A veteran leader has Merrimack energized
If you feel as though Hockey East is more wide open than it has been in a while, you are not alone.
“It’s only gotten more competitive every year,” said Mary Edmonds, a graduate student forward at Merrimack. “There are only a few points difference between teams now, especially this year. I think from the top to the bottom it’s going to be a very tight race.”
Edmonds, who played four years for Holy Cross before transferring to Merrimack this season, is part of one of those teams hoping to seize the opportunity to shake up the league a bit — and did they ever shake it up Friday evening.
The nine-season-old Warriors program upset six-time Hockey East champion Northeastern, 1-0. Sophomore Alex Ferguson scored the lone goal, and sophomore goalie Calli Hogarth made 29 saves. Merrimack is now 4-2-1, one of its best starts, and is unbeaten in its last five games.
“I think that [Northeastern] will still be an incredible hockey team and I think we’re always going to have problems with them, but very excited that we could play toe-to-toe with them tonight,” said Merrimack coach Erin Hamlen postgame. “We felt like we were in this game from the start to the finish and that we just kept up and did our job the way we knew we had to.”
“Before the game, [Hamlen] just kept repeating over and over again that Northeastern is a beatable team,” said Edmonds. “She didn’t want us to go in thinking that, like, it was going to be an uphill battle. She knew that we were capable of beating them no matter what.”
That mentality is something Edmonds is trying to convey to her younger teammates. After playing four years at Holy Cross, she is familiar with all of Hockey East’s teams, and sees them differently now. The trepidation and awe she had early in her career are gone.
“My biggest thing is, if you can play with confidence, you can really beat anyone,” said Edmonds. “I know as an underclassman I remember being, like, ‘Oh my God, I’m playing Northeastern today. This is crazy.’
“Now I don’t want my underclassmen to have that attitude. I want them to know that we can beat anyone at any time. During the week at practice, I just try to give the underclassmen as much confidence as possible.”
Edmonds brings experience and tenacity to the Warriors. She finished her four-year career at Holy Cross with the program record for faceoff wins with 1,644. She also had the Crusaders’ then-highest single-season point total with 18 (10 goals, 8 assists).
The Deerfield Academy product, who also played for the Boston Junior Eagles, has been one of the league’s most academically-minded players, earning three All-Academic Team honors and two Krampade/AHCA All-American Scholar nods.
Holy Cross does not have graduate programs, so players need to transfer to use the fifth-year option the NCAA offered players impacted by COVID. When Edmonds sought out a hockey home for her bonus year, Merrimack was an easy choice because of her familiarity with the program.
“They are a very gritty team,” said Edmonds. “It’s part of the reason why I wanted to come here for my fifth year is because I remember playing Merrimack in my undergrad and thinking, ‘Wow, this team does not stop working all three periods.’ I love that.”
The Warriors’ early success has been a true team effort: 12 players have scored points, with Edmonds’s 5 (1 goal, 4 assists) leading them all. Hogarth has been a revelation in net. She is unbeaten in her last four starts, which include two shutouts. The 6-foot Ontario native was last week’s league Goaltender of the Week and this week’s Player of the Week.
“She spent the summers really spending a lot of time in a deep dive and just getting better from a physical and a mental standpoint,” said Hamlen. “I think she’s a rock back there right now.”
Merrimack will try to keep its hot start going when it hosts No. 12 Vermont this weekend. Edmonds knows Vermont will present a similarly high level of skill as Northeastern, so the Warriors will need to continue their disciplined defense while upping their scoring output.
“We’re working on our systems and our defense, making sure everything is as perfect as it can be going into the weekend,” said Edmonds. “We are playing games throughout the week and scoring goals and trying to get creative so we can get that offense piece going too.”
BC back on track
After a tough four-game stretch, Boston College got back on track with a sweep of UConn. In Friday’s game, junior captain Abby Newhook scored the overtime winner for a 4-3 victory. Katie Pyne was the hero Saturday, finishing off a comeback with the winner late in the second period. Sophomore Grace Campbell earned Hockey East Goaltender of the Week honors by making 59 saves over the weekend . . . Harvard knew its junior class would be a key this season, and that showed Friday night. In a tightly contested 4-2 loss to Dartmouth, juniors Gabi Davidson Adams and Kayley Crawford scored the Crimson’s goals. It was Crawford’s first career goal after 46 games for the Crimson . . . Northeastern heads off to the IceBreaker tournament this weekend at Sacred Heart’s recently opened rink. The Huskies face No. 13 St. Cloud State Friday, and will play Sacred Heart or Lindenwood Saturday.