Merrimack Warriors men's ice hockey

The Merrimack Warriors men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Merrimack College. The Warriors are a member of Hockey East. They play at the 2,549-seat J. Thom Lawler Rink in North Andover, Massachusetts, which underwent renovation in 2010. Merrimack's 92.08% capacity during the 2013–14 season was second in Hockey East.
John Leahy serves as the team's play by play announcer.
==History==
The Warriors started intercollegiate play in 1954-55, as the college offered more support to the program in the form of a modest budget, new uniforms and varsity letters. Babson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Keene Teachers were among the first intercollegiate competition Merrimack hockey faced that year. And for the first time, the college recognized hockey as a varsity sport.
They were successful in the late 1970s and early 1980s while playing in the ECAC Division II. Merrimack won the division II national title in 1978 and were the runner up in 1984. They became an NCAA Division I independent team in 1984 but did not play a schedule against predominantly Division I teams until they joined the Hockey East conference in 1989.
Led by Coach Ron Anderson, a new era began for Merrimack hockey in 1989 when the Warriors competed in their first season as a member of the Hockey East Association. That team posted an overall record of 10-24-1, but pulled off the surprise of the season by taking eventual league champion Boston College to a third and decisive playoff game. And after being picked for the bottom part of the league in three of the last four seasons, the Warriors continued to baffle the experts by battling for home-ice advantage all season long while defeating several Top 20 teams. And with the roots of the Merrimack hockey tree that were planted in Hockey East seven years earlier firmly entrenched, the 1996-97 Warriors entered a new chapter in history by qualifying for a Hockey East playoff home ice berth. The 1997-98 team raised the bar a little higher by upsetting top-ranked Boston University in the quarterfinals and earning a trip to the conference semifinals at Boston's FleetCenter.
The 1998-99 season began yet another era in Merrimack hockey history with the dawning of the Serino age. On April 24, 1998, Chris Serino became just the sixth head coach in the program's history. The Warriors posted a mark of 11-24-1 in Serino's inaugural campaign, and senior forward and captain Rejean Stringer was named an All-American, Merrimack's first ever in the University Division. In Serino's second season, the Warriors set an NCAA record for consecutive overtime contests by playing in six straight at the end of January, and in 2000-01, the Warriors notched 14 victories, the most for Merrimack since 1996-97. Several of those victories were over nationally ranked opponents.
In 2002-03, senior goaltender and captain Joe Exter led Merrimack to a surprising race for home ice throughout much of the season, including the team's first-ever regular season Division I tournament title with wins over host Rensselaer and Wayne State at the 52nd Annual Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Hockey Tournament in late December. Exter was selected to the All-Hockey East Team by league coaches. Long-time assistant coach Stu Irving was also honored, as the American Hockey Coaches Association presented him with its Terry Flanagan Memorial Award in recognition of an assistant coach's career body of work. The season also saw the inauguration of the Blue Line Club, the program's official support organization.
The program struggled in the highly competitive Hockey East. The 2006–07 season, in which they won only 3 games, was the nadir of their struggles. In the 2010–11 season, however, they had unprecedented success against several of the nation's top teams. They finished the regular season 22–8–4 and were ranked 9th in the nation. Merrimack gained a home ice advantage for the first round for the first time since 1997.
The program received its first No. 1 ranking in the USCHO Poll during the 2011-12 season.
Mark Dennehy was fired as the team's head coach at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season following a 12-21-4 record and a sixth straight losing season. Scott Borek was hired as the team's head coach on April 9, 2018.
==Season-by-season results==
== All-time coaching records ==
As of the completion of 2019–20 season
Tenure 	Coach 	Years 	Record 	Pct.
