The women's ice hockey program began play in the 2013–14 academic year. The team initially played an American Collegiate Hockey Association club schedule before transitioning to the NCAA in 2015–16 and joining Hockey East.[3] The college added scholarship-supported women's ice hockey, swimming and water polo programs as part of its six-sport expansion following a settlement with U.S. Department of Education of a Title IX gender-discrimination complaint.[4][5]
Erin Whitten Hamlen has been the head coach of the Warriors since the team's inception. As a player at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), she was a goaltender and won the ECAC Goaltender of the Year award in 1992. She returned to her alma-mater as a coach, working as an assistant and then associate head coach from 2000 to 2010. In 2010, she became the first head coach for the Boston Blades in the Canadian Women's Hockey League.
In the Warriors' inaugural NCAA 2015–16 season, Hamlen's bench staff included assistant coach Kacey Bellamy, a member of the U.S. Women's National Team and two-time Olympic silver medalist. Hamlen previously coached Bellamy at UNH, Team USA, and the Boston Blades.[6] While coaching at Merrimack, Ballamy played for the Boston Pride in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), which won the league's inaugural Isobel Cup championship during the 2015–16 season. At season's end, Bellamy rejoined the national team to train for the IIHF World Women's Championship.[7]
The Warriors were ranked eighth of nine in the 2017–18 Hockey East preseason poll, then started the season with two upset victories.[8] The first came against Boston University, which had been ranked third in the conference. The second was a 4–3 road win against No. 3 Minnesota. Goaltender Léa-Kristine Demers was credited with 54 saves in the Sept. 29 upset, which also marked the first time the Warriors beat a nationally ranked opponent in the team’s history.[9] Minnesota won the second of game of the series, 4–1.
The Warriors finished the 2017–18 season with a 11–20–3 record.[10] Their 6–16–2 conference record put them in ninth place, and thus out of the conference tournament.
In 2018–19, the Warriors posted the team’s first-ever winning record, at 16–13–7 overall.[11] On Dec. 8 of that season, the Warriors beat No. 9-ranked Boston College, 1–0, on a second-period goal by senior Paige Sorensen and a 51-save shutout by goaltender Samantha Ridgewell. It was the Warriors’ first win against the Eagles and the second win against a ranked opponent in team history.[12] The team qualified for its second-ever trip to the Hockey East tournament. The Warriors lost two games against Providence in the opening round.[11]
Following the 2018–19 season, Merrimack graduated 11 of its original players.[13] The senior class included Katelyn Rae, who was the first player in program history to reach 100 career points. At the time of her graduation, Rae was the team’s all-time points leader with 113. She earned a first-team 2018-19 Hockey East All-Star selection, while senior goaltender Samantha Ridgewell was named a second-team Hockey East All-Star, and senior Dominique Kremer was named to the third team.[14] Rae was also the first Merrimack Warrior selected for the New England Hockey Writers’ All-Star Team.[15]
Three members of the Warriors were selected in the 2018 NWHL draft. Rae was drafted by the Connecticut Whale as the 12th pick overall, in the 3rd round, officially becoming the first woman in program history to be drafted for professional hockey.[16] Warriors' forward Paige Voight was selected 16th overall pick in the fourth round, by the Metropolitan Riveters. Voight played on the U.S. U-18 national women's ice hockey team that won gold.[17] She joined the NWHL's competitor Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in the New England region for the 2019–20 season.[18] Defender Dominique Kremer was also selected by the Connecticut Whale as the 17th pick overall in the 4th round.[19][20]
In the 2019–20 season, the Warriors finished with a 5–24–5 record with nine losses against ranked opponents.[21] In January 2020, the Warriors traveled to Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a two-game series against Quinnipiac as part of the Friendship Series sponsored by the Odyssey Trust. The tournament was organized in conjunction with a sister cities agreement between Belfast and Boston. It was the second time a women's tournament was played. Games were played in the SSE Arena, with a capacity of more than 11,000. Quinnipiac won both games, 4–2 and 3–1.[22][23]
The 2019–20 season also marked the senior years of forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis and goaltender Léa-Kristine Demers. Mikyla Grant-Mentis was nominated for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year award. She set a new program record for points, with 117 points on 56 goals and 61 assists. She ranked second in goals scored. She earned Hockey East Player of the Month honors in November 2019. The same season, she was a Hockey East Second Team All-Star, and the New England Hockey Writers Association named her as a Division I All-Star.[24]
At the end of the season, Grant-Mentis and Demers were signed to contracts with the Buffalo Beauts for the remainder of the NWHL season.[25] In their first two games, against the Metropolitan Riveters, Grant-Mentis scored two goals and an assist, while Demers had 36 games in each of two games, on 41 and 37 shots. The Beauts won one game and finished the season fourth in the league, losing in the first game of the playoffs.[26]
The Warriors had a single win — against Holy Cross — during the pandemic-shortened 2020–21 season. Of the 16 games played, four were against ranked opponents.[27] As in previous seasons, the Warriors were well-represented in the Hockey East All-Academic Team, with 21 of 24 Merrimack players recognized. Merrimack was surpassed in the number of All-Academics only by the University of Connecticut's 22. The Warriors also claimed three of nine spots in the league's All-Academic All Star Team.[28]
The Warriors finished the 2021–22 regular season with a 7–24–1 record. They faced top-10 ranked teams three times in the season, including two losses at home against No. 1 Wisconsin at the beginning of October.[29] The Warriors won the last two games of the regular season, sweeping a two-game series against Holy Cross. The final victory came on an overtime goal by senior Julia MacLean, the first goal of her Merrimack career.[30] Junior Teghan Inglis led the team in scoring during the regular season with 12 goals and 18 points.[31]
An NCAA Division I women's ice hockey game between Merrimack and Vermont.
In the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022, graduate student Dominika Lásková and former Warrior Katerina Bukolska skated for the Czech national team. They were the first Merrimack women's hockey players to compete in the Olympics.[32] The Czech Republic team, appearing in the country's first Olympic women's ice hockey tournament, lost to the U.S. in the quarterfinal round 4–1 despite holding the Americans scoreless in the first period and briefly taking the lead in the second.[33]
In their 2022-2023 season the Warriors finished with a 9-25-2 record.[2] They made it to the opening round of the Hockey East Playoffs where they played Boston University and won 5-4 after going into overtime. They were then scheduled to play Northeastern in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs where they lost 5-1. In the 2022-23 season the Warriors had 23 of their players make the Hockey East All-Academic Team, which tied them for the most in the conference.[3]
To start the 2023-2024 Head Coach Erin Hamlen hired two new assistant coaches, adding Stephanie Wood and Danielle Blanchard along with 8 new incoming players.
