MERRIMACK at SACRED HEART
NOV. 17, 2022 - Total Mortgage Arena, 7 p.m.
FloSports TV

SHU Game Notes


The SHU Men's Hockey Team (6-4-1, 6-3-1 AH) looks to rebound from its first pointless Atlantic Hockey weekend by skating against No. 15 Merrimack (8-3-0, 6-1-0 HE) Thursday night at Total Mortgage Arena. The 7 p.m. non-conference puck drop airs live on FloSports TV. 

THE SERIES
Thursday is just the fourth meeting between the teams, and the guys from Andover have taken two of the three contests. The first came in 2003, a 4-2 Warriors win in Massachusetts. Braeden Tuck had two goals in last year's 4-2 loss at Merrimack. 

MERRIMACK
The No. 15 Warriors have won five straight, including a sweep of Boston College and last weekend's home 1-0 and 5-3 wins over Maine. The second-place team in Hockey East has had strong starts from Alex Jefferies (4-9-13) and five-goal scorers Ben Brar and Matt Capponi. Two goalies got starts last weekend: Hugo Oilas (1.88, .922) made 33 saves against the Black Bears, while Zachary Bargiel (1.75, .929) had 25 stops in one of the wins.

PIONEERS
SHU, in second place with 20 points, trails first-place RIT by six but is six ahead of third-place Niagara after falling twice in close contests at Rochester last weekend. Senior goalie Luke Lush, who has started the last nine straight games since starter Justin Robbins went down with an injury, gave up just four goals in the two outings and two of those were power plays. The Sherwood Park, Alb., native made 44 saves combined, but did not get support at the other end of the rink with just two tallies. Graduate student Todd Goehring, who made it four straight games with a goal on Friday, leads the team with six tallies, while rookie Marcus Joughin scored his fifth on Saturday. Senior Kevin Lombardi picked up assists both nights. His classmate, Neil Shea, has a team-high 12 points for a squad taking a two-game break from conference play.

MATCHUP
Both teams are averaging over three goals a game and have power-play units operating about 22 percent, while the bigger discrepancy is in goals against. The Warriors are allowing 1.9 per contest compared to 2.9 for the Pios.