#6 Men's Hockey Returns to Action Saturday (7 p.m.- Whitt) Against #18 Merrimack College
GAME NOTES
DURHAM, N.H. -- The sixth-ranked University of New Hampshire men's hockey team (6-2-4, 4-1-2 HE) will resume play after the Thanksgiving holiday on Saturday, Nov. 27 against #18 Merrimack College (4-2-4, 3-2-3 HE). Puck drops at 7 p.m. at Whittemore Center for this pivotal Hockey East contest.
SCOUTING THE WARRIORS: No. 18 Merrimack enters the weekend with a 4-2-4 overall record and a 3-2-3 mark in Hockey East good enough for fourth place in the league standings with nine points. The Warriors made its debut in the USCHO.com Top 20 National Poll this week for the first time in program history. Under Head Coach Mark Dennehy, MC has emerged as one of the top programs in Hockey East this season. A balanced Merrimack offense is led by sophomore Stephane Da Costa (3g, 5a) and Jesse Todd (5g, 3a), who each have eight points on the season. The newly-remodeled Lawler Arena has become a big home-ice advantage the Warriors as they are 3-0-1 at home compared to just 1-2-3 on the road. In net, junior Joe Cannata has seen the majority of time for MC. He is 4-2-4 with a 2.19 GAA and a .925 save percentage.
SCORING LEADERS VS. THE WARRIORS:
Player GP G-A-P
Paul Thompson 8 4-3-7
Phil DeSimone 8 2-5-7
Mike Sislo 9 3-2-5
Blake Kessel 6 0-4-4
Stevie Moses 5 1-2-3
Damon Kipp 4 0-2-2
Mike Beck 4 0-1-1
Brett Kostolansky 3 0-1-1
Matt Campanale 7 0-0-0
Greg Manz 4 0-0-0
Mike Borisenok 4 0-0-0
Kevin McCarey 3 0-0-0
John Henrion 2 0-0-0
Austin Block 2 0-0-0
Dalton Speelman 2 0-0-0
Greg Burke 2 0-0-0
Scott Pavelski 1 0-0-0
Connor Hardowa 1 0-0-0
Goaltending Stats
Player GP/Min GA GAA W-L-T SV SV%
no goalies with experience against Merrimack
SERIES HISTORY VS. MERRIMACK: The Wildcats hold the advantage in the all-time series vs. Merrimack College at 63-13-8 in 84 all-time meetings dating back to Jan. 16, 1960. Since 1996, UNH is 39-4-6 in the last 49 games. UNH owns a 24-3-2 all-time record vs. Merrimack at the Whittemore Center and Coach Umile has compiled a 51-10-7 all-time mark against the Warriors. The 'Cats are 14-2-0 in the last 16 meetings against Merrimack at Towse Rink. Last year, the Wildcats captured the season series 2-1-0. Senior forwards Phil DeSimone and Paul Thompson are the active scoring leaders against Merrimack with seven points apiece in eight games. No UNH netminders have seen action against Merrimack.
LAST TIME THESE TEAMS MET (1/30/10): Paul Thompson scored with 11.1 seconds remaining in overtime to lift UNH to a 4-3 victory against Merrimack College in Hockey East action at the Whittemore Center. In the closing seconds of the extra session, Phil DeSimone won possession of the puck in the left corner and threw a pass into the circle, where Thompson gained control and fired a shot that was blocked aside by MC goaltender Andrew Braithwaite. The rebound ricocheted off Bobby Butler in front of the net towards the right doorstep, where Thompson lifted a shot under the crossbar to give the Wildcats the win. UNH goalie Brian Foster finished with 26 saves, including one in overtime. Braithwaite stopped 43 shots, including 10 in OT as well as 16 in the first period.
LAST TIME OUT (11/23/10 vs. Brown): Blake Kessel and Mike Borisenok scored goals 11 seconds apart late in the third period to lift the sixth-ranked University of New Hampshire men's hockey team to Tuesday night's 5-5 non-conference tie against Brown University at the Whittemore Center.Trailing 5-3, the Wildcats called time out with 2:33 remaining and pulled goaltender Matt DiGirolamo in favor of an extra skater. Phil DeSimone swung the puck from the right circle to Mike Sislo at the opposite side. Sislo quickly made a touch pass to Kessel in the high slot and his shot sailed into the net at 18:07. Borisenok leveled the score, 5-5, at 18:18 when he corralled a loose puck in front of the net and beat Brown goalie Mike Clemente. DiGirolamo finished with 22 saves, including four in the five-minute overtime session. Clemente stopped 36 shots, including two in OT and 14 in the third period. It was the seventh time this season New Hampshire registered 40-plus shots on net. UNH's offense was led by Sislo (two goals, two assists) and DeSimone (three assists). Kessel tallied a goal and an assist. For Brown, Harry Zolnierczyk (2g, 1a), Jack Maclellan (3a) and Jeff Buvinow (2a) had multiple-point games.
