Groundhog Day ...

Much like the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray’s character finds himself reliving the same day over and over in Punxsutawney, it’s starting to feel like the 2025–26 season is turning into an unwanted sequel.

The 2025-26 season has been like the 1993 movie

Coming off a heartbreaking 5–4 loss to Wilmington—one defined by self-inflicted mistakes and shaky defensive play—the Minutemen looked to right the ship against Melrose at Bentley Arena. Instead, in all-too-familiar fashion, the same defensive issues resurfaced yet again. It’s difficult to win hockey games when opposing forwards can skate through your zone and breakouts consistently fail to clear the puck.

While hopefully getting one of the captains and top defensemen, Caleb Fehm, back in the lineup soon will help tremendously, it won’t be a cure-all. Fixing the issues on the back end will require smarter D-pairings, detailed film review, potential personnel adjustments, shortening the bench and—most importantly—learning from mistakes. Without that, the results are likely to stay the same. Winning and losing is a team effort and forwards need to make sure they aren't exiting the zone early and play along with the D to form a five man unit.

What makes this stretch so frustrating is that there is a strong core of talented players on this roster, but until the team can play with better overall D structure, it feels like trying to bail water out of a sinking boat. And it won’t get any easier on Tuesday, as Waltham has proven to be a tough opponent, defeating the Minutemen 3–2 and 4–2 over the past two seasons.

To be fair, the schedule hasn’t done Lexington any favors. Their first two opponents, Shawsheen and Burlington, have combined for six wins and just one loss in their first seven games. Watching the Wilmington and Melrose matchups, it’s clear Lexington has comparable talent to a lot of teams—but again, too many mistakes have proved costly.

Here’s hoping the friendly confines of Hayden and the upcoming Battle Road Classic can help turn the tide, just as they did two seasons ago. That year, the team entered the tournament at 0-4-1, then rattled off five straight wins afterward. Sometimes, all it takes is the right setting to break the cycle.

Let’s hope the upcoming Battle Road tourney is the moment the sequel finally ends.