Our preview package ran in Wednesday’s Eagle Tribune. The big piece featured Joe Cannata, but it wasn’t linked on the website (I’ve had some e-mails asking for it) at my own fault. I never input a “web headline” in our system, so no link was generated. Not a big issue, just go buy a copy of the newspaper! Or, I can try to get text copied here next week.
The breakdown took a look at the entire team while the capsule looks at some minor tidbits.
Nick Drew will start his Merrimack academic career tomorrow when classes begin throughout the campus.
This fall, Drew, a former Andover goalie, will tryout for the Warriors to fill the vacant third goalie position. Last week, I caught up with Drew and went Around the Horn.
I chatted with Phillips Academy BC-bound forward Chris Kreider last week. Kreider finished the year with 56 points in 26 games and is projected as a first-round selection in this Friday’s NHL Draft.
I’ll have a draft preview focusing specifically on Kyle Bigos, Joe Cannata and Stephane Da Costa last today.
Here’s a link to my story in Saturday’s Eagle-Tribune on Ryan Flanigan, who was one of the stars in last night’s 3-2 win over fifth-ranked (3rd in the KRACH) Vermont Catamounts.
The Warriors go at it with the Cats in game two tonight at Lawler Arena.
It makes a great Valentine’s Day date, and tickets are available. Visit www.merrimackathletics.com for the details.
Here is a link to my story in Sunday’s Eagle Tribune from Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brown.
I chatted with freshman goaltender Joe Cannata, who earned his second shutout of the season, as well as head coach Mark Dennehy.
Make sure to check back to the blog on Monday for Bracketology, a recruit and alumni update, and any other news and notes.
Here is a link to my story in Friday’s Eagle-Tribune on emerging freshman forward Jesse Todd, who has skated on the top line for the last five games.
Todd had a goal in last night’s 3-2 loss to UMass Lowell at Tsongas Arena.
I’ll have a notebook from last night up later today.
Here is a link to my story in Saturday’s Eagle Tribune.
I’ll be back later with updates from Lawler Arena.
Some other reax from last night …
NU head coach Greg Cronin on the penalty shot: “[Quailer] was upset because right before the whistle blew, I think he had a whack at an empty net or a rebound and he missed it and I could see he was upset. He’s kind of a real cold-blooded kid; he doesn’t get that angry, and I could see he was really upset about whatever happened. He just looked at me. I said ‘You want to take the penalty shot?’ He said, real laid back, ‘Yea, I’ll take it,’ kind of like a Clint Eastwood thing. He made a hell of a shot.”
NU’s Steve Quailer on the penalty shot: “Our goalie coach [John Carratu] used to work with this kid , so he said he leaves the post early, so I just decided to go to my backhand side and cut across and then he left early so I took the back end.”
Cronin on Merrimack: ”That was a typical Merrimack-Northeastern game. Merrimack does a really good job in closing the ice up. They make you work for every inch of ice.”
I had some trouble with my E-T link posting, so I copied the text here — links to other stories are below.
Warriors declaw the ‘Cats
By Mike McMahon
mmcmahon@eagletribune.com
DURHAM, N.H. – After a lackluster effort on Tuesday night against UMass Lowell, Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy sent a message to his squad.
He scratched second liners Joe Cucci and Francois Ouimet from the lineup, as well as goal-scoring winger J.C. Robitaille and senior defenseman Grant Farrell.
His team got the hint.
The Warriors battled back from one-goal down in the third period to topple No. 15 UNH 4-3 at the Whittemore Center. It’s the Warriors’ first win at UNH since a 7-2 drubbing of the Wildcats on Dec. 13, 2003.
“When we outwork teams, we can beat anybody,” Dennehy said. “That’s what we have to do, though. I heard that there is a sign in the Patriots’ locker room that says “do your job,” and that’s it. I’ve heard that’s the only sign in their locker room. It doesn’t matter what number is called, you need to do your job. Tonight, we had some different numbers called in our lineup, but guys did their jobs.”
Bobby Kramer scored his first collegiate goal for the Warriors 8:46 into the game. After UNH tied the score, Elliott Sheen gave the Warriors the lead early in the second period on his first collegiate goal. Then, the Wildcats took over. Steve Moses tied the score at 2-2 late in the second.
UNH took its first lead of the game at the 6:46 mark of the third period when Bobby Butler flew in from the neutral zone on a breakaway and roofed a wrister over Merrimack freshman goaltender Joe Cannata (33 saves).
“No one had their heads down,” said freshman center Jesse Todd. “Coach told us not to hang our heads and to go get the next one because we had them.”