1956–1964 	Jim Reynolds 	8 	46–45–3 	
1964–1965 	Ron Ryan 	1 	6–8–0 	
1965–1978 	J. Thom Lawler	13 	218–138–10 	
1978–1983 	Bruce Parker 	5 	100–76–5 	
1983–1998 	Ron Anderson 	15 	254–253–24 	
1998–2005 	Chris Serino 	7 	78–149–27 	
2005–2018 	Mark Dennehy 	13 	168–243–60 	
2018–Present	Scott Borek 	2 	16–46–6 	
Totals 	7 coaches 	64 seasons	886–958–135	
==Awards and honors==
===NCAA===
====Individual Awards====
Tim Taylor Award
*Stéphane Da Costa, C: 2010
====All-American Teams====
AHCA Second Team All-Americans
*1998-99: Rejean Stringer, F
*2010-11: Stéphane Da Costa, F
*2011-12: Joe Cannata, G
*2012-13: Mike Collins, F
===Hockey East===
====Individual Awards====
Rookie of the Year
*Stéphane Da Costa, C: 2010
Three-Stars Award
*Joe Exter, G: 2003
Goaltending Champion
*Collin Delia: 2017
Coach of the Year
*Mark Dennehy: 2010
====All-Conference Teams====
First Team All-Hockey East
*1994–95: Martin Legault, G
*1996–97: Martin Legault, G
*2011–12: Joe Cannata, G
*2012–13: Mike Collins, F
Second Team All-Hockey East
*1998–99: Rejean Stringer, F
*2000–01: Anthony Aquino, F
*2002–03: Joe Exter, G
*2004–05: Bryan Schmidt, D
*2009–10: Stéphane Da Costa, D
*2010–11: Stéphane Da Costa, D
*2011–12: Karl Stollery, D
*2012–13: Jordan Heywood, D
Third Team All-Hockey East
*2016–17: Collin Delia, G
*2017–18: Brett Seney, F
Hockey East All-Rookie Team
*1992–93: Mark Goble, F
*1993–94: John Jakopin, F
*1994–95: Casey Kesselring, F
*1995–96: Darrel Scoville, D
*1998–99: Greg Classen, F
*1999–00: Anthony Aquino, F
*2000–01: Joe Exter, G
*2002–03: Bryan Schmidt, D
*2003–04: Jim Healey, G
*2005–06: Rob Ricci, F
*2008–09: Karl Stollery, D
*2009–10: Stéphane Da Costa, F
*2010–11: Mike Collins, F
*2018–19: Chase Gresock, F
==Statistical Leaders==
===Career points leaders===
Player	Years 	GP 	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
 	1984–1988	140	110	134	244	
 	1985–1989	124	103	128	231	
 	1972–1976	124	113	111	224	
 	1977–1981	138	102	119	221	
 	1976–1980	140	99 	121	220	
 	2005–2009	136	94 	108	202	
 	1985–1989	136	84 	100	184	
 	1976–1980	132	90 	91 	181	
 	1972–1975	102	81 	96 	177	
 	1986–1990	144	77 	89 	166	
===Career Goaltending Leaders===
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
minimum 30 games played
Player	Years 	GP 	Min 	W 	L 	T 	GA 	SO	SV% 	GAA
 	2010–2014 	47 	2360	14	19	4 	94 	3 	.917	2.39
 	2011–2015 	68 	3893	22	34	8 	159	3 	.918	2.45
 	2008–2012 	122	7145	59	46	16	294	7 	.915	2.47
 	2014–2017 	56 	3240	21	24	10	134	4 	.911	2.48
 	2015–Present	44 	2416	12	22	6 	111	1 	.902	2.76
Statistics current through the start of the 2018-19 season.
==Current roster==
As of September 8, 2020.
==Warriors in the NHL==
Player 	Position 	Team(s) 	Years 	
Greg Classen 	Center 	NSH 	2000–2003 	0
Brett Seney 	Left Wing 	NJD 	2018–present	0
Mark Cornforth 	Defenseman	BOS 	1995–1996 	0
Stéphane Da Costa	Center 	OTT 	2010–2014 	0
Collin Delia 	Goaltender	CHI 	2017–Present	0
Matt Foy 	Right Wing	MIN 	2005–2008 	0
Jim Hrivnak 	Goaltender	WSH, WIN, STL 	1989–1994 	0
John Jakopin 	Defenseman	FLA, PIT, SJS 	1997–2003 	0
Bob Jay 	Defenseman	LAK 	1993–1994 	0
Steve McKenna 	Defenseman	LAK, MIN, PIT, NYR	1996–2004 	0
Darrel Scoville 	Defenseman	CGY, CBJ 	1999–2004 	0
Karl Stollery 	Defenseman	COL, SJS, NJD 	2013–2017 	0
Jim Vesey 	Center 	STL, BOS 	1988–1992 	0
==References==
==External links==
*Merrimack ice hockey at Merrimack Athletics
 
Category:Ice hockey teams in Massachusetts