that work. The point streak was with Pat Kimball and J.C. Robitaille as his linemates.

- Chris Kane saw the ice for the first time in five games. The defenseman played on the fourth forward line tonight. It was his first action since playing two games against Providence and Brown at the end of October.

- Mike Alexiou and Justin Bonitatibus lead the team in shots with 20 a piece.

- UNH’s Thomas Fortorny went 10-3 on the night in faceoffs.

- This was the third time that the Warriors have been shutout this season. They have now scored just 14 games in 12 games.

Merrimack @ No. 2 UNH Lineups

Greetings from the Whittemore Center here on the campus of UNH.

Here are the lineups for tonight’s MC-UNH tilt. First the visitors:

Alexiou-Pallardy-Byrnes
Rego-Bonitatibus-Vaskivuo
Kimball-Posteraro-Robitaille
Kane-Mills-Goebel

Sullivan-Bowen
Sadlowski-Loprieno
Wilson-Hart

Braithwaite
Healey
Watson

Now for the home team:

Micflikier-Radja-Hemingway
Pollastrone-Smith-Fornataro
Butler-Fortney-Ciocco
Collins-LeBlanc-Vinz

Switzer-Flaishans
Fritsch-Murray
Kapstad-Charlebois

Regan
Foster
Manke

Merrimack (1-9-1, 1-5-0) @ UNH (9-2-1, 7-1-1) Preview

Offense:
Goals Per Game:
MC – 1.27 (14 goals – 11 games)
UNH – 4.58 (55 goals – 12 games)

Shots Per Game:
MC – 19.6 (216 shots – 11 games)
UNH – 30.7 (368 shot – 12 games)

Analysis: Daniel Who?
UNH lost Daniel Winnik to the pro ranks, but Mike Radja has made them forget the name of the guy that centered arguable the best line in all of college hockey last season.
Watch their second line center, Trevor Smith (12GP 11-10-21). He is the leading scorer in all of Hockey East, and is tenth nationally.
Did I mention he was the 2nd line center?

Defense:
Goals Against Per Game:
MC – 3.82 (42 goals – 11 games)
UNH – 2.33 (28 games – 12 games)

Shots Against Per Game:
MC – 30.1 (331 shots – 11 games)
UNH – 29.6 (355 shots – 12 games)

Analysis: Take as many shots as you can at Kevin Regan (assuming he starts). The Wildcats might go with the freshman Brian Foster as this is going to be their third game of the week, but Foster started against Lowell two weeks ago, and shutout the River Hawks.

Special Teams:
Power Play:
MC – 7.7% (5 for 65)
UNH – 20.0% (12 for 60)

Penalty Kill:
MC – 74.7% (71 of 95)
UNH – 84.5% (71 of 84)

Analysis: Well the two teams have killed the same amount of penalties, only UNH has taken 11 less infractions.
The Warriors have had trouble staying out of the box at times this season, if they run into the same problem Tuesday, the Wildcats will make them pay.

Penalty Minutes Per Game:
MC – 23.45
UNH – 20.08

Recruit Update

Just so everyone knows, the statistics on the recruit page has been updated as of 11/26.

Chris Barton continues to rack up the points in a competitive league.

Karl Stollery, Barton’s teammate, is putting up impressive numbers from the blue line. The combo will be a welcome presence to the Merrimack power play next season, that’s for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving

To all of your families I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Enjoy the turkey and football.

Good luck to the Merrimack football team as they head down to West Virginia in round two of the NCAA Div. II Playoffs.

Vermont 4, Merrimack 1 – Notebook

Here are some notes from Merrimack’s 4-1 loss to Vermont on Saturday night. Merrimack will not enjoy some time off, they will get back to action on 11/28 at New Hampshire.

*Merrimack did not take a penalty over the last 28:19 of the game.

*Jim Healey’s HE Save percentage (.899%) has slipped below the .900 mark for the first time this season.

*Merrimack’s last forward to score an even strength goal was John Goebel in the 11/10 game against Boston College.

*The seven penalties taken by Merrimack against Vermont were the fewest taken all season in a HE game. The Warriors took just five penalties in their 2-1 loss to Holy Cross.

*The Warriors have taken 2 of their first 12 Hockey East points. There are still 42 points up for grabs.

*Merrimack has not had more power plays than their opponent in any game this season. There have been three games (including Vermont) where the Warriors have had the same amount of power plays as their opponent.

*The Warriors are now 0-4-0 when tied after the first period. All four of those games are HE contests.

Merrimack 1, Vermont 1 – End of 1st

Shots on Goal:
Merrimack – 5
Vermont – 13

* Merrimack’s penalty kill looked great killing off a Vermont 5-on-3 late in the first period. The unit of Matt Byrnes, Derek Pallardy and Brock Wilson blocked numerous shots; something that sometimes can go overlooked.

* Jim Healey also made several big saves killing off the 5-on-3.

* Both teams have scored power-play goals; both off of rebounds.

* After looking shaky early, maybe loosening up the bodies from the long bus ride, Merrimack settled down after the first five minutes and played a much better final 15:00 of the period.

* No update after the second period, I’ll be doing radio. There will not be a notebook on the blog tonight; there will be one tomorrow night. I’ll be going back to a hotel where there is no internet connection.

Merrimack @ Vermont – Lines/Notes

* First off, Merrimack released a statement before the game announcing that junior forward Hank Carisio has been suspended by the team indefinitely. Dennehy stated that the suspension for violation of team rules.

This marks the third suspension this season of a Merrimack player for violation of team rules.

On a brighter note, here are the lines:

Vaskivuo-Alexiou-Jones
Bonitatibus-Pallardy-Byrnes
Posteraro-Kimball-Robitaille
Rego-Mills-Goebel

Sullivan-Hart
Wilson-Bowen
Sadlowski-Burkholder

Healey
Braithwaite

*Watson is not dressed tonight.

More to come later.

Merrimack Recruit Update

The statistics on the Recruit blog are updated as of 11/14/06.

Barton looks like he is going to be a scorer. Things certainly appear to be on the rise.

Moulakelis had two points in two games over the weekend.