NORTH ANDOVER — Less than a week after finding their first two wins of 2026 over UNH, Northeastern looked to continue their winning ways in a two-game set against bottom-ranked Hockey East opponent Merrimack. However, shortly into the first period, those aspirations were largely snapped on the way to a 4-1 loss to the Warriors.
Worse than allowing a goal on the first shot of the game, junior goaltender Lawton Zacher surrendered a second goal on the second shot of the game as well, courtesy of sophomores Caden Cranston and Nick King, respectively.
From that point on, it felt like the Huskies were fighting a losing battle, and Merrimack tacked on a third goal later in the period just to add insult to injury.
“We had a couple good scoring chances. We didn’t finish, and [then they get] an ugly goal that goes in,” said head coach Jerry Keefe. “For whatever reason, it just seemed like we got on our heels and we didn’t want to really dig in tonight.”
Although the Huskies had stretches of strong play, Merrimack dominated up and down the ice for most of the game. Even when freshman Giacomo Martino cut the deficit to 3-1 late in the second period, the momentum never truly seemed to shift in Northeastern’s favor.
“That goes back to the puck battles [in] the net fronts,” said Keefe in regards to goals allowed in tight. “Those are the hard areas of the ice and we didn’t win them.”
The Huskies have backed themselves into a corner over the last few weeks. Losses to lesser opponents: Army, Vermont, and now Merrimack have put Northeastern’s hopes of earning an at-large bid to the national tournament very much at risk — if not essentially out of the question. With the Beanpot now just two games away, the Huskies will need to find a way to straighten out their play if they want a chance at the title.
With the loss, the Huskies drop to an overall record of 12-10-0 (7-7-0 in conference). They will return to North Andover tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 23, for another matchup against the Warriors.
Luke Graham is the Digital Content Manager for WRBB Sports. He has covered Northeastern hockey and baseball with WRBB both on-air and in print for three years. Read all his articles here, and follow him on X here.