Men's Hockey Battles 7th-ranked Boston College in a Home-and-Home Series (Fri. - 7:30 - NESN) (Sat. - 7 p.m. - WBIN)
Game Notes
DURHAM, N.H. -- The University of New Hampshire men's hockey team battles seventh-ranked Boston College in a critical home-and-home series. The Wildcats travel to BC on Friday night live on NESN (7:30 p.m. puck drop; coverage begins 7 p.m.) and plays host to the Eagles on Saturday live on WBIN (7 p.m.).
Scouting the Eagles: The seventh-ranked Boston College Eagles enter into the weekend with a 14-10-1 record and a 10-7-1 mark in Hockey East.The Eagles, who spent time as the nation's top team, are 2-5-1 over the last eight games. BC dropped a pair games last weekend at Maine with a 4-3 overtime loss on Friday night and a 7-4 loss on Saturday. The Eagles have four 20-point scorings led by junior Chris Kreider with 25 points on 14 goals and 11 assists. Bill Arnold (22 pts), Barry Almeida (21 pts) and Brian Dumoulin (20 pts.). In net, the Eagles have used three different goalies. Parker Milner is 10-5-0 with a 2.39 GAA and a .905 save percentage, Brian Billett is 3-4-1 with a 2.66 GAA and a .907 save percentage, while Chris Venti is 1-1-0 with a 2.34 GAA and a .889 save percentage. Venti and Billett played the games over the weekend at Maine.
Series History vs. Boston College: The Wildcats hold the advantage in the all-time series with the Eagles 63-62-12 in 137 all-time meetings dating back to Feb. 6, 1937. BC captured the season series, 2-1-0, by virtue of a weekend sweep of the Wildcats back on March 4-5. The Eagles won this year's only meeting with a 5-1 win back on Oct. 15 at the Whitt. Coach Umile owns a 39-26-11 all-time record against BC, but the Wildcats are just 14-17-6 all-time record at Conte Forum and a 16-7-2 all-time record at the Whittemore Center. Brett Kostolansky and Dalton Speelman are the active scoring leaders against the Eagles with three points apiece Matt Di Girolamo is 1-4-0 in three career starts against the Eagles.
SCORING LEADERS VS. THE EAGLES:
Player GP G-A-P
Brett Kostolansky 5 0-3-3
Dalton Speelman 7 2-1-3
John Henrion 7 2-0-2
Mike Borisenok 7 0-2-2
Connor Hardowa 7 0-2-2
Stevie Moses 11 1-1-2
Kevin McCarey 8 1-0-1
Nick Sorkin 3 1-0-1
Damon Kipp 11 0-1-1
Greg Burke 5 0-0-0
Austin Block 4 0-0-0
Jeff Silengo 4 0-0-0
Kevin Goumas 3 0-0-0
Scott Pavelski 1 0-0-0
Casey Thrush 1 0-0-0
Eric Knodel 1 0-0-0
Justin Agosta 1 0-0-0
Trevor van Riemsdyk 1 0-0-0
Goaltending Stats
Player GP/Min GA GAA W-L-T SV SV%
Di Girolamo 5/297:57 21 4.22 1-4-0 140 .869
Di Girolamo Game-by-Game vs. the Eagles
Date Min Res. Svs. GA Shots
11-15-08 58:47 L 29 7 36
11-05-10 60:00 W 28 1 29
3-4-11 60:00 L 38 4 42
3-5-11 59:10 L 25 4 29
10-15-11 60:00 L 20 5 25
Totals 297:57 1-4-0 140 21 161
Last Time Out: John Heffernan scored 19 seconds into overtime to lift the sixth-ranked Merrimack College men's hockey team to Saturday night's 3-2 victory at UNH. UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith made 23 saves and Nick Sorkin had a multiple-point game with two assists. Warriors' goalie Joe Cannata stopped 28 shots.
Last Team These Teams Met: Parker Milner recorded 39 saves and a balanced offense in which four skaters recorded two points led the top-ranked Boston College men's hockey team to a 5-1 victory UNH in front of a sellout crowd of 6,501 in UNH's home opener at the Whittemore Center. UNH goaltender Matt Di Girolamo finished with 20 saves. Milner made 20 saves in the second period as well as 14 in the third. Bill Arnold, Johnny Gaudreau and Paul Carey all finished with a goal and an assist while Barry Almeida tallied two assists.
Moses Heating Up/Six-Game Scoring Streak: Stevie Moses is riding a six-game point scoring streak with six goals and three assists in that span. Overall, Moses has points in nine of the last 11 games with 16 points on 12 goals and four assists during that span.
