Wildcats Home for Pair of Games; Sacred Heart Friday (7 PM), Mercyhurst Saturday (7 PM)

What to Know...

The Wildcats are coming off a weekend-sweep in the first two Hockey East games of the season. On Friday, they won at UMass, 4-1 while on Saturday, UNH defeated Merrimack at home, 6-2.
Freshman Patrick Grasso recorded five points on the weekend with four goals and one assist. All four of his goals came against Merrimack.
Grasso was named the Hockey East Player of the Week (Oct. 31), the Hockey East Rookie of the Month (Nov. 2) and the HCA National Rookie of the Month (Nov. 2).
UNH will play Sacred Heart University on Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. for the first meeting between the two schools in history.
The Wildcats host Mercyhurst University on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. It is the second meeting in the series history. The two teams met Oct. 23, 2004 when UNH took the game by a score of 5-4.
UNH head coach Dick Umile and Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin have a combined 54 seasons of head coaching experience. Umile is in his 27th season at UNH and Gotkin is in his 29th at MU. They have a combined win total of 1,086 (Umile 574, Gotkin 512) and a combined game total of 1,974 games coached.
The win over Merrimack on Saturday was the 350th Hockey East win of Umile's career. He is second all-time and the leading active coach in the category.

Series History vs. Sacred Heart: Friday's game against Sacred Heart will be the first meeting between the two sides in program history.

Series History vs. Mercyhurst: The Wildcats and Lakers have met just once before on Oct. 23, 2004 with UNH winning, 5-4.

Coaches by the Numbers: UNH head coach Dick Umile and Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin are two of the longest tenured coaches and are ranked second (Gotkin) and third (Umile) by years at one institution. Together, they have a total of 54 seasons at the helm and have a combined win total of 1,086 and a combined coaching total of 1,974 games.

Rookie of the Month: Freshman forward Patrick Grasso was named the HCA National Rookie of the Month as well as the HE Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month on Wednesday, Nov. 2. He is the first 'Cat to earn the accolade since Grayson Downing in November of 2011. Grasso was also named the HE Rookie of the Week on Monday, Oct. 31.

Four-on-Four: Patrick Grasso scored four times on four shots against Merrimack in the 6-2 win on Saturday, Oct. 29. He was the first Wildcat to score four goals in a game since Steve Moses in 2012. He netted three goals in the first period in the span of 3:56.

Number 90: The 2016-17 season is the 90th year of men's hockey at UNH. The program has a record of 1,210-905-143 over the nine decades.

Weekend Warrior: Senior forward Tyler Kelleher was named the Warrior Hockey Player of the Week by the Hockey East Association on Monday, Oct. 17 for his weekend performance against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. He had a goal against SLU (Oct. 14) and two goals with two assists against Clarkson (Oct. 15).

Maller's Milestone: Senior defenseman Dylan Maller scored his first collegiate goal against Clarkson on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Heading to the Big Apple: The Wildcats will travel to Madison Square Garden to play in New York City for the first time in program history. They will play Cornell on Nov. 26 at 8:00 PM.

Frozen Fenway: For the first time since Jan. 7, 2012, UNH will play an outdoor game when they take on Northeastern at Fenway Park on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7:30 PM.

350 and Counting: Head coach Dick Umile recorded his 350th Hockey East win in the 6-2 triumph over Merrimack (Oct. 29). His league record is 350-188-88. He has the most wins among active HE coaches and is second all-time to Jack Parker (BU; 421).

Longevity: Umile is the third longest tenured coach at their current institution as he is entering his 27th season with the 'Cats. Red Berenson (Michigan) is going into his 33rd season while Rick Gotkin (Mercyhurst) is going into his 29th season.

'C' is for Captain, and Cleland: Senior blueliner Matias Cleland was elected captain by his teammates and is the first Wildcat to be a lone captain with no assistants since James Richmond in 1986-87.

Wildcat Blue Genes: The incoming freshman class has many NHL ties. Brendan van Riemsdyk is the youngest brother of James van Riemsdyk ('09) and Trevor van Riemsdyk ('14), both of whom play in the NHL. Joe Sacco is the son of Boston Bruins assistant coach Joe Sacco, who played 738 games in the NHL. Patrick Grasso is the nephew of Joe Mullen, who won three Stanley Cups. He is currently an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Welcome to Wildcat Country: UNH added eight freshmen in the off-season: Liam Blackburn (F), Justin Fregona (F), Patrick Grasso (F), Joe Lazzaro (G), Nick Nonis (D), Joe Sacco (F), Brendan van Riemsdyk (F), and Anthony Wyse (D).

Wildcats Through and Through: Head coach Dick Umile ('72) and associate head coaches Glenn Stewart ('94) and Mike Souza ('00) are all graduates and former players of UNH. Assistant AD for Hockey Operations Colin Shank ('05) is also a graduate of UNH.

Three Coaches, 402 Points: Umile, Stewart and Souza are each members of the Century Club for the men's hockey program. Souza tallied 156 points (66g, 90a), Umile 144 points (60g, 84a) and Stewart notched 102 points (51g, 51a).

Where Kelleher Ranks in his Career Nationally:

Points:

1. Mike Vecchione - Union College - 130

2. Tyler Kelleher - UNH - 113

3. Max French - Bentley University - 112

Justin Kloos - Minnesota - 112

5. Ryan Fitzgerald - Boston College - 108

Assists:

1. Mike Vecchione - Union College - 78

2. Tyler Kelleher - UNH - 76

3. Justin Kloos - Minnesota - 65

4. David Goodwin - Penn State - 64

5. Justin Danforth - Sacred Heart - 63

Points Per Game (Min. 100 games)

1. Mike Vecchione - Union College - 1.08 (112 games played)

2. Max French - Bentley University - 1.05 (107 games played)

3. Tyler Kelleher - UNH - 0.95 (119 games played)

4. Justin Kloos - Minnesota - 0.91 (123 games played)

5. Nick Schilkey - Ohio State - 0.88 (113 games played)

Points for Patrick: Freshman Patrick Grasso scored four goals in Saturday's (Oct. 29) 6-2 win over Merrimack College. He was the first player to score four times in a game since Steve Moses did so on Jan. 14, 2012 against Dartmouth. It was also the last time a player scored four-consecutive goals.

Grasso's National Ranking:

Among freshmen/all players:

Goals - 1st/2nd (8)

Points - 1st/T-13th (10)

Power Play Goals - 1st/1st (5)

Power Play Points - 1st/T-5th (6)

Hat Tricks - T-1st/T-2nd (1)

Wildcats Drafted by NHL Teams: Junior Shane Eiserman and sophomore Marcus Vela have both been drafted by NHL organizations. Eiserman was taken by the Ottawa Senators in the fourth round of the 2014 draft as the 100th overall pick. Vela was picked in the seventh round of the 2015 draft as the 190th pick.

Granite State Connection: Three Wildcats hail from the Granite State; Chris Miller of Windham, Nick Nonis of Hampton Falls and Joe Lazzaro of Hampstead.

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