NORTH ANDOVER — Merrimack punched its ticket to the Hockey East quarterfinals with a 5-3 victory over UMass Lowell on Wednesday night in the opening round of the conference playoffs.
The Warriors now turn their attention to Saturday night, when they travel to Providence to face the top-seeded Friars in the quarterfinal round.
Trevor Hoskin led the way with two goals for Merrimack, while Nolan Flamand, Nick Pierre, and Parker Lalonde each added a goal.
In net, Max Lundgren turned aside 23 shots for the Warriors.
Merrimack split its regular-season series with the Friars, dropping a 4-2 decision on Nov. 14 before responding with a 3-2 victory the following night.
We’ll have more coverage on tonight’s game later tonight.