Prior to Dennehy arriving at Merrimack , the Warriors had not had a winning season since they had joined Hockey East in 1989 . His first two seasons saw little success , including a school-worst three-win campaign in his second year , but the college stuck with him and allowed Dennehy to slowly build the program . By year five , the Warriors had risen to 16-wins , their best record since 1994 . Dennehy was honored as the 2010 Bob Kullen Coach of the Year , the first Merrimack coach to receive the award . The following season , the team posted 25 wins and recorded their first winning season in over 20 years . The team reached the Hockey East tournament final and made only their second NCAA tournament appearance . After another winning season in 2010 – 11 , Merrimack returned to sub-.500 records . Dennehy was fired by Merrimack following the 2017 – 18 season
tournament final
2011 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Mark Dennehy