THOMPSON GARNERS HOCKEY EAST CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior forward Paul Thompson was named Hockey East Athletic Republic co-Player of the Week. The announcement was made Monday morning by the league office. Thompson, who collects his first HE Player of the Week award, becomes the first UNH player to earn the league's top honor since Matt DiGirolamo did so Nov. 8. Thompson, who shares the league's player of the week honors with Merrimack's Jesse Todd, scored three goals and added two assists for five points in a weekend split with #2 Boston Univ. He led the offense with two goals and an assist in Friday night's 5-2 win and factored in both UNH goals with a goal and an assist on Saturday night. Thompson ranks second in Hockey East in scoring with 15 points and his six goals are second-best in the league.
TOP LINE PRODUCING: UNH's top line of Phil DeSimone, Paul Thompson and Mike Sislo have combined for nine goals, 23 assists and 32 points over the last five games. The group is averaging 1.80 gpg and 6.4 ppg.
Date Thompson Sislo DeSimone
11/12 UMass 0-2-2 1-1-2 1-1-2
11/13 UMass 0-3-3 1-0-1 0-2-2
11/19 BU 2-1-3 0-1-1 1-2-3
11/20 @BU 1-1-2 0-2-2 0-1-1
11/23 Brown 0-1-1 2-2-4 0-3-3
Totals 3-8-11 4-6-10 2-9-11
SISLO REGISTERS FOUR POINTS AGAINST BROWN: Senior forward Mike Sislo recorded four points with a pair of goals and a pair of assists on Tuesday night against Brown. Sislo was also the last UNH player to record four points in a game, as he did so on Feb. 20, 2010 with a goal and three assists against Northeastern.
DeSIMONE MATCHES CAREER HIGH: Phil DeSimone matched a career high with three assists on Tuesday night against Brown.
DeSIMONE MOVES INTO FIRST IN HOCKEY EAST IN SCORING: Phil DeSimone ranks first in Hockey East with 17 points. Overall, the 'Cats have three of the top five scorers in Hockey East. Thompson ranks second with Maine's Spencer Abbott with 16 points, while Sislo is fourth with Maine's Gustav Nyquist with 15 points.
GIVING IT THEIR BEST SHOT; 40-PLUS IN FOUR-STRAIGHT: UNH has 40 shots in seven of 12 games this season, including four-straight games. The 'Cats allowed 40-plus shots on just one occasion, in the opening game against Miami. New Hampshire averaging 38.9 shts per games this season.
'CATS EXTENDS WHITTEMORE CENTER UNBEATEN STREAK TO 23 AGAINST HOCKEY EAST FOE: UNH is 16-0-7 in the last 23 Hockey East contests at Whittemore Center. New Hampshire's last home league loss came on Jan. 24, 2009 against BU.
POWERFUL POWER PLAY; PPGS IN 10-OF-12 GAMES: New Hampshire has scored a power play goal in 10 of 12 games this season. UNH did not have a power play opportunity on 11/5 against BC and was just 0-2 against UMass-Lowell on 11/6.
KOSTO SCORES IN SECOND-STRAIGHT GAME: After scoring his first collegiate goal on Saturday at BU, Brett Kostolansky scored for the second-straight game on Tuesday against Brown.
'CATS OWN LEAGUE'S TOP OFFENSE: UNH owns a league-best 3.58 goals per game average this season. Maine is second in the league in offense with a 3.50 gpg average.
SCORING BY CLASS: 2010-11 breakdown of scoring by class.
Class G-A-P G-A-P %.
Seniors: 17-32-49 40-48-45
Juniors: 12-17-29 28-48-26
Sophomores: 13-18-31 30-27-28
Freshmen: 1-0-1 2-0-1
TO THIS POINT LAST YEAR: A comparison through 12 games between this season and last season.