Moses Top in Hockey East in Goals: Stevie Moses ranks sixth nationally and is first in Hockey East with 0.74 gpg. He has 17 goals in 23 games.
Friday Night Hockey on NESN: Friday night's match up between UNH and Boston College will air live in high-definition on NESN-HD at 7:30 p.m. with coverage starting at 7 p.m. Tom Caron and Craig Janney will call all the action from Conte Forum. Former Wildcat Josh Ciocco and NESN anchor Jamison Coyle will cover all the action in studio.
Saturday Night on WBIN-TV: Saturday night's game will be broadcast live in high-definition on WBIN-TV. UNH and WBIN have partnered to bring 12 UNH contests, including six men's hockey games to air. Additionally, UNH's monthly magazine show Inside Wildcat Country will air immediately following Saturday's game. Dan Parkhurst and Pete Webster will call all of the action from Whittemore Center. Pack Network will be producing the game along with UNH Wildcat Productions.
Moses First in Hockey East in Game Winners: Stevie Moses netted the game-winning goal in each of the last three wins for UNH. Moses' four game-winners is tied for first in Hockey East and ranks seventh nationally.
Moses on the Power Play: Moses has a team-best six power play goals including three PPGs in the last three games.
Road Wins: After going 0-6-2 over its first six road games, UNH has won back-to-back road games for the first time since Jan. 2011.
Defense the Difference: The UNH defense has been the difference during the last four games. The 'Cats have allowed just five goals in the last four games (1.25 GAA). Additionally, the penalty kill is 10-for-11 and they have allowed just 24.75 shots per game.
Opp. Res. Shots Shots Ag.
at PC W, 1-0 26 26
v. Dartmouth W, 4-1 32 22
at Merrimack W, 2-1 33 25
MERRIMACK L, 2-3 30 26
Totals: Goals 9 Goals for (2.5 gpg) 5 Goals Against (1.25gapg)
Shots 121 99
Specialty PP 4-16 (25.0%) PK 10-11 (9.1%)
DeSmith DeDifference for UNH in Net: Casey DeSmith has been red-hot since becoming the everyday starter in Durham. He has allowed two goals or fewer four of six starts this season. Overall he is 3-3-0 with two overtime losses.
Date Opp Res. Svs. GA Shots
12-8-11 BU L, 1-2 32 2 34
1-7-12 v. Maine L, 4-5 OT 28 5 33
1-11-12 at PC W, 1-0 26 0 26
1-14-12 v. Dart. W, 4-1 21 1 22
1-20-12 at MC W, 2-1 24 1 25
1-21-12 MC L, 2-3 OT 23 3 26
Totals 3-3-0 154 12 166
GAA: 2.00 Save% .928
Block Party: UNH blocked 17 shots on Friday night against Merrimack. The Wildcats had a season-high 18 blocks at St. Cloud State on Oct. 21. Stevie Moses led the way with four blocks including a critical block in the game's final seconds.
Snap three-game skid against Merrimack: The Wildcats snapped a three-game losing streak to Merrimack with Friday night's 2-1 win. The three-game streak was the best in the all time series for Merrimack.
Power Play Back on Track: UNH was 0-20 on the power play over six-plus games before a 2-5 effort against Dartmouth. Including the Dartmouth game, the 'Cats are 4-of-13 (30.7%) since on the power play with extra-man goals in all three contests. The 'Cats are 2-8-0 when they failed to score on the power play compared to 7-4-2 when scored a power play goal.
Youth Served: Three freshmen rank in the top seven in scoring for New Hampshire. Grayson Downing is the leader in rookie scoring with 16 points in 21 games. Here is a look at recent successes among UNH freshmen compared to this year's top trio.
Players Year G-A-P
Grayson Downing 2011-12 7-9-16 (21 gp)
Trevor van Riemsdyk 2011-12 2-10-12 (22 gp)
Casey Thrush 2011-12 2-7-9 (21 gp)
Kevin Goumas 2010-11 6-12-18 (32 gp)
Brett Kostolansky 2009-10 0-12-12 (28 gp)
Stevie Moses 2008-09 5-8-13 (33 gp)
Blake Kessel 2008-09 6-7-13 (37 gp)
James van Riemsdyk 2007-08 11-23-34 (31 gp)
Danny Dries 2007-08 11-17-28 (37 gp)
Darren Haydar (record) 1998-99 31-30-61 (41 gp)
Home vs. Away: UNH is 6-5-0 at home compared to 2-6-2 on the road. Here is a look at some of the breakdown of home vs. away and neutral.
