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  • Photo courtesy Merrimack College Merrimack fans were out in full force for Merrimack's opening night win in November, 6-3 over Vermont. It's time the Warriors, now 3-3-3 at home, get back on the winning track at Lawler Arena. Photo courtesy Merrimack College

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January 11, 2013

Merrimack looking to regain home-ice dominance against BU tonight

The Eagle-Tribune

NORTH ANDOVER — Merrimack College has some work to do to change the course of its season.

They hope that process begins tonight.

The Warriors host No. 4 Boston University at Lawler Arena tonight and Maine at 7 p.m. tomorrow night.

There are two facts that stick out.

The first is Merrimack’s overall record vs. BU — 15-76-6.

The second is Merrimack is only 3-3-3 at home this season.

That’s a concern, considering Merrimack was an eye-popping 35-10-5 at the friendly confines of Lawler Arena the previous three seasons.

The Terriers were the first team to beat Merrimack at Lawler back on Nov. 9.

BU’s Matt O’Connor stole the show in their game two months ago, stopping 34 shots and ending Merrimack’s four-game unbeaten streak.

Merrimack was good last week

Merrimack returned to league play last weekend after a 35-day absence from Hockey East action. The Warriors, who did play four non-league games in that stretch, captured the season-series over Vermont with a 4-1 road win.

Mike Collins, Brian Christie and Brendan Ellis each had multi-point efforts, while Sam Marotta stopped 23 shots.

Fourth place in their sights

Merrimack passed Vermont for fifth in Hockey East and now leads the Catamounts by 1 point with three games-in-hand. The Warriors also hold the tiebreaker. The Warriors trail Providence by 1 point for fourth and have a game in hand. All teams ahead of Merrimack in the standings have played more games.

Collins on the attack

Mike Collins leads Merrimack in goals (9), assists (12), points (21) and shots (67).

He is fifth in Hockey East in goals and tied for third in points. He has points in nine straight conference games.

The junior is the leader in points per game (1.60) in Hockey East and is tied for first with 16 points in league games.

Countdown to 100 for Dennehy

Mark Dennehy (96-138-34) is four wins shy of 100 in his career at Merrimack. His 100th win will tie him for third all-time with Bruce Parker (1978-83).

Ron Anderson is the program’s all-time wins leader with 255 and the all-time Division I leader with 114 wins.

Goaltending rotation continues

During the first half of the season, Sam Marotta (2.36 G.A.A., .916 save percentage) and Rasmus Tirronen (2.42, .912) alternated starts.

The rotation continued last weekend as Marotta, this week’s HE Defensive Player of the Week, made 23 saves in the win at UVM.

Both goaltenders rank in the top five in Hockey East in goals-against. After starting the season 0-2 with a 4.62 G.A.A. and a .842 save percentage, Tirronen is 3-2-2 in his last 7 starts with a 2.11 GAG and .922 save percentage, respectively.

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