MHBDS' Caleb May (23) is a key for the WarHawks as they prepare for Saturday's Division II finals vs. Saint Thomas of Dover. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

The Stars came out and a new team was born.

The seeds for what is now known as the Merrimack-Hollis Brookline-Derryfield hockey tri-op that will face St. Thomas of Dover in Saturday’s 10 a.m. Division II title game at Manchester’s SNHU Arena were planted last March. That’s when Merrimack High School hockey coach Dan Belliveau was at the Senior All-Star Game last March and bumped into soon-to-be former Hollis Brookline-Derryfield coach Joel Sanborn.

The two had played hockey at the one Nashua High School three years apart, and are friends with that connection in the hockey world. Sanborn told Belliveau he was going to retire, but they still talked about their programs, comparing expected numbers.

They discovered both programs were in the same boat. HBDS was possibly down to seven or eight players certain to return for the 2024-25 season, and Merrimack had just 11-12 skaters (a couple more goalies), which isn’t enough at all to get through a season. “I said ‘That’s not even enough for a men’s league team,'” Belliveau said.

So Belliveau suggested they get together again along with HBDS assistant Mark Cahill, who played youth hockey with Belliveau growing up in Nashua. Bottom line was they felt a tri-op would be a good idea, and school officials from all three agreed.

Thus, a tri-op was formed. The only thing was where would the team be placed? Enrollment wise, the combo would have it in Division I, which Belliveau would have gone along with, but the decision was ultimately made to be in Division II, where the original Merrimack team was.

One would figure it could be a powerhouse, but after a good start things bogged down for the newly named “WarHawks”, a combo of the old HBDS Warriors and the Merrimack Tomahawks. The roster is 22 skaters and four goalies, still not enough for a JV team but enough for a competitive varsity. Next: Chemistry.

“When you bring kids together from three different schools, building that chemistry – frankly it was much more of a challenge than I thought,” Belliveau said, noting that the factors of injury and illness stunted the team’s grown into mid-season. “To be honest, Mark (Cahill) and Eric (Hayden), my assistant coaches, were looking at each other a couple of weeks ago and said ‘I don’t think we’ve had two back-to-back practices this season with the same kids each day.'”

But that has changed. The WarHawks, who survived an overtime quarterfinal vs. Goffstown and upset No. 1 Spaulding in the semis, have gone 7-1-1 in their last nine games.

“The chemistry has kind of clicked in here over the last couple of weeks,” Belliveau said. “Perfect timing.”

The WarHawks bested Saint Thomas 5-2 back on Feb. 8 at Manchester’s West Side Arena.

“They’ve got a solid defense, talented forwards, and I think we have the same,” Belliveau said. “Their goalie (Zach) Pattow, he’s pretty good. We’re going to have to come up with plays, some special strategies to figure out a way to move the puck around to beat him. He’s a tough goalie to beat straight on.”

Another key for the WarHawks is Alex Gertz, who has nine goals and 11 assists but does a lot of the intangibles. There’s also Jackson Woods, with 7-12=19. But the Saints will try to keep Will Farrell off the board, as he leads MHBDS with 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points.

This team is not the same as some of the others in Division II who have 40-50 point scorers. “We’re built a little differently,” Belliveau said. “We could see the forest through the trees. Everybody’s getting healthy now is perfect timing. But St. Thomas is going to be tough; they score a lot of goals.”

But they beat the Saints once, with their defensive style of play. “With Caleb May, Blake Beaulieu, Tyler Allen and Josh Kahn back there, I think that’s probably one of our strongest suits. It’s a pretty good core of defense.”

And key defenseman Beaulieu, who got hurt against Alvirne-Milford, missed that game and Farrell was moved back on defense vs. the Saints and still had a goal and assist.

Goalie James Brew has been the model of consistency the last two seasons.

“He’s that type of goalie he can win you a game,” Belliveau, who was a goalie at Nashua High, said. “He’s the type of kid who can make the game-winning saves, the game-saving saves, and those saves that can put you over the top.”

And the newest team on the block hopes to be just that on Saturday – over and on top.