Home Away Neutral
Record 6-5-0 2-6-2 1-1-0
Goals For 40 (3.6) 24 (2.4) 8 (4.0)
Goals Against 29 (2.6) 38 (3.8) 6 (3.0)
GMs w/ 5+ goal 4 2 0
Power Play 22.9% 14.3% 28.6%
Penalty Kill 85.7% 82.0% 62.5%
Wins vs. Losses: UNH is averaging over four goals a game in wins and allowing just 1.22. Here is a look at stats in wins versus losses.
Wins Losses
Record 9-0-0 0-12-0
Goals For 38 (4.2) 27 (2.2)
Goals Against 11 (1.22) 55 (4.6)
GMs w/ 5+ goal 4 2
Power Play 26.5% 11.9%
Penalty Kill 96.3% 68.4%
Top Scorers Moses (13-2-15) Downing (3-6-9)
Goumas (2-12-14) Moses- (3-5-8)
Sorkin (1-13-14) Goumas/Henrion (7 pts)
TO THIS POINT LAST YEAR: A comparison through 23 games between this season and the last two seasons.
09-10 10-11 11-12
Record 12-7-4 14-5-4 9-12-2
HE Record 11-2-3 12-2-2 6-9-1
Goals scored 80 80 72
Goals scored/PG 3.48 3.48 3.13
Goals Allowed 73 56 73
Goals Allowed/PG 3.17 2.43 3.17
Shots 681 811 785
Shots Allowed 748 702 659
Power Play 18.4% 19.2% 18.8%
(19-103) (20-104) (16-85)
Penalty Kill 80.2% 80.8% 81.3%
(77-96) (63-78) (61-75)
Top 3 Scorers Butler Thompson Moses
17-16-33 19-18-37 17-11-28
Kessel Sislo Sorkin
6-21-27 10-22-32 6-19-25
Thomp. DeSimone Goumas
13-12-25 5-21-26 6-15-21
Protecting the Lead: The Wildcats are 9-1-0 when leading after two periods.
SCORING BY CLASS: 2011-12 breakdown of scoring by class.
Class G-A-P G-A-P %.
Seniors: 27-23-50 38%-18%-25%
Juniors: 18-33-51 25%-26%-26%
Sophomores: 15-45-60 21%-35%-30%
Freshmen: 12-26-38 17%-20%-19%
Wildcats Among National Leaders (Thru 1/24): Below is a list of where UNH players and team rank nationally.
Individual Rank Stats Points Per Game:
Stevie Moses 21st 1.22 ppg
Nick Sorkin 32nd 1.09 ppg
Goals Per Game:
Stevie Moses 6th 0.74 gpg
Assists Per Game:
Nick Sorkin 19th 0.83 apg
Kevin Goumas 36th 0.68 apg
Power Play Goals:
Stevie Moses 16th 6 ppg
Nick Sorkin 48th 4 ppg
Short Handed Goals:
Kevin Goumas 7th 2 shg
Stevie Moses 21st 1 shg
Nick Sorkin 21st 1 shg
Game-Winning Goals
Stevie Moses 7th 4 gwg
Rookie Scoring
Grayson Downing 20th 0.76 ppg
Team
Scoring Offense 16th 3.13
Scoring Defense 48th 3.17
Scoring Margin 40th -.04
Power Play 31st 18.8
Penalty Kill 31st 81.3
Combined Special Teams 41st 48.1
Among the League Leaders (Thru 1/24): Where some of the Wildcats rank in Hockey East.
