Merrimack Warriors Hockey (Hockey East) @ J. Thom Lawler Rink (North Andover, MA)

The official college hockey team of Pope Leo XIV (probably)

*This is another Hockey East arena that I’ve been to twice; however, the visits were in different seasons about a year apart: November 11, 2023 and October 26, 2024. I don't get into the results of either game in the post, but I’ll tell you upfront that Merrimack LOST both of them - the first game on a late goal (vs UConn), and the second game in a blowout against nearby rival UMass Lowell.

Also, technically I BELIEVE the building is officially the Merrimack Athletics Complex, but the actual hockey arena is VERY commonly known as Lawler Rink (or Arena), so I’m sticking with that.

Let’s be honest: Assuming you didn’t go there or know someone who did¹, you probably would have never heard of Merrimack College if you

1. Didn’t follow college hockey/Hockey East
2. Didn’t live in Massachusetts

though that is debatable - Sporcle’s horribly out of date Hockey East quiz has Merrimack as its least guessed answer. In case you were actually curious, Merrimack College is a small Catholic school about 25 or so miles north of Boston on the line between Andover and North Andover (though I believe the campus is considered entirely in North Andover). Fun fact: Merrimack is run by the Augustinian order, which has only one other university in the U.S.: basketball powerhouse Villanova down in Philly, which is the college Pope Leo XIV went to (the only “real” connection Merrimack has to Pope Leo besides him being Augustinian is that they conferred an honorary doctorate on him in 2005).

In terms of their athletics, they’re a small school in a very small conference which they only joined recently (the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) in a move up from Division II to Division I. However, said conference recently stopped sponsoring football, so the school’s football team is currently an independent in the Division I FCS (i.e the second tier of college football). Their hockey team, it should be noted, won a D-II national championship in 1978 and made the D-I tournament as recently as 2023.

That aside, Lawler Rink is what I like to call a “lobby style” arena, where instead of a concourse around the seating bowl with a bunch of stands, concessions (and merch) are sold in a singular lobby area. One thing that distinguishes Merrimack from other arenas like this, however, is the presence of a SECOND lobby. The secondary one is on the “west” side of the rink and is connected to Merrimack’s primary basketball court and has its own concession stand (which was closed both times I went), while the main one (on the “east” side) has access to a secondary hockey arena/community rink, a hockey shop, a Dunkin’ (Donuts), and the campus bookstore.

In terms of the arena itself, it’s definitely one of the more “interesting” ones. It’s the smallest arena in Hockey East (at 2,500 seats), and combined with the low ceiling feels kinda like one of those community rinks (which it kinda is - though I doubt most community rinks have 2,500 seats and a giant screen at one end). It’s also different from many other Hockey East arenas (save for Vermont²) in that you enter at ice level and walk up towards the seats; thus, if you’re in the front row (like I was for my first game), you essentially have free reign to move whenever. Be aware that the Zamboni entrance/garage is in the “southeast” corner, so you do have to sorta time your intermission excursion for concessions/the bathroom if you sit on the south side (i.e. the side with the TV cameras and the “MERRIMACK” lettering on the wall).

The arena was pretty full when I went the first time (an attendance of 2,432 in a building that seats ~2,500). However, you didn’t get that overwhelming student presence like you do with other Hockey East arenas (save for the pep band). This may be in part due to the fact that the old student section (behind Merrimack’s current shoot twice end) was replaced with luxury seating in 2023, and I don’t know if a “replacement” was ever made (I should also note that this section prevents fans from walking around the entire rink, as it goes all the way down to the ice). Speaking of premium sections, every ticket that’s not Standing Room Only (yes, you can get SRO at Merrimack similar to BU, but there's no implication you can take unattended seats) has an option for access to an area known as the “Champions Club”; I didn’t get this the first time I went - but did the second time.

Having taken the plunge and experienced said Champions Club...it’s hard to say if it’s worth the extra ten bucks. The main draw is “premium concessions” which essentially equates to hot dogs and pizza - though IMO it's MUCH more filling than what the normal concession stand has. However, I’m more of a fan of higher level views (especially since the front row at Merrimack is not “on the ice” due to the walkways), and this is probably the highest you can get above the ice at Merrimack and still be on or near the red line (I checked out the view from the seat immediately below the club pregame, but the view was partially obscured due to luxury boxes). Also, student turnout felt incredibly weak the second time - it felt like the pep band WAS the student section (though part of that may have been the team getting blown out by their nearest rival).

Because of the super low ceiling, there’s a MASSIVE screen on the wall at the “west” end of the ice in lieu of a center hung jumbotron (as I mentioned earlier, BC doesn’t have this either). During games, it shows the ACTUAL ESPN+ BROADCAST, so when the cameras are pointing at it, it ends up recursing which is pretty funny (you can watch hockey while you watch hockey while you watch hockey).

One final note/"warning": this is a “closed” suburban campus with mostly residential things nearby, so postgame food is definitely a question mark if you need something. However, if you’re early enough, you could get food and/or drinks from Merrimack’s on campus Dunkin’ because MASSACHUSETTS!

MERCH

Remember how I mentioned that the campus bookstore was attached to the lobby? Well, guess what: it serves as the sole merch store! This is a bit unusual amongst Hockey East arenas, but it also makes sense given that, well, it’s in the same building. As mentioned earlier, Merrimack’s obligatory Dunkin’ is next to the bookstore, but it closes sometime close to puck drop, so it’s not exactly an “option” if you need to get food during/after the game.

In my visits to Merrimack (which include a few visits JUST to the bookstore), I’ve never seen any jerseys being sold there. I know that the school did sell jerseys in the past, and I have seen recently that they started selling them again, so I’ll have to check that out soon - even if they are sublimated replicas (their yellow jersey is one of the best in Hockey East). I did get a Merrimack puck plus a “hockey hoodie” during the second trip however (but nothing the first time).