From Paris, he lights up Army
Da Costa (5 goals) sparks Merrimack
NORTH ANDOVER - When a freshman scores his first collegiate goal, it is always special. Normally, the puck is collected, stashed away, and eventually mounted as a memento of the achievement. So, when 19-year-old center Stephane Da Costa potted his first tally at 3:36 of the first period last night, giving Merrimack a 1-0 lead over Army at the Volpe Center, there was the requisite amount of celebrating.
But the young pivot, a native of Paris, didn’t stop there. Far from it. He had a natural hat trick in the first period and added two more goals in the third to lead the Warriors (2-2) to a 6-3 victory over the Black Knights (0-3) in front of a homecoming crowd of 1,272.
It was the second game of the season for Da Costa, who missed the first two as a result of having to straighten out his eligibility because he had to pass the GED in English to be able to play.
“He’s a special player, we thought so when we recruited him,’’ said coach Mark Dennehy. “Obviously, he had a special performance tonight. It’s nice to see him break out. I thought he played pretty well [in his debut Friday against Holy Cross], but I think he wants to show what he can do and he kind of forced things.
“I remember Larry Bird and Magic Johnson when they first broke into the [NBA] and they were breaking a lot of people’s noses with passes just because they weren’t ready for it. [Friday night] he made a couple of passes that guys just weren’t ready for. It’s a matter of our team getting used to playing with him and expecting the puck at all times.’’
After his first tally, Da Costa scored even-strength goals at 6:02 and 13:36. Army rallied late in the period to pull within one on goals by Mike Hull (shorthanded) at 16:49 and Bryant Skarda (even strength) at 18:40. But Merrimack responded at 18:00 of the second as Francois Ouimet made it 4-2, and Da Costa scored power-play goals at 1:29 and 19:15 of the third, which were sandwiched around an Army score by Bill Day at 15:09.
The excitement that Da Costa brings to the program was a long time coming. It took 14 months for Da Costa to iron out his academic situation.
“I think we were more excited for him [when it was settled],’’ said Dennehy. “I can’t talk too much about it. It’s hard when you’re dealing with European players with transcripts and everything else. The NCAA does a good job, but unless you fit in a certain box it’s difficult. Coming from France and living in Texas [playing in the North American Hockey League] and then Sioux City, Iowa [in the United States Hockey League], he didn’t fit into a box.’’
Last night was one of those games for Da Costa when everything worked perfectly.
“It doesn’t happen often, but when it happens it’s sweet,’’ said Da Costa, who had a game-high 11 shots on net. “It happened, but I can’t believe it. It was a great night.’’
He said he has had five goals in a game before, but not since arriving from Europe.
“That was back in France, and France is not that good, so . . . ’’ he said.
When Da Costa first came to the US to play hockey, he said he didn’t speak a word of English, so it has been a journey to learn the language and master it well enough to feel comfortable attending and playing for a US college. He said it’s a relief that now he can just focus on playing.
“It was pretty frustrating to miss the first two games against North Dakota,’’ he said. “It’s a big relief [that it’s over].’’
It appears the scoring, though, has just begun.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com. 
