Looking Ahead: UMass Lowell

The Warriors welcome UMass Lowell to Lawler Arena tonight, trying to salvage two points after last night's disappointing 5-1 setback to Northeastern.

The River Hawks are coming off a 3-2 loss at Tsongas Arena to Boston University. The Terriers outshot UML 33-18 and UML had just two shots on net in the third period (11-2 BU).

Jeremy Dehner, who has a broken hand, did not play last night.

Here is a link to last night's game story.

UML has won the first two games of the season series against the Warriors - both games at Lowell's Tsongas Arena - crushing MC 6-3 on Nov. 21st and surviving a 5-4 game on Jan. 22nd.

How about this for a stat - the last time Merrimack beat UMass Lowell at Lawler Arena was Nov. 12, 2000 - two years before I was a freshman at the school and I'm not four years graduated. That's nine-plus years without a win at home over MC's closest rival going 0-10-3 in that stretch. The last time MC scored more than two goals against UMass Lowell in a home game was back in 2004, a 4-3 loss.

After last night, tonight's game takes on the utmost importance.

I'll be honest - last night was an aberration for Merrimack. If there is one thing the Warriors have proven this year, it's that they're leaps and bounds better than what they showed last night. Last night, and the 5-1 loss to Ferris State, have been the most disappointing games of the year. But, even the best teams in the country have nights like that.

It's a long season, games like last night are bound to happen once in a while.

The key becomes how Merrimack responds tonight. Make no ifs ands or buts about it - tonight is a statement game.