Merrimack Men's Hockey Ranked In Top 10 For First Time In A Decade

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — The Merrimack College men's hockey team appears to be having a moment.

The Warriors improved 12-4-0 overall, 8-2-0 in Hockey East with Wednesday's 2-1 win over UMass in Amherst. Merrimack now sits in second place in the conference behind UConn (11-4, 8-3-2). The Warriors visit Providence on Saturday (7 p.m., NESN).

On Monday, Merrimack was ranked No. 10 in the USA Today national hockey poll. It was the first time the Warriors had been ranked in the top 10 in 10 years (Feb. 12, 2012).

Also on Monday, Merrimack sophomore goaltender Hugo Ollas was named Hockey East Goaltender of the Month for November.

Ollas, a 6-foot-8 native of Linköping, Sweden, played four games in November, finishing with a 3-1 record, 1.01 goals against average, a .958 save percentage and 96 saves.

During a recent appearance on the New England Hockey Journal's Rink Wise podcast, Merrimack head coach Scott Borek said the play of Ollas and fellow netminder Zachary Borgiel, a junior, has been a key component of the Warriors' success.

"I really attribute this (success) to our growth in goaltending," Borek said. "Hugo Ollas, who was a freshman last year, got off to a slower start (in 2021-22). Zach Borgiel had come out of the previous year as a starter, but (he) hadn't been the starter really because he was sharing the opportunity with two other guys. So, they both went into (2021-22) almost like rookies, and as they grew, our team grew. And then this year, they both came in and hit the ground running. Goaltending has been a huge part of it."

Borek said depth and experience also have helped the squad.

"I also think for the first time since I've been here, we've had depth in the lineup, certainly up front," said Borek, who arrived in 2018 "We can score goals on all four of our lines. We're a very mature team, a little bit older, and that's been helpful as well."

The Hockey East league office also announced Monday that Merrimack junior forward Alex Jefferies was named co-player of the week for the conference.

Jefferies, from Lunenburg, had two goals and three assists in the Warriors' split with UConn the previous week. Merrimack fell to the Huskies 3-1 on Nov. 29 in North Andover, but bounced back with a 7-2 win on Dec. 2 in Storrs.

For the season, Jefferies leads Merrimack with 15 assists and 21 points. His six goals are third on the team.

Jefferies had an assist in Wednesday's win over UMass.

Merrimack sophomore forward Matt Copponi had a goal and assist in the game and forward Otto Leppänen, a graduate student, also found the net. Freshman defenseman Zach Bookman and sophomore defenseman Ivan Zivlak each had assists versus the Minutemen.