Player All Games HE Games
Points Stevie Moses 4th (28 pts) 12th (15 pts)
Nick Sorkin 6th (25 pts) 31st (12 pts)
Kevin Goumas 13th (21 pts) 38th (11 pts)
Goals Stevie Moses 1st (17 g) 14th (7 g)
Assists Nick Sorkin 3rd (19 a) 13th (10 a)
Kevin Goumas 12th (15 a) 27th (8 a)
PP Points Stevie Moses 9th (10 pts) 21st (6 pts)
Nick Sorkin 13th (9 pts) 36th (5 pts)
PP Goals Stevie Moses 5th (6 ppg) 11th (3 ppg)
Nick Sorkin 10th (4 ppg) 22nd (2 ppg)
SH Points Kevin Goumas 3rd (3 shp) 9th (1 shp)
Stevie Moses 8th (2 shp) n/a
Nick Sorkin 20th (1 shp) n/a
T. van Riemsdyk 20th (1shp) n/a
SH Goals Kevin Goumas 2nd (2 shg) 5th (1shg)
Nick Sorkin 10th (1 shg) n/a
Stevie Moses 10th (1 shg) n/a
Game Winning Goals
Stevie Moses 1st (4 gwg) 3rd (2 gwg)
Def. Scoring T.van Riemsdyk 11th (12 pts) 28th (4 pts)
Damon Kipp 17th (11 pts) 16th (7 pts)
Freshman Scor. Grayson Downing 5th (16 pts) 10th (7pts)
T. van Riemsdyk 9th (12 pts) 20th (4pts)
Casey Thrush 13th (9 pts) 10th (7 pts)
Plus-Minus Casey Thrush 21st (+8) 5th (+6)
Where UNH is Ranked in Hockey East (Thru 1/24):
Overall HE games
Goals/per game 3.13/6th 2.56/8th
GAA 3.17/8th 3.00/6th
Power Play 18.8/5th 14.5/8th
Penalty Kill 81.3/5th 83.6/4th
Special Teams Net +4/4th -1/6th
1st Period Scoring 26/2nd 16/5th
2nd Period Scoring 23/6th 13/8th
3rd Period Scoring 22/7th 12/8th
Overtime Scoring 1/5th 2/2nd
All in the Family: Junior forward Scott Pavelski is the younger brother of Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks while freshman defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is the younger brother of former Wildcat and current Philadelphia flyer James van Riemsdyk. Freshman forward Jay Camper is the brother of Miami standout Carter Camper, while Associate Head Coach Jim Tortorella is the brother of Rangers head coach John Tortorella.
'Cats Selected in the NHL Draft: Two current UNH players have been selected in the National Hockey League draft. Greg Burke (Washington) and Eric Knodel (Toronto) have all been drafted.
UNH, Verizon Wireless Arena Awarded 2013 NCAA Northeast Men's Hockey Regional: The NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Committee announced Oct. 5 that the University of New Hampshire and Verizon Wireless Arena have been awarded the 2013 NCAA Division I men's hockey Northeast Regional. Game dates and times have not been finalized, but will be held between March 29-31. 2013 will mark the fifth time UNH and Verizon Wireless Arena have hosted this event, all since 2004. Last season, UNH advanced to the regional finals against with a 3-1 win over top-seeded Miami at the NCAA Northeast Regional in Manchester. New Hampshire also hosted in 2007 and 2009. In addition to the Northeast Regional, the East Regional will be held at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. and hosted by Brown University, the Midwest Regional will be held at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio and hosted by Bowling Green State University and the West Regional will be held at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. and be hosted by the University of Michigan.
Wildcats Tabbed Third in Hockey East Preseason Poll:
2011-2012 Hockey East Preseason Coaches Poll
Rk. Team (FPV) Pts
1. Boston College (7) 88
2. Boston University (3) 83
3. New Hampshire 72
4. Maine 64
5. Merrimack 61
6. Vermont 44
7. Massachusetts 42
8. Northeastern 33
9. UMass-Lowell 27
10. Providence 26
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 12th 12th 3rd (pre)
10/3 NP NP 3rd (pre)
10/10 RV 15th 6th
10/17 NR RV 8th
10/24 NR NR 8th
10/31 NR NR 7th
11/7 NR RV 4th
11/14 NR RV 4th
11/21 NR RV 4th
11/28 NR NR 4th
12/5 NR NR 7th
12/12 NR NR 8th
12/19 NR NR 8th
12/26 NP NP 8th
1/2 NR NR 8th
1/9 NR NR 9th
1/16 NR NR 8th
1/23 NR NR 8th
THE NATIONAL POLLS:
USCHO.com Division I Men's Hockey Poll (Jan. 23)
Rk. School (FPV) Record Points Lst Wk.
1 Minnesota-Duluth (45) 17-4-3 995 1
2 Boston University ( 5) 15-6-1 952 2
3 Minnesota 17-9-1 790 4
4 Notre Dame 14-9-3 750 7
5 Merrimack 13-5-5 720 6
6 Ohio State 14-7-4 703 5
7 Boston College 14-10-1 680 3
8 Michigan 15-9-4 675 10
9 Cornell 11-4-4 654 9
10 Ferris State 15-8-3 532 13
11 Massachusetts-Lowell 14-6-0 526 14
12 Colorado College 14-9-1 518 11
13 Western Michigan 12-9-5 360 8
14 Union 13-6-6 349 12
15 Denver 13-8-3 319 15
16 Michigan State 13-9-4 250 16
17 Miami 14-10-2 242 20
18 North Dakota 13-10-2 133 17
19 Northern Michigan 11-8-5 103 NR
20 Maine 12-8-3 101 NR
Others receiving votes: Lake Superior 47, Colgate 43,
Quinnipiac 24, Nebraska-Omaha 17, Harvard 8, RIT 7, St.
