It's make or break time for Merrimack

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

It's an exciting time for the Warriors. With their current hot streak, Merrimack has put itself in a position to take part in its first Hockey East tournament since the 2004-05 season. That's right, Merrimack has not been in a postseason series since before the league went to a 10-team format.

But the Warriors are unbeaten in their last five contests, all against teams jockeying for position not only in the Hockey East tourney, but the national one as well. Their latest successes came this past weekend in the form of a systematic dismantling of UMass.

Now things get interesting. Merrimack is hanging to a one-point edge over Vermont for the final playoff spot, so every point counts. The Warriors have the opportunity to put some space between themselves and the Black Bears with three games this week, but they will have to fight for every point. The battle begins with a rare Tuesday-night affair with second-place Boston College. From there Merrimack hosts Maine, who is fighting to maintain its hold onto home ice position, for a weekend set.

It's an exciting time all over the league with the potential for a lot more movement in the ranks. Just four points separate the ninth-place team from the fourth-place team. Here are the standings:

1. UNH 14-5-4, 32 points (15-10-5 overall)
2. Boston College 13-8-2, 28 points (18-10-5)
3. Maine 12-9-2, 26 points (15-12-3)
4. Boston University 11-10-2, 24 points (14-13-3)
5. Northeastern 11-11-1, 23 points (16-13-1)
T-6. UMass-Lowell 10-11-2, 22 points (16-14-2)
T-6. UMass 11-13-0, 22 points (16-15-0)
8. Merrimack 10-11-1, 21 points (13-15-1)
9. Vermont 7-10-6, 20 points (13-11-6)
10. Providence 5-16-2, 12 points (10-18-2)

UNH had to settle for a tie in the second of two with Vermont over the weekend and while the Wildcats did gain an extra point to lengthen the gap between themselves and BC, the tie means their streak of 20-win seasons will come to an end. It will be the first time since the 1995-96 season the Wildcats have less than 20 wins. Still, only four point separate them from the Eagles, so they can ill-afford to lose to a Northeastern team that is just one point away from home ice positioning.

Boston College is still working hard in its pursuit of the regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the national tournament, but disappointing splits in the Eagles' last two weekend series have kept them from gaining any ground. Luckily for the Eagles, they have an opportunity to close in or at least keep pace with Merrimack and UMass visiting Kelley Rink this week. BC holds a combined 3-1-0 record against those teams, including two dominating performances over UMass.

Speaking of the Mass Attack, that attack has been toothless this month as the Minutemen have dropped all five games in February and seven of their last eight, sliding down to a tie for sixth. It's very possible that after this week, they could be on the outside looking in.

Vermont has a lot at stake with a televised weekend series in which they host BU, who has gone from the basement to home-ice positioning in a very short period of time. Vermont has gone in the opposite direction and needs these wins in order to reverse its fortunes. Friday's game will be on NESN with Saturday's matchup on ESPNU.