[2] In spite of the grave news, Merrimack opened its season on October 7 and, unsurprisingly, the team had a flat performance.

A pair of splits at the end of October weren't bad results as one came against #5 Massachusetts, but the team was still sitting near .500 at the beginning of November.

While the team briefly experimented with having Hugo Ollas as the primary starter, they soon reverted back to the goaltender rotation they had used in '22.

Ollas was still performing well but Zachary Borgiel, who had been the starter during the difficult COVID season, saw a vast improvement in his play and cut nearly a full goal from his GAA.

The offense, led by Alex Jefferies, was a bit hit or miss but they were able to score enough to give the Warriors the victory on most nights.

As they headed into the winter break, the Warriors were well inside the top 10 for both polls but, more importantly, they were #3 in the PairWise and only a catastrophe would keep them out of the NCAA tournament.

Worse, they managed to lose to Brown and could only earn a tie against Yale, two of the worst teams in college hockey.

2 wins in 10 games sent the team plummeting to the bottom of the polls and pushed them below the cut line for an at-large bid.

With their season swiftly spiraling out of control, the Warriors had to run the table in their final 5 games if they wanted to have any chance at making the NCAA tournament without a conference championship.

The Warriors played back-to-back double overtime games and, miraculously, a Matt Copponi goal allowed them to win both.

By Making the championship game, and with a little help from other teams losing in the meantime, Merrimack had all but guaranteed itself a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Merrimack would have to wait for its opportunity to score on the nation's top defense and hope that Borgiel could keep them in the match in the meantime.

Down by a pair with their own offensive woes still unsettled, Merrimack needed a big effort from their forwards to get them back into the game.

Quinnipiac added three more goals in the third but, without any real offensive push, the Warriors couldn't do anything to stop their season from coming to a close.