BOSTON — A few weeks ago, during Spring Break, Merrimack College men’s hockey coach Scott Borek found himself at home late at night searching for something to watch.
“It was 9 p.m., and everyone else was going to bed,” he said.
He turned to his stepson, Jack — a Merrimack graduate — for a recommendation. The suggestion: “Survive and Advance,” ESPN’s documentary chronicling NC State’s improbable 1983 national championship run under Jim Valvano.
The film struck a chord.
So much so that the next day, with campus quiet and players scattered for break, Borek issued a simple request: watch it.
“It was spring break, they had a lot of free time,” Borek said. “And they all did. They all watched it. I don’t know how many teams would do that, but that’s how good our team is.”
Ever since, the message has stuck.
“Survive and Advance” has been scrawled across Merrimack’s whiteboard before every practice, every meeting, every game — a mantra adopted not by the coaching staff, but by the players themselves.
It was on the board last night inside the locker room at TD Garden, when Merrimack blanked UMass, 2-0, in the Hockey East semifinals, punching its ticket to the championship game for just the third time in program history — and the second under Borek.
The Warriors scored both of their goals in the third period on Friday, one each for Ryan O’Connell and Caden Cranston. Max Lundgren made 24 saves for the shutout.
“I didn’t write it on our board,” Borek said. “The players did. Every day, they put it up there, and they believe it. They live it. We’ve embraced it as our mantra.”
On Friday night at TD Garden, the Warriors did exactly that.
The path has been anything but easy.
To get here, Merrimack knocked off No. 1 Providence and No. 2 UMass — only the second time in Hockey East history a team has eliminated the tournament’s top two seeds en route to the final.
And while the Warriors entered the bracket as the No. 8 seed — the lowest ever to reach the title game — the label hardly tells the full story.
This is a team that won its 20th game Friday night, improving to 20-15-1. It marks just the third 20-win season in the program’s Hockey East era, and the second under Borek.
More telling is the trajectory: Merrimack is 15-5-1 over its last 21 games, hardened by a relentless conference schedule and playing its best hockey at the most important time of year.
This isn’t a Cinderella. Not in their room.
“We aren’t embracing the underdog mentality,” Borek said earlier this week. “We don’t feel like underdogs, but we do feel a little disrespected.”
Valvano’s words have echoed through the program in recent weeks.
“Survive and Advance,” and “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”
Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993 and gave a memorable speech at that year’s ESPY Awards, has a few more quotes that seem to fit the moment.
“There are 86,400 seconds in a day. It’s up to you to decide what to do with them.”
And, “How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it.”
The Warriors have 60 minutes — 3,600 seconds — in front of them. That’s all that separates them from a Hockey East championship. That’s where they want to be.