The Warriors have a challenging schedule ahead with a game at UMass-Lowell tonight before hosting New Hampshire tomorrow.

The final three weekends of the regular season bring home-and-home series with Boston College, UMass-Lowell, and UMass, certainly not an easy road.

“This is what they individually, and now as a group, signed up to measure themselves [by],’’ said coach Mark Dennehy.

Three players are still out with injuries - Carter Madsen, Elliott Sheen, and Quinn Gould (who might end up a medical redshirt this season). Only one player, Jordan Heywood, has played all 26 games.

“No excuses whatsoever, injuries happen,’’ said Dennehy. “You can’t control injuries. It’s the way of the game. We’ve got good players here. We have enough good players who can contribute, it’s really what you make of it. Life happens and it’s how you deal with it.’’

Back in early December, when the Warriors were ranked No. 1 for the first time in program history, Dennehy said it was a double-edged sword. The recognition was exciting for the program and the campus but it came with a cost.

Merrimack dropped a weekend series to Providence (Dec. 2-3) and Dennehy was ejected from the second game, during which his team was assessed 72 minutes in penalties to just 16 for the Friars. Just a couple of days ago, Dennehy said he discussed the situation with Eric Kapitulik, CEO and founder of The Program, which specializes in team-building exercises. Kapitulik and Dennehy have become friends since working together in the preseason.

“I was talking about myself and how I didn’t feel like I handled it very well,’’ said Dennehy, referring to the team’s lofty perch. “It got to the point where I got thrown out of a hockey game and it was completely embarrassing.’’

Kapitulik, a former major in the United States Marine Corps, provided him perspective when discussing what servicemen and servicewomen sacrifice.

“When that ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ is playing, that’s what I’m thinking about,’’ said Dennehy.

He acknowledged it was an adjustment to go from striving to reach the top spot to actually reaching it.

“It wasn’t an accomplishment, it was recognition, but it was a great story and the community embraced it. But it affects you, it can if you let it,’’ he said.

The Warriors are 15-6-5 overall and 11-5-3 in league play. Dennehy said there are plenty of improvements to be made. When asked if he was happy with the way his team is playing, he said yes and no.

“I think we still need to loosen up a little bit,’’ he said. “At times we’re too stressed out, for whatever reason. Dealing with college kids, you never know what that is. Is it school? Is it girlfriends? Is it stress at home? Life can beat you up a little bit if you allow it to. I just think we need to go and play.’’

The Warriors looked awful against Boston University last Friday (4-1 loss) but rebounded with a 4-3 victory at UMass, handing the Minutemen just their second loss at home this season.

“We just seemed paralyzed [against BU],’’ said Dennehy. “We were fumbling pucks. We were not able to do things we normally could do. In the first 10 minutes, we were running around as much as we’ve run around all year.’’

The next night, Dennehy told his team to stop stressing and just have fun, and it showed.

“I think that’s really what our attitude needs to be closing this thing out,’’ he said.

Dennehy said the Warriors are still forging an identity, which was delayed because of their early success.

“I think we’re really coming to grips with who we are,’’ he said. “When we went 9-0-1, we really didn’t have to address identity. We were on such a roll that it stagnated the development process. You have to get hit in the chin before you look in the mirror. I think at times we got it and then we got away from it again.’’

One area in which they have scaled back is physical play, a Merrimack hallmark. As a result, the Warriors have cut down on penalty minutes.

“In the past, that physicality is what has allowed us at home to play well,’’ said Dennehy. “We’ve been very physical. We’ve really worked on not being as physical. It’s hard because it’s such a small sheet of ice [at Lawler Arena]. I used to say if you can go a game at Lawler without making contact, you’ve had to work at it. But we’ve had to. It takes a little away from the home-ice advantage.’’

Road to nowhere

UMass has had an interesting season. The Minutemen have been strong at home (7-2-3), but away from the Mullins Center it has been a different story - 0-9-2 overall, 0-8-2 in Hockey East. They have eight games remaining in the regular season and can affect the standings significantly. They take on BU at Agganis Arena tonight and host Providence tomorrow. After that, they have two at Maine, two against UNH, and a home-and-home with Merrimack . . . BU junior left wing Wade Megan has 7 points in his last five games . . . Northeastern takes on UNH at the Whittemore Center tonight. Wildcats freshman goaltender Casey DeSmith has made at least 30 saves in each of his last four games, including a career-high 37-save outing against Providence . . . Maine is unbeaten in its last seven games (6-0-1), outscoring opponents, 29-15 . . . Tonight, Sebastian Stalberg will play his 100th game for Vermont. He is the Catamounts’ active scoring leader with 75 points . . . BC junior forward Chris Kreider has 5 points in his last three games.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.