Weekend Preview: One More With The Warriors

Tomorrow night, BU will head up to North Andover and invade Lawler Rink, home of the Merrimack College Warriors. In the two prior meetings this season, BU and Merrimack have split, with Merrimack winning the first game 3-2 in overtime and BU coming away with 4-2 win in early January.

From The Vault
Garrett Noonan scores a power play goal against Merrimack
earlier this year. Merrimack went on to win this game 3-2
in overtime.
(photo by Matt Dresens)

Merrimack has had an up and down year. They started the season on a tear, and were actually the last team in the Nation to lose a game. MC took a 9-0-1 record into a weekend series with Providence at the start of Decembrer. PC bucked Merrimack 2-1 in overtime on Friday night, then destroyed the Warriors 6-1 at Lawler Rink. Since those two losses, Merrimack has not played nearly as well as they did in the beginning of the year. Merrimack tied Colgate and a 3-1 home loss to Union prior to the Holiday break is no way to end the year on a good note. Merrimack resumed play three weeks later, and fared no better, tying St. Lawrence and beating Holy Cross in the Ledyard Bank Tournament. After losing to BU, MC picked up three points (win and a tie) against Maine. Merrimack comes into this game winners of their last two games, a 3-2 overtime victory at New Hampshire and a 4-2 home win over Providence last weekend.

Scouting the Warriors
Ryan Flanigan is the team's total points leader with 19 (7g 12a) in 19 games played. Karl Stollery is a close second in the points race, coming in with 16 - five goals and eleven assists- in 19 games. Jesse Todd is the team leader in goals with nine in 18 games. I once thought Maine's Joey Diamond was the league's dirtiest player. I have since changed my mind on that and the award now goes to Merrimack's Kyle Bigos. Bigos is a big, bulky defenseman with a decent shot, but he is known more for his knack for vicious penalties. Earlier this year against BU, Bigos was tossed for drilling Wade Megan into the boards blatantly from behind. On the year, Bigos has committed 36 penalties for a total of 86 minutes in the sin bin. Against BU alone, he has racked up 19 penalty minutes this year.


In The Cage
Senior Joe Cannata is once again piecing together a solid season in the Merrimack net. So far this season, he has a 13-5-5 record with a .929 save percentage and a 2.02 goals against average. .

Injury Report
BU will be without Freshman defenseman Alexx Privitera, who suffered a broken wrist in last weekend's series with Maine. Also, the Terriers will miss Max Nicastro, who suffered a shoulder injury last Friday night.

In Other News
If your headed up to Lawler tomorrow, wear red. Merrimack is attempting to "White out" the rink, so stand out and be loud. Go Terriers.