Cloud State 2.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's Hockey Poll (Jan. 23)
Rk. Team, Points (FPV) Last Poll Record Weeks
1 Minnesota Duluth, 507 (31) 1 17-4-3 16
2 Boston University, 479 (3) 3 15-6-1 13
3 University of Minnesota, 420 2 17-9-1 15
4 University of Notre Dame, 375 6 14-9-3 16
5 Merrimack College, 333 7 13-5-5 15
6 Cornell University, 320 9 11-4-4 6
7 Ohio State University, 292 5 14-7-4 10
8 Boston College, 261 4 14-10-1 16
9 University of Michigan, 239 10 15-9-4 12
10 Colorado College, 199 11 14-9-1 16
11 UMass Lowell, 183 13 14-6-0 4
12 Ferris State University, 154 14 15-8-3 11
13 Union College, 104 12 13-6-6 14
14 Western Michigan, 103 8 12-9-5 16
15 University of Denver, 51 15 13-8-3 15
Others receiving votes: Miami University, 30; Michigan State University, 12; University of Maine, 10; Northern Michigan University, 6; Rochester Institute of Technology, 1; University of North Dakota, 1.
UNH Hockey on Television(Subject to change or additional):
DATE GAME Channel RES.
Oct. 21 at St. Cloud Charter L, 5-7
Oct. 22 at St. Cloud Charter T, 3-3 OT
Nov. 12 at Vermont WCAX T, 4-4 OT
Nov.18 Mass.-Lowell WBIN W, 5-0
Dec. 8 Boston Univ. WBIN L, 1-2
Jan. 7 vs. Maine (Frozen Fenway) NESN L, 4-5 OT
Jan. 21 Merrimack WBIN L, 2-3 OT
Jan. 27 at Boston College NESN 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 28 Boston College WBIN 7 p.m.
Feb. 3 Providence CBS Sports 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 10 Northeatern WBIN 7 p.m.
Feb. 11 at Merrimack NESN 7 p.m.
Feb. 17 Vermont WBIN 7 p.m.
NESN FLEX GAMES WILL BE DETERMINED TWO WEEKS OUT
Feb. 18 Vermont at New Hampshire NESN-FLEX 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 25 New Hampshire at UMass NESN-FLEX 3:30 p.m.
Mar. 3 New Hampshire at Maine NESN-FLEX 4 p.m.
WILDCAT AWARDS: Here is a list of awards that Wildcat players have won to date this season:
Player Award Date
Matt Di Girolamo USCHO's Top 10 Goalies #1 9/26
Stevie Moses USCHO's Top 10 Forwards #4 9/30
Matt Di Girolamo HE Defensive Player of the Week 10/31
UNH Wildcats HE Team of the Week 11/7
Casey Thrush HE Rookie of the Week 11/21
Stevie Moses HE co-Player of the Week 11/28
Grayson Downing HE Rookie of the Month Nov.
Stevie Moses MVP Battle for RiverStone Cup XI 1/14
Stevie Moses HE Player of the Week 1/16
Casey DeSmith HE Rookie of the Week 1/16
UNH HOCKEY ON THE RADIO: In the summer of 1999, the University of New Hampshire Athletic Department formed the "UNH Sports Network" — the largest network ever to broadcast UNH sporting events.In 2009, Wildcats Sports Properties has added WGIN-AM 930 (Rochester) and WQSO-FM 96.7 (Portsmouth) as affiliate stations on the Wildcat Sports Network, joining flagship WGIR-AM 610 (Manchester), which was added in 2008. All three stations are part of the Clear Channel family. These three aforementioned stations -- along with WSMN-AM 1590 (Nashua), WNTK-FM 99.7 (New London) and WASR-AM 1420 (Wolfeboro) -- will carry the following: all UNH football & men's hockey broadcasts, a select number of men's basketball, women's basketball and women's hockey broadcasts. Dan Parkhurst will be handling the play-by-play for the fifth-straight season, while Pete Webster will once again be doing the color commentating. Webster has been announcing Wildcat hockey since the 1993-94 season.
LISTEN LIVE ON THE INTERNET: UNHWildcats.com via Stretch Internet Broadcast will carry all of the UNH men's ice hockey action again this season. If you can not attend Wildcat hockey, you can still tune into the game from anywhere you can gain access to the internet. Fans can get to the UNH men's ice hockey broadcast site by going to the men's hockey schedule page at www.unhwildcats.com.
GRANITE STATE CONNECTION: The Wildcat hockey team features three players from New Hampshire with Greg Burke (Lee), Ryan Randall (Durham) and Casey DeSmith (Rochester) all hailing from the Granite State.
