NORTH ANDOVER — On paper, Boston University would have every reason to be overconfident.
Despite the regular season finish - BU was only a single win better than Merrimack in Hockey East - the Terriers are the defending national champions. The Warriors, until this season, have been annual residents of the basement in Hockey East, finishing last the previous five seasons.
"If we're overconfident, we'd have to check ourselves into Mattapan State Hospital," said BU head coach Jack Parker. "Not just because how good a team Merrimack is, but who we are all year. We weren't even close to them in the game we lost up at Merrimack and they could have won either of the games that were played (at Agganis Arena)."
This weekend's best-of-3 Hockey East quarterfinal series will be played at Agganis Arena; all three games are played on the higher seed's home ice. The Warriors have never won at Agganis Arena and last beat BU on the road in 2001, when the Terriers still skated at Walter Brown Arena.
"I'm already afraid of them," Parker said. "They present a lot of problems and their style presents a lot of problems — the way they stretch, the way they chip pucks out of the zone. They make it difficult for us to play our game and they make it difficult for any team to go after them, and we like to go after people. ... They can bang and cycle with anybody."
But the fact remains that Merrimack has not only had struggles at Agganis Arena, but everywhere. Merrimack finished 3-13-1 away from Lawler Arena this season, though the Warriors did finish the regular season 3-1-1 in their last five road games.
"We haven't been able to figure BU out in their building," said head coach Mark Dennehy. "We're a resilient group. In the past, we've been intimidated to play at their place. Last year's team could intimidate a lot of schools especially at Agganis, but we've stuck with it. I expect a pretty hard fought series. They're big and physical, but we have those characteristics in our locker room as well. I'm sure Coach Parker is going to have everyone believe that we are the favorites, but everyone is 0-0 again."
While BU returns a roster loaded with national champions, the Warriors do not have a single player on the roster with playoff experience.
"I don't think that matters much," said Merrimack junior winger Chris Barton. "We have a lot of guys who have won championships and won big games in juniors. Our coaches have done a good job recruiting players that are on winning teams, so we have guys that know how to win."
Merrimack at BU, Hockey East Quarterfinals
all games at Agganis Arena
GameDayTime
Game 1Today7:30 p.m.
Game 2Tomorrow7 p.m.
*Game 3Sunday7 p.m.
* if necessary
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