Merrimack wins its first Hockey East Championship

Merrimack 2, UConn 1

BOSTON — Some of you might be too young to remember. Truth be told, I’m too young to remember it live myself. But like most sports fans, I’ve seen the clip of Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run at least 100 times.

As Gibson limped around the bases, pumping his fist, legendary broadcaster Jack Buck delivered a line that has echoed through sports history:

“I don’t believe what I just saw! Is this really happening?”

Tell me about it, Jack. I know the feeling.

Because what unfolded Saturday night at TD Garden felt just as surreal.

There, on that ice, the Merrimack Warriors became Hockey East champions.

Even now, it feels a little strange to type. So let’s try it again.

The Merrimack Warriors are Hockey East champions.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Scott Borek, whose alma mater, Dartmouth, won its first ECAC championship just hours earlier. “I just feel like we played three incredible teams, really well coached, NHL players on all three of them, and to win those three games. … The two teams we beat here we hadn’t beaten yet this season, so the fact we got through these two teams [is] pretty special.”

Special doesn’t quite cover it.

This program waited 37 years to raise the Lou Lamoriello Trophy. And on Saturday night, it felt like every one of those years was in the building. Photos poured in before and after the game — generations of former players, all back at TD Garden to witness it.

Half the arena — maybe more — wore Merrimack colors.

This is what Borek envisioned when he took the job in 2018.

“When I interviewed at Merrimack College, I said we got to stop apologizing and win a championship, and the fact that we were able to deliver on that — and it wasn’t Scott Borek, it wasn’t the players, it was the entire community,” Borek said. “(And) without support from the administration, to get us into that position and then to put us over the line — was pretty special.

“I’m so proud to be the coach of this team. It’s a special team, and we had a lot of difficult times early, but the way they stuck with it was unbelievable. So well done, boys, well done.”

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Hillier finally raises the trophy

Merrimack’s four captains — Mark Hillier, Ty Daneault, Caelan Fitzpatrick, and Seamus Powell — accepted the Hockey East trophy from commissioner Steve Metcalf.

But it was Hillier who took the first lap.

The graduate student was the lone holdover from Merrimack’s 2023 semifinal team. He returned for one final season after missing all of last year with a leg injury — and ended his career at center ice, trophy in hand.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever really know how to describe this feeling,” Hillier said. “I’m just so proud of this group. We worked so hard to get here, to get that trophy. This was probably the best thing that’ll ever happen to me in my life, so I’m going to carry that with me for as long as I live. It was an unbelievable moment for me, an unbelievable moment for this whole team.”