09-10 10-11
Record 3-6-2 6-2-4
HE Record 3-2-1 4-1-2
Goals scored 38 43
Goals scored/PG 3.17 3.58
Goals Allowed 46 34
Goals Allowed/PG 3.83 2.83
Shots 341 467
Shots Allowed 385 369
Power Play 17.6% 21.1%
(9-51) (12-57)
Penalty Kill 76.4% 83.0%
(42-55) (39-47)
Top 3 Scorers Butler DeSimone
10-5-15 4-13-17
Kessel Thompson
3-10-13 6-10-16
LeBlanc Sislo
4-7-11 7-8-15
WHERE IS UNH RANKED?: Here is a week-by-week look at the 'Cats in the national polls and the HE standings:
Date USA TODAY USCHO HE
9/27 8th N/P 3rd (pre)
10/4 N/P 10th 3rd (pre)
10/11 9th 9th 4th
10/18 7th 7th 6th
10/25 10th 10th 7th
11/1 10th 10th 9th
11/8 8th 9th 4th
11/15 8th 7th 3rd
11/22 6th 6th 3rd
THE NATIONAL POLLS:
USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll (Nov. 22)
Rk. Team (First Place)Rec. Pts LW
1 Minnesota-Duluth (49) 11-1-2 999 1
2 Boston University (1) 7-1-4 893 2
3 Yale 7-1-0 856 5
4 Nebraska-Omaha 9-2-1 824 4
5 Miami 8-3-3 808 6
6 New Hampshire 6-2-3 724 7
7 Boston College 8-4-0 648 10
8 Michigan 8-3-3 635 9
9 North Dakota 8-5-1 631 8
10 Maine 6-3-3 612 3
11 Notre Dame 9-3-1 568 11
12 Denver 8-4-2 442 13
13 Union 7-2-3 421 14
14 Alaska 7-5-2 312 12
15 Minnesota 7-4-1 259 19
16 Wisconsin 6-6-2 199 15
17 Rensselaer 5-3-3 191 18
18 Merrimack 4-2-4 154 NR
19 Western Michigan 6-3-3 147 16
20 Ferris State 6-5-3 48 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Quinnipiac 42, Michigan State 39, Robert Morris 12, Dartmouth 9, Colorado College 5, Princeton 5, St. Cloud State 5, Niagara 4, Clarkson 3, Northern Michigan 2, Providence 2, Brown 1
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (Nov. 22)
Rk. School, Pts. (FPV) Last Record Weeks
1 Minnesota Duluth, 509 (34) 1 11-1-2 8
2 Boston University, 438 2 7-1-4 8
3 Yale University, 421 5 7-1-0 8
4 Nebraska Omaha, 389 4 9-2-1 6
5 Miami University, 373 6 8-3-3 8
6 New Hampshire, 299 8 6-2-3 8
7 Boston College, 272 9 8-4-0 8
8 University of Michigan, 265 10 8-3-3 8
9 University of Maine, 263 3 6-3-3 8
10 North Dakota, 252 7 8-5-1 8
11 University of Notre Dame, 201 11 9-3-1 5
12 Union College, 133 12 7-2-3 5
13 University of Denver, 130 14 8-4-2 8
14 University of Alaska, 55 13 7-5-2 7
15 University of Minnesota, 37 NR 7-4-1 3
Others receiving votes: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 19; University of Wisconsin, 15; Merrimack College, 8; Quinnipiac University, 1.
Wildcats Among National leaders: Below is a list of where UNH players and team rank nationally.
Individual Rank Stats
Points Per Game:
Phil DeSimone 10th 1.42 ppg
Paul Thompson 14th 1.33 ppg
Goals Per Game:
Mike Sislo 29th 0.58 gpg
Paul Thompson 49th 0.50 gpg
Assists Per Game:
Phil DeSimone 9th 1.08 apg
Paul Thompson 20th 0.83 apg
Power Play Goals:
Mike Sislo 20th 3 ppg
Paul Thompson 20th 3 ppg
Short-Handed Goals:
Dalton Speelman 13th 1 shg
Stevie Moses 13th 1 shg
Game-Winning Goal:
Mike Sislo 6th 2 gwg
Dalton Speelman 40th 1 gwg
John Henrion 40th 1 gwg
Damon Kipp 40th 1 gwg
Paul Thompson 40th 1 gwg
Defensemen Scoring:
Blake Kessel 12th 0.83 ppg
Goals Against Average:
Matt DiGirolamo 40th 2.69 gaa
Save Percentage:
Matt DiGirolamo 38th .910
Winning Percentage:
Matt DiGirolamo 16th .667
Team
Scoring Offense 11th 3.58
Scoring Defense 27th 2.83
Scoring Margin 11th 0.75
Penalty Minutes 49th 10.8
Power Play 18th 21.1
Penalty Kill 29th 83.0
Combined Special Teams 34th 49.0
Winnning Percentage 9th .667
Among the League Leaders: Where some of the Wildcats rank in Hockey East.