Added Dennehy, “We had guys banging their sticks on the dashers yelling to get the next one. There wasn’t any deflation on our bench. Guys came alive.”
Merrimack responded just 51 seconds later when Rob Ricci scored his second goal in as many games to knot the score at 3-3.
Todd gave the Warriors the lead just over three minutes later off of a beautiful read from sophomore John Jamieson, who found Todd charging to the net on a broken play and the rookie tipped a puck past UNH netminder Brian Foster (23 saves).
“I didn’t have to do much,” explained Todd. “Johnny made a great play and he told me afterwards that he saw me the whole time. So he slid the puck over and I really didn’t even have to shoot, it went off my stick and in.”
For UNH, it was their first loss at the Whittemore Center this season.
“We’re finding ways to lose games,” said UNH head coach Dick Umile. “That takes nothing away from Merrimack, they won the battles. They won all of the one-on-one battles and they played well in transition.”
The Warriors won with seven freshman, six sophomores, six juniors and no seniors in their lineup.
“We were resilient,” said Dennehy. “We’ve showed that a few time this year. We were down two goals to Boston College a few weeks ago and battle back for a tie. We’ve recruited guys from winning programs. It’s easy to bring new faces into a program, but it can be hard to change the culture. Losses can wear on guys. But we have guys like Jesse Todd who has been in two Royal Cup Finals in Canada; he’s been in high-pressure games before. Joe Cannata played in international competitions representing Team USA, so he’s been in high-pressure spots. You can tell that there is a belief system that’s starting to take shape.”
Union Leader – “Merrimack rallies past UNH”
It has much of the same tone as last night’s notebook, but here is the story from last night’s game that ran in Wednesday’s Eagle Tribune.
Here is a link to last night’s wrap on the River Hawk Hockey Blog, and the Lowell Sun had this to say.
There was an issue on our end at the E-T, so, I decided to post the text of Saturday’s article on John Jamieson from the Eagle Tribune.
The Warriors are in Burlington, V.T. as I write this. They’ll tangle with Vermont on Sunday at 4 p.m. Be sure to check back on Sunday afternoon for updates.
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By Mike McMahon
mmcmahon@eagletribune.com
NORTH ANDOVER – John Jamieson isn’t the typical goal scorer.
He’s not flashy. He doesn’t dangle around defensemen. It’s usually rare if he registers more than a single shot in a given night.
But in last night’s 5-5 tie with fifth-ranked Boston College, Jamieson was a sniper.
The Billerica native struck for the Warriors’ first two goals, as Merrimack erased three different two-goal deficits to battle their way to a point against the defending national champions.
“He’s a blue-collar kid from a blue-collar family,” said head coach Mark Dennehy. “His parents brought up him up that way, and that’s the way he plays hockey. As a guy from the town of Dorchester, I gravitate towards players like that.”
Jamieson, a sophomore, was almost never on the Merrimack roster. After playing his senior season at Austin Prep in North Reading, the Merrimack coaching staff recommended that he take a year and play juniors in order to hone his game, but Jamieson wanted to start the college experience.
“We gave him a chance, but he walked on to our team,” Dennehy said. “It’s nice to see him get the bounces tonight. He earns everything he gets.”
Not only was he not on the roster, he almost wasn’t in the lineup against the Eagles.
“We color code our practice jerseys,” Dennehy said. “If you get a red jersey on Tuesday, guys usually hang their head because it means they aren’t playing that weekend, but John embraced it. He worked so hard this week that when it came time to call out the lineup, I had to shuffle the deck a little bit and put him in there. He earned his way on the team, he earned his way into our lineup tonight, and he earned himself those two goals.”
Jamieson, who only registered the two shots, felt as if a weight had been lifted.
“It feels great,” said Jamieson. “Nice to get it off my back, especially in a game where we battle back to get a point.”
Jamieson’s mother, who sat about four rows behind the Merrimack bench, exploded with enthusiasm as her son netted his first collegiate goal. When he struck for his second, it was pandemonium.
“I heard she was crying,” Jamieson laughed. “One of the guys grabbed the puck for me, and that will go to my parents. I just can’t explain it. I’m usually the guy out there, the grinder, but it was nice to help out with some offense tonight. This isn’t going to happen every night for me, it’s not my role, I’m a grinder, a third or fourth line player. I have to work to get my ice time and I’m going to keep doing it.”
Dennehy saw the mentality rub off on the rest of his players.
“That makes other guys on our bench rise up,” he said. “We tied the defending national champions tonight, but our locker room isn’t satisfied. A few years ago, we would have been.”
Mike McMahon