This is Hockey East . . .

Off to its best start since the 2001-02 season, the No. 5 Boston University men’s hockey team will look to continue its strong beginning this weekend, as it welcomes Merrimack College to Agganis Arena tonight before traveling to Durham, N.H., Sunday to take on the No. 6 University of New Hampshire.
This weekend will give BU coach Jack Parker his first look at how the high-powered Terrier attack stacks up against Hockey East competition.
Merrimack (1-0-0), coming off a 3-1 win over Robert Morris University in which it successfully killed nine power plays, boasts a sturdy defense in front of junior goaltender Andrew Brathwaite.
In 74 games against the Warriors all-time, BU (2-0-0) owns a 60-10-4 advantage.
‘The history is that we’ve won a lot of games,’ Parker said. ‘But we’ve had unbelievably tight games with them all the time and just barely squeaked them out here or there. We’ve been very fortunate, but we certainly haven’t dominated them as far as on the scoreboard.’
Allowing 24 shots to reach Brathwaite in its first game of the year, Merrimack anchors its defense with physical play. Of the Warriors’ nine penalties against Robert Morris, six were for cross-checking, boarding or roughing. On the other side of special teams, Merrimack generates fluid puck movement with the man advantage.
‘I like the way they move the puck on the power play,’ Parker said. ‘They’ve got a very good power play. They play with a lot of energy when they are killing penalties and they look solid in the cage. The things that are important ‘-‘- special teams and goaltending ‘-‘- they look like they got things made.’
Highlighted by sophomore forward Colin Wilson, last year’s Hockey East Rookie of the Year, the Terriers scored seven goals in their first two games for the first time since winning the Ice Breaker Invitational in Madison, Wisc., in 2002.
‘Points count in our league right now,’ Parker said of facing Hockey East foes early in the season. ‘It seems like we had a good start, but if we lose both of these games this weekend it won’t be such a good start. A good start means the first five to seven games, not the first two games. So we’re going to be trying to really bang that home.’
While Merrimack has a number of threats in the offensive end, the most notable is junior forward Rob Ricci. Ricci, who led all Warrior scorers with 34 points last season, returns to the lineup alongside sophomore forward Chris Barton. Barton will look to fill the void left by forward Matt Jones, whose 15 goals last year were tops among Warrior scorers.
While Parker said tonight’s game against Merrimack is the Terriers’ primary focus, Sunday’s trip to Durham will test BU’s defense.
BU has fared well historically in Durham, but last year the Terriers failed to steal a point from UNH (1-0-0).
‘We’re looking for more of the same,’ Parker said of BU’s 61-35-16 all-time road record against the Wildcats. ‘It’s a different atmosphere up there because it’s such a big rink. But we’ve had success up there, so hopefully we can take advantage of that. It’s very important for us to try and re-establish our ability to beat them, and doing it early in the season would be very nice.’
With the No. 1 goalie spot still hanging in the balance between freshmen Kieran Millan and Grant Rollheiser, BU’s defense is still a question mark heading into the second weekend of the season. Parker said the two will follow the same rotation as last weekend, with Millan starting in net tonight and Rollheiser on Sunday.
Anchored by senior co-captain Matt Gilroy, the Terriers put together two strong performances last weekend against the No. 13 University of North Dakota and No. 11 Michigan State University.
Allowing 34 shots to reach the net in the two games combined (22 to North Dakota and 12 to Michigan State), the Terriers have done a solid job handling odd-man rushes. While Gilroy is a major factor in how the defense is organized, sophomore Kevin Shattenkirk and freshman defender David Warsofsky have established themselves in the Terriers’ rotation.
Highlighted by what Parker referred to as a ‘terrific week of practice,’ the Terriers look poised to assert the same dominant play against Hockey East competition as it did against Michigan State and North Dakota.
‘Practice this week has been good pace,’ Parker said. ‘We had a real good practice yesterday. I thought Wednesday’s practice was terrific as well. Everyone is upbeat and trying to get better. Merrimack will give us their best game. We’ve got to give them ours.’