Merrimack coach Scott Borek has been around Hockey East long enough to remember when it was a top-heavy league.
Traditionally dominated for the better part of its first two decades as a conference by the likes of Boston University, Boston College, New Hampshire and Maine, things have changed in the last decade — UMass Lowell has earned six NCAA tournament bids, including a Frozen Four appearance in 2013, Providence and Massachusetts have won NCAA championships, and Northeastern has established itself as a regional heavyweight.
Add Merrimack’s hot start this season as another chapter. The Warriors are 8-3-0, 6-1-0 in the conference, have won five straight and now sit at No. 15 in the latest DCU/USCHO.com D-I men’s poll.
“In the past, it was a four-team league,” said Borek, who served as an associate head coach at UNH and Providence for a combined 16 seasons before taking over at Merrimack in 2018. “Now it’s an 11-team league. You have to be ready to play every night, and that will make our team better. You just have to appreciate the grind and enjoy it. Everybody has a pretty good team.”
Borek said locker room cohesiveness has been key to the Warriors’ success this season, which he said is in large part thanks to the leadership of senior forward Ben Brar who, in addition to being the captain, is second on the team in scoring (5-6-11).
Also performing well so far this year for Merrimack are junior forward and leading scorer Alex Jeffries (4-9-13) and freshman defenseman Zach Bookman, who notched his first collegiate goal in a 5-3 win over Maine last Saturday.
“I just think we have a good group that’s really coming together,” Borek said.
The Warriors have gotten outstanding performances from a pair of netminders — junior Zachary Borgiel, who is undefeated in four starts with a 1.75 GAA and a .929 save percentage, and sophomore Hugo Ollas of Linköping, Sweden, who in seven starts sports a 1.88 GAA and a .922 save percentage. Each has pitched a shutout this season — Borgiel in a 5-0 win vs. Colgate on Oct. 23 and Ollas last Friday, 1-0 vs. Maine.
“We’re a really tight group in here, we just work together every day and trust each other out there,” Ollas said. “Every game is a really good game in this league — everybody can win every game. You just have to stay focused on every game. It’s very physical.”
The Warriors were dealt a tragic blow early in the season with sudden passing of their assistant coach Josh Ciocco, who died on Oct. 3 at the age of 38.
Borek said his team has been “resilient” in the wake of the tragedy.
“Josh was a lot more than a coach to me,” Borek said. “We deal with it as best we can and try to move forward and give these guys a good season.”
The Warriors are focused on what will certainly be a tough road ahead — four of Merrimack’s six opponents before the holiday break are ranked.
“Coach Borek’s huge on keeping it simple and playing hard,” Bookman said. “Pretty much just doing your job. We have to get it into the forwards’ hands, and the forwards will make plays.”
