PC Hockey Team to Face Merrimack in Hockey East Quarterfinal Matchup

PC Hockey Team to Face Merrimack in Hockey East Quarterfinal Matchup

The Hockey East tournament got underway on Wednesday night, and PC learned that its opponent in the quarterfinal round will be the Merrimack Warriors.  Merrimack, an 8^th seed in the tournament, beat UMass Lowell on Wednesday night, 5-3, to advance to the quarterfinal round.

PC’s quarterfinal game against the Warriors will be this Saturday at Schneider at 7 PM.

Other winners on Wednesday night in the Hockey East opening round were #6 seed BU, who scored three third-period goals to end Vermont’s season, 4-1; and #7 seed Northeastern, who throttled UNH, 7-3.

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The quarterfinal matchups and their tournament seeds on Saturday shape up this way.

#5 Maine at #4 Boston College

#6 Boston University at #3 UConn

#7 Northeastern at #2 UMass

#8 Merrimack at #1 Providence College

The Friars and Merrimack split their series in mid-November with PC winning 4-2 at Schneider and the Warriors winning the next night at their home rink in North Andover, 3-2.  The 3-2 loss to Merrimack was a tough loss for the Friars, as PC outshot Merrimack 40-25 in the game.

While the Friars have been on a roll since early January, the 3-2 loss to the Warriors in November indicates what can happen in a Hockey East matchup when the underdog has a hot goalie.  Merrimack’s goalie, Max Lundgren, stopped 38 of PC’s 40 shots on goal in that game.

The Friars can’t take stupid penalties against Merrimack as they did in the November 3-2 loss.  Two of the Warriors' goals were on the power play, and the power play is more lethal than the Friars power play.

Let’s look at the regular season stats for PC and Merrimack.

 Regular Season Stats          Merrimack    Providence

Overall record	17-15-2	23-9-2
Hockey East record	10-12-2	18-5-2
Record when scoring first	10-6-0	16-3-1
Goals per game	3.2	3.4
Goals against per game	2.9	2.2
Power play %	25.6%	21.1%
Penalty kill %	81.1%	82.4%
Penalty minutes/game	12.5	11.7

PC’s overall season stats, of course, don’t reflect the roll that the Friars have been on since January 3rd.  Since then, PC has been averaging 3.6 goals per game and giving up only 1.75 goals per game.  Over that stretch of 16 games, PC’s goal tending, largely by freshman Jack Parsons is the best in Division One college hockey

Merrimack’s goalie, Max Lundgren, is also a freshman but has not been as consistent as Parsons, but his regular season save percentage is pretty good at .915%.  Merrimack, like PC, has balanced scoring with five players with double-digit goal stats. Their leading goal scorer is freshman Justin Gill, who has lit the lamp 16 times in the regular season.  PC is led by Jack Mustard with 15 goals.

The PC students will be back from spring break and hopefully add some energy to Schneider Arena. A full house will help the Friars win and head to TD Garden for the Hockey East tournament semifinals and finals next weekend.