2023–24 Merrimack Warriors men's ice hockey season

Coming off of its first NCAA tournament appearance in twelve years, Merrimack entered the year with some expectations for its program. Though the team had lost several depth players to graduation, the Warriors returned the top three forwards as well as both of their starting goaltender. However, just before the opening game, Alex Jefferies was injured in practice and missed the first month of the season.^[1] Without their leading scorer, the team was unable to do much offensively against Arizona State but the Warriors soon recovered and posted three solid wins to finish out October.

Once Jefferies returned in early November, the team was hoping to continue their upwards trend but the goaltending gave out. Over a six-game stretch, Merrimack lost four 1-goal games with neither netminder finding much consistency. The Warriors recovered a bit over Thanksgiving, winning two matches against weak Atlantic Hockey teams, but ended the first half of their season with three consecutive losses. Both Zachary Borgiel and Hugo Ollas were struggling to keep the puck out of the net and coach Borek had no option but to hope at least one of his goaltenders would recover their form from '23.

Merrimack was able to pick itself up after the winter break when Borgiel strung three solid games together and lifted the Warriors record back to .500. Ollas joined in to help earn a split against #13 Massachusetts in the middle of January, however, Jefferies went back on the shelf after the second match and was out of the lineup for three weeks. Merrimack lost every game that their top forward missed and when he returned the team was well and truly out of the race. Borgiel's play had also degraded to the point that the goaltending rotation was ended in mid-February with Ollas taking over for the remainder of the season. Merrimack was able to salvage what was left of their season and play even in the final few weeks but that only saved the team from finishing last in the standings.

With an abysmal record in conference, the Warriors were going to have to run through a gauntlet of strong teams if they wanted to reach the tournament once more. However, the team was unable to surmount even their first challenge. Northeastern shut down the Merrimack offense, blacking the team for the first time since the opening game and swiftly ended the Warriors' season.

As of September 26, 2023.^[2]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1		Hugo Ollas	Junior	G	6' 8" (2.03 m)	253 lb (115 kg)	2002-04-24	Linköping, Sweden	Linköping J20 (J20 Nationell)	NYR, 197th overall 2020
2		Christian Felton	Senior	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-02-04	Medina, Ohio	Bentley (AHA)	—
4		Mike Brown	Junior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	202 lb (92 kg)	2001-04-03	Belmont, Massachusetts	Youngstown (USHL)	—
5		Trevor Griebel	Sophomore	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	2001-03-07	Tampa, Florida	Fargo (USHL)	—
7		Max Wattvil	Freshman	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	2002-08-11	Stockholm, Sweden	Minnesota (NAHL)	—
8		Liam Dennison	Graduate	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	178 lb (81 kg)	1999-02-07	Manotick, Ontario	Youngstown (USHL)	—
9		Brady Hunter	Freshman	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	174 lb (79 kg)	2002-07-27	Enfield, Nova Scotia	Trail (BCHL)	—
10		Mark Hillier	Junior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2002-03-18	Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador	Summerside (MHL)	—
11		Devlin O'Brien	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2002-04-05	Toronto, Ontario	Penticton (BCHL)	—
13		Chase Stevenson	Graduate	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1999-01-13	West Kelowna, British Columbia	New Hampshire (HEA)	—
14		Tyler Young	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2001-05-08	Lancaster, Massachusetts	Maryland (NAHL)	—
15		Mark Gallant	Graduate	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-05-01	Concord, Massachusetts	Dartmouth (ECAC)	—
16		Nikita Borodayenko	Sophomore	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2002-06-17	Dmitrov, Russia	Dubuque (USHL)	—
17		Mac Welsher (A)	Graduate	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	1999-04-24	Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan	Des Moines (USHL)	—
18		Ben Brar (C)	Graduate	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1998-11-19	Abbotsford, British Columbia	Prince George (BCHL)	—
19		Alex Jefferies	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2001-11-08	Lunenburg, Massachusetts	The Gunnery (USHS–CT)	NYI, 121st overall 2020
20		Ethan Bono	Freshman	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	201 lb (91 kg)	2004-01-15	Port McNeill, British Columbia	Alberni Valley (BCHL)	—
21		Matt Copponi	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	2003-06-04	Mansfield, Massachusetts	Dexter Southfield (USHS–MA)	EDM, 216th overall 2023
22		Michael Citara	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	2002-04-22	New Hope, Pennsylvania	Providence (HEA)	—
23		Frank Djurasevic	Freshman	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	198 lb (90 kg)	2002-03-09	New Rochelle, New York	Penticton (BCHL)	—
24		David Sacco	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	2002-01-03	Middleton, Massachusetts	Alberni Valley (BCHL)	—
25		Luke Weilandt	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	2002-04-04	Northbrook, Illinois	Wenatchee (BCHL)	—
26		Ivan Zivlak	Junior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2002-08-08	Gislaved, Sweden	Linköping J20 (J20 Nationell)	—
27		Adam Arvedson	Junior	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	169 lb (77 kg)	2001-08-30	Karlstad, Sweden	Färjestad (J20 Nationell)	—
28		Filip Forsmark	Graduate	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	177 lb (80 kg)	1998-06-23	Skövde, Sweden	Tri-City (USHL)	—
29		Zachary Borgiel	Senior	G	6' 2" (1.88 m)	212 lb (96 kg)	2000-04-27	Fort Gratiot, Michigan	Cowichan Valley (BCHL)	—
37		Zach Bookman	Sophomore	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2002-03-29	Syracuse, New York	Brooks (AJHL)	—
43		Ty Daneault	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	2004-12-20	Red Deer, Alberta	Drumheller (AJHL)	—

^[4]

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.^[5]
^USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.