Boston Herald: Merrimack faces uphill climb

BY JOHN CONNOLLY/ Boston Herald

Teams covet the opportunity to determine their own destiny, and that’s exactly the position Merrimack finds itself situated in ninth place in ultracompetitive Hockey East as the league prepares to drop the puck on its second half of the season.

The Warriors (5-9-3, 2-7-2 HE) begin a home-and-home series with league front-runner Northeastern (12-4-2, 8-2-1) on Friday night. Merrimack, which has received good goaltending from freshman Joe Cannata (3-2-3, 2.24 goals-against average, .922 save percentage) and junior Andrew Braithwaite (2-7-0, 2.66 GAA, .900 SP), trails NU by 11 points in the standings.

“I’ve been involved in the league since 1987 as a player and as a coach, and it’s as tight a league as I’ve ever seen,” Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy, a Dorchester native and former Boston College blueliner, said. “We’re not thrilled about where we are - we’ve certainly left some points on the table - but if you look at goal-differential (37-47) and shots differential (455-475), we’re not that far off. We just have to get our power play (just 7-of-76) going. It’s been a little bit of an enigma for us.”

Read more of John Connolly's article from Monday's Boston Herald.


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