Hockey East Semifinals: Merrimack and UConn Advance to 2026 Hockey East Championship Game
- Sam Smith
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Merrimack and UConn’s men’s hockey teams will meet in the 2026 Hockey East Championship Game at TD Garden after winning their respective semifinals Friday night, in Boston.
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In the first semifinal game at TD Garden, the #8 seed Merrimack Warriors, who upset the #1 seed Providence Friars in the quarterfinal, had their hands full with the #2 seed UMass Minutemen.
The game got underway and the first period seemed to be a “feeling out process” as both teams were just getting acclimated. Merrimack would get into early penalty trouble as they took two minor penalties within the first eight minutes of the game, but the UMass power play could not take advantage. Right near the end of the first period, freshman Jack Galanek could not deflect a centering pass on net, keeping the game scoreless through 20 minutes at TD Garden.
The Minutemen would be the ones getting into penalty trouble in the middle frame as Merrimack had three power plays but weren’t able to convert on any of them. UMass goaltender Michael Hrabal, who is a Utah Mammoth prospect, shut the door on a high-danger power play chance for Merrimack’s sophomore captain, Caelan Fitzpatrick, keeping the game scoreless and it would stay that way through the second period.
Merrimack would finally break the ice as Ty Daneault sent a great pass from center ice, sending sophomore Ryan O’Connell on a breakaway and he would score to give Merrimack the 1-0 lead just three minutes into the third period.
Late in the third period, down a goal with their season on the line, UMass would pull the goalie for the extra skater on the ice but Merrimack would take advantage of a turnover, sending sophomore Caden Cranston ahead of the pack and scoring the empty-net goal to seal the victory for the Warriors, beating the Minutemen 2-0 and sending Merrimack’s student section into a frenzy.
Merrimack’s junior goaltender out of Sweden, Max Lundgren was a brick wall in net, stopping all 24 shots faced. According to New England Hockey Journal reporter Mark Divver in an X post, Max Lundgren told him that he would be going to development camp with the Boston Bruins this summer.
This was the game that everyone had circled on their calendars when the semifinals got announced, and it did not disappoint. However, it didn’t come without controversy though.
The Eagles and Huskies were trading penalties late in the first period, and Boston College were on a late first-period power play when senior captain Andre Gasseau jammed home a loose puck to give the Eagles the lead. The referees immediately waved it off. When asked about the explanation the referees gave to Eagles head coach Greg Brown, Brown said, “He (the referee) said that he lost sight of the puck. So, he blew the whistle, so I asked if it was challengeable, but then if he says his intent is to blow the whistle even sooner, then you can’t really challenge it. There’s nothing to challenge there.” The game would remain scoreless through 20 minutes.
The Eagles would eventually get the first goal as Bruins’ sophomore prospect Dean Letourneau would put home a goal, assisted by Andre Gasseau and James Hagens, giving the Eagles the 1-0 lead just 39 seconds into the second period. UConn would respond quickly, as just 53 seconds later, defenseman Trey Scott would toss one on net from the right wing to tie the game at one.
At the 5:09 mark on the second period, Dean Letourneau would get his second of the game, also on the power play to give the Eagles the lead right back at 2-1. UConn would respond again as sophomore Ethan Whitcomb would get a feed in front from Mike Murtagh to tie it at two at the 8:28 mark of the second period. It would remain tied at two going into the third period.
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The Huskies would lock it down defensively, holding the Eagles without a shot on goal for more than the first 12 minutes of the third period. UConn would be rewarded as Mike Murtagh went coast-to-coast and scored to give the Huskies the lead with 7:31 to go.
Just a minute and 44 seconds later, LA Kings junior prospect Ryan Conmy would tie it for the Eagles on a blast from the high slot to tie the game at three with 5:47 to go in the third. It would stay tied through the third period, which means only one thing. Overtime.
Just a minute and 28 seconds into overtime, UConn senior Tristan Fraser would fire one from the low slot on a rebound, would bounce off an Eagles skate and into the back of the net to win the game for the Huskies 4-3 in overtime, sending them to the Hockey East Championship.
In the postgame press conference, The Dean Daily asked Fraser about what was going through his head when he saw the puck went in and he said: “Yeah… I didn’t really realize it went in at first. I thought maybe (Jake) Percival hit it on the back door, or something, I couldn’t really see it that well. And then I saw everyone celebrating and skating towards me, so, I was just super excited, kind of shocked but excited at the same time.”
The game between Merrimack and UConn will be the first time that there will be a guaranteed first-time Hockey East champion, since 1988 when Northeastern beat Maine.
The championship game between Merrimack and UConn will be at TD Garden on Saturday night, with the game beginning at 7:00 PM.
