Player Preview: #15 John Jamieson

Position: Forward … Class: Sophomore … Height: 6′0″ … Weight: 185

Last Year: Appeared in 25 games, making the team as a walk-on … notched first collegiate point, picking up an assist vs. Army (1/6) … fired 21 shots on goal … registered even rating for the season … one of team’s best defensive forwards.

This Year: Every winning team has a John Jamieson player. He’s the guy that will play on the third or fourth line, doesn’t mind sacrificing. He’ll take the body, he’ll go down to block a shot, he does the stuff that isn’t recored in points. He works his tail off and is a great story. He was a recruited walk-on in a sense, but the coaches wanted him to start as a freshman this season. He wanted to start school last year and tried out for the team and made it. He forced the coaches to keep him. He’ll likely slot back into the role he had last season.

Ricci to have minor surgery

Junior forward Rob Ricci is going to be undergoing minor surgery on his hand some time this week, and is expected to miss 2-3 weeks.

Ricci suffered a small crack in a bone in his hand; it’s unclear when the injury occurred.

If everything goes to plan, Ricci should be back for the first Hockey East game against Boston University on Oct. 17.

Analysis: Sounds like a minor procedure for the Warriors’ returning leading scorer. For Merrimack, it’s the Hockey East games that matter most, and if he doesn’t miss any conference games, the injury shouldn’t be a big deal.

The injury is to a bone, not a ligament or a tendon, which is another positive. I’m not a trainer, but from what I understand, bones generally heal faster than ligaments and tendons. In the grand scheme of things, he might only miss opening night against Robert Morris, which certainly isn’t going to make or break the season.

Player Preview: #14 Joe Cucci

Position: Center … Class: Sophomore … Height: 5′10″ … Weight: 184

Last Year: Played in 16 games, posting 10 points (3-7-10) … made his collegiate debut on January 4^th after waiting to be cleared after transferring and dealing with foot injury … recorded three multi-point games, Army (1/6), at Providence (2/23), vs. UMass (3/8) … 8^th on Warriors in scoring despite missing more than half of the season … won 55.8% of faceoffs, leading Merrimack… posted points in 7 of 16 games he played … named to Hockey East All-Academic Team.

This Year: Cucci would have been considered one of the better rookies in the league last year if he hadn’t been forced to sit from his transfer from Northeastern. Last year’s numbers, projected on a 34-game schedule, would have been six goals and 15 assists (21 points). He fits the Rob Ricci mold — a guy who is great on faceoffs, and is a playmaker. He flew under the radar last year, and could have a breakout in 08-09.

Player Preview: #12 Grant Farrell

Position: Defense … Class: Senior … Height: 6′1″ … Weight: 200

Last Year: Tied for team lead in scoring among defenseman with 11 points … appeared in 33 of 34 games … scored first goal as a Warrior in first game, in 4-2 win over Niagara … led team with +5 rating … led all defenders with 54 shots … picked up a point in six of seven non-conference games.

This Year: The best puck-moving defenseman the Warriors have, Farrell will be in the top-4 every night. In fact, the Warriors top-4 defenseman are interchangeable in that there isn’t a definitive No. 1 and No. 2 pair, both are equally as good. Farrell has very good speed and a nice shot, but his real value is his vision. He can find the open man on the power play, where he is at his best. A knock on Farrell when he was at Lowell was his defense, which was an area he greatly improved in 2007-08, so much so that he was featured on the penalty kill units. The word on Farrel from Lowell was he was a very good offesive defenseman, but was one-dimensional. He disproved that reputation last season, and should finish his career as one of the best d-men on the team.

Warriors picked 10th in preseason poll

The Hockey East coaches’ poll was released this morning at the league’s annual meeting today. The Warriors were picked to finish 10th.

1. Boston College (6)
2. Boston University (3)
3. New Hampshire
4. Northeastern
5. Vermont
6. Massachusetts
7. UMass Lowell
8. Providence
9. Maine
10. Merrimack

Warriors open season Saturday; kids admitted free

The Warriors open their 2008-09 season on Saturday night when they host an exhibition game with McGill University for a 7 p.m. faceoff at Lawler Arena.

Tickets can be purchased for a special price of $5 for adults and $3 for seniors. All students and children will be admitted free of charge.

Call 978-837-5324 for more information or to purchase tickets.

The McGill University Redmen are the oldest collegiate hockey team, having organized the world’s first hockey club in 1877. The Redmen, in their 132nd season last year, captured the Queen’s Cup Championship, Canada’s National Championship.

Recruit Update – Week #4

Warrior recruits had a big weekend.

John Heffernan potted a pair of goals and an assist in two games with the Bandits. Out in British Columbia, Mike Collins netted five points (2 goals, 3 assists) in a four-game weekend, and defenseman Kyle Bigos has picked up his offensive output quite a bit from last season, scoring six points (1-5–6) in a four-game weekend. Bigos now has 10 points in 10 games after last season netting just 19 all year.

ESPN, Hockey East reach television deal

The following is from collegehockeynews.com:

Hockey East has reached a two-year live broadcasting deal with ESPNU. In 2008-09, ESPNU will air eight live games involving Hockey East teams, opening the season with Boston University at New Hampshire on Sunday, Oct. 19 at the Whittemore Center in Durham.

The schedule will conclude with Merrimack at Providence in late February at Schneider Arena in Providence. The ESPNU schedule features two games in October, November and February, along with one game in December and January.

“We are thrilled to move our long-standing relationship with ESPNU to a new level,” said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna. “This agreement guarantees that our athletes and our programs will reach a new and greater audience during the regular season, as ESPNU has been delivering our game to fans in the post-season.”

Justin Kutcher, an alum of Boston University, will handle play-by-play duties for the broadcasts and Damian DiGiulian, a former assistant coach at Vermont, will serve as the color analyst in the eight-game package.

ESPNU will also provide live coverage of the 2009 NCAA Tournament Regional games. ESPN and ESPN2 also provide live coverage of the Men’s Frozen Four annually.

Jones sent to Worcester

Matt Jones, who was in training camp with the San Jose Sharks, was assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate in Worcester on Wednesday.

Jones was one of 18 players sent from the San Jose camp to the AHL camp, which will open next week. Joining Jones is fellow former Hockey East’ers Matt Fornataro and P.J. Fenton.

Jones appeared in seven games last spring after signing a contract with the Sharks, netting three points.

Player Preview: #11 Elliott Sheen

Position: Forward … Class: Freshman … Height: 5′9″ … Weight: 168

Last season: Led the Okotok Oilers of the AJHL in scoring with  89 points (30-59-89) in 71 games … Teamed with Carter Madsen at Okotok, and were linemates.

This season: Sheen has BLAZING speed. He’s going to really impress a lot of people with how fast he is. Head coach Mark Dennehy has raved about his quickness and points to Sheen as a type of player who is going to help close the gap against the faster skating schools in the league. Sheen has also shown that he can score. The Alberta kids always seem to do well at Merrimack. He strikes me as more of a setup man than a goalscorer, and has a reputation of finding the open man.