There’s a famous scene in the 1986 movie “Hoosiers” where a small-town basketball team enters Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and is immediately awestruck.
The coach, played by Gene Hackman, uses a tape measure to assure his players that despite the high ceilings and the large number of seats, the court dimensions are the same as their tiny gymnasium back home.
While New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center isn’t Hinkle Fieldhouse, and Merrimack men’s hockey coach Scott Borek isn’t Gene Hackman, Borek said he’ll apply the same mentality when his Warriors play on UNH’s plus-sized rink on Saturday night.
“Between the dots, it’s exactly the same as every rink,” Borek said. “If we play between the dots, the game’s not going to change at all. If we get excited about the perimeter — which is not something you should do — we’ll have trouble getting scoring chances.”
Scoring hasn’t necessarily been too big of a problem lately for Merrimack (17-12-1, 12-9-0 Hockey East), winners of five of their last six, including lopsided wins over Vermont, Maine, and Saturday’s opponent, UNH (5-2 at home on Feb. 4).
A big part of Merrimack’s scoring spark has come from its power play. The Warriors have scored at least one power-play goal in every game it has played in 2022, with the exception of their first game of the calendar year, a 7-1 nonconference win at Brown on Jan. 2.
While on the penalty kill, the Warriors have been pretty good too, allowing just one shorthanded goal all season, which came during the win vs. UNH.
“It’s given our team a lot of opportunity to be successful,” Borek said of his team’s play with a man advantage. “The penalty kill has quietly been very good over the last 4 to 6 games.
“I like the way we’re forechecking and killing in the zone,” he continued. “Our confidence is growing. And that’s important.”
Merrimack sits tied with Connecticut for third in the league with 38 points, just two points behind UMass Lowell and UMass, which are tied for first. Lopsided wins aside, the Warriors needed third-period comebacks to sweep Vermont last weekend, leading Merrimack sports information director Will LeBlond to dub the team the “Cardiac Warriors” in a recent press release.
Merrimack came back twice Friday night, with Alex Jefferies scoring the game winner early in the third period. The next night saw Merrimack trail 2-0 in the third, before Jefferies and Steven Jandric tied the game. Jefferies had his second straight game winner with the overtime tally.
“He wants to be in those situations,” Borek said after that game. “He thrives in those situations. (He) rises to the moment.”
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With two weekends left to play in the regular season, the top four teams in the league — UMass, UMass Lowell, Merrimack and UConn — will be vying for three byes directly to the quarterfinals. All teams make the playoffs this season, with the top three receiving byes and the remaining eight playing preliminary-round games. The entire tournament is single elimination.
Northeastern, Boston University and Providence are all in good shape to clinch home ice for the first round, with UNH and BC contending for the final home-ice spot. While not mathematically eliminated from home ice consideration, Maine and Vermont will almost certainly be playing on the road in the preliminary round.
The first round is scheduled for March 9 at the home of the higher seed, followed by quarterfinal action on March 12. After reseeding, the quarterfinals will be at the home of the higher seed. The semifinals and final are March 18-19 at TD Garden.
