Merrimack College scored four first-period goals and rolled to an 8-2 victory over Minnesota State on Saturday, Oct. 17, completing a weekend sweep at Lawler Arena in North Andover.

The defending Hockey East tournament champions improved to 2-1-1 after winning Friday’s opener 4-3 in overtime. Minnesota State fell to 0-4-0.

Nathan King and Ty Daneault scored twice each Saturday, leading six Merrimack goal scorers. Ryan Keyes stopped 20 of 22 shots in his first appearance since March 2025.

Caelan Fitzpatrick opened the scoring with an unassisted breakaway goal 4:25 into the first period. King followed before Nick Pierre’s power-play goal made it 3-0 and prompted Minnesota State to replace starting goalie Raiden LeGall with Matthew Syverson.

Caden Cranston added another goal before intermission, giving the Warriors a 4-0 lead, according to the official box score.

Daneault scored 10 seconds into the second period and again 15 seconds later. The goals were the fastest pair by a Merrimack player in at least 27 years, according to College Hockey News data cited by The Mack Report.

Justin Gill extended the lead to 7-0 before LeGall returned to Minnesota State’s net.

“We were fortunate to score a couple of goals in transition,” coach Scott Borek told The Mack Report.

Minnesota State broke through in the third period on a Jack Christ goal. King answered with his second of the night before Ean Somoza scored the Mavericks’ final goal.

Freshmen Jakub Hes and Mavrick Lachance earned their first career points with assists on King’s second goal. Hes was making his NCAA debut, joining four freshmen who had first appeared for Merrimack on Friday: Lachance, Alex Mercier, Connor Dale and Keaton Orrey.

Senior defenseman Cam Kungle also returned to the lineup ahead of schedule and recorded two shots on goal. Fitzpatrick finished the weekend with two goals and two assists.

Friday’s opener required a comeback and overtime. Cranston scored the winner off assists from Trevor Hoskin and Austin Oravetz, giving Merrimack its first victory of the season.

The Warriors next travel to South Bend, Indiana, for games against Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 24, at 5 p.m. They return to Lawler Arena to host UConn on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 31 at 4:30 p.m., according to the team’s schedule.