Player All Games HE Games
Points Phil DeSimone 1st (17 pts) 8th (8 pts)
Paul Thompson 2nd (16 pts) 2nd(11 pts)
Mike Sislo 4th (15 pts) 19th (6 pts)
Goals Mike Sislo 4th (7 g) 30th (2 g)
Paul Thompson 6th (6 g) 6th (4 g)
John Henrion 9th (5 g) 14th (3 g)
Stevie Moses 9th (5 g) 57th (1 g)
Assists Phil DeSimone 1st (13 a) 3rd (6 a)
Paul Thompson 3rd (10 a) 2nd (7 a)
Blake Kessel 5th (8 a) 28th (3 a)
PP Points Paul Thompson 3rd (8 pts) 1st (6 pts)
Phil DeSimone 6th (6 pts) 5th (4 pts)
Blake Kessel 6th (6 pts) 13th (3 pts)
Mike Sislo 6th (6 pts) 13th (3 pts)
PP Goals Paul Thompson 3rd (3 ppg) 13th (1 ppg)
Mike Sislo 3rd (3 ppg) 13th (1 ppg)
Phil DeSimone 10th (2 ppg) 2nd (2 ppg)
SH Points Four Tied 6th (1 shp) n/a
SH Goals Dalton Speelman5th (1 shg) n/a
Stevie Moses 5th (1 shg) n/a
GW Goals Mike Sislo 1st (2 gwg) 3rd (1 gwg)
Def. Scoring Blake Kessel 2nd (10 pts) 4th (4 pts)
Brett Kostolansky7th (6 pts) 9th (3 pts)
Connor Hardowa10th (5 pts) 23rd (2 pts)
GAA Matt DiGirolamo 6th (2.69) 2nd (1.83)
Save % Matt DiGirolamo 5th (.910) 4th (.934)
Win % Matt DiGirolamo 2nd (.667) 2nd (.714)
Saves Matt DiGirolamo 2nd (335) 8th (184)
Minutes Matt DiGirolamo1st (736:05) 5th (427:03)
Wins Matt DiGirolamo 2nd (6) 2nd (4)
WHERE UNH IS RANKED IN HOCKEY EAST:
Overall HE games
Goals/per game 3.58/1st 2.71/3rd
GAA 2.83/6th 1.86/1st
Power Play 21.1/2nd 21.9/3rd
Penalty Kill 83.0/5th 92.0/1st
Special Teams Net +3/2nd +3/2nd
1st Period Scoring 11/4th 8/2nd
2nd Period Scoring 20/1st 9/2nd
3rd Period Scoring 12/4th 2/10th
Overtime Scoring 0/3rd 0/3rd
UNH HOCKEY ON TELEVISION: UNH will have nine games broadcast live on TV in 2010-11. NESN will air five games, three will air on CBS College Sports, while one will air locally on ONN (Ohio).
DATE GAME Channel RES.
Oct. 8 at Miami CBS-College Sports L, 3-6
Oct. 9 at Miami ONN (OHIO) W, 6-3
Nov. 19 Boston U. NESN W, 5-2
Dec. 10 at Maine CBS-College Sports
Jan. 22 Boston U. NESN
Feb. 4 Maine NESN
Feb. 5 Maine NESN
Feb. 18 at Vermont CBS-College Sports
March 4 at Boston College NESN
WILDCAT AWARDS: Here is a list of awards that Wildcat players have won to date this season:
Player Award Date
Blake Kessel INCH Preseason All-America First Team 10/7
Blake Kessel InsideHockey.com's Hobey Watch 10/7
Matt DiGirolamo HE Defensive Player of the Week 10/18
UNH Wildcats HE Team of the Week 11/8
Matt DiGirolamo HE Player of the Week 11/8
Matt DiGirolamo INCH National Player of the Week 11/8
Paul Thompson HE co-Player of the Week 11/22
