Men's Hockey Battles No. 4 Boston College Friday (7 p.m.), No. 8 UMass Lowell Saturday (7 p.m.)

What to Know...

The Wildcats head into the weekend with their third and four fifth and sixth consecutive games against top-15 nationally and third and fourth against top-10 ranked opponents with No. 4 Boston College Friday and No. 8 UMass Lowell Saturday.
The Wildcats (9-13-4, 3-7-4 HE) are coming off a split weekend at No. 4 Providence College with a 3-1 loss on Friday (Jan. 29) and a 3-1 on Saturday (Jan. 30). It was the first home-loss of the season for PC.
In Saturday's win, senior Kyle Smith scored twice, a career-high, while Dan Correale netted what would prove to be the game winner.
Sophomore netminder Danny Tirone allowed just three goals on 72 shots faced on the weekend and was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week. One of Friday's goals by the Friars was an empty netter.
Sophomore forward Andrew Poturalski is second in the country in points (41, 19g, 22a) and is third in points per game (1.58). Junior Tyler Kelleher is first in the country in assists (30) and second in assists per game (1.15).
No. 4 Boston College (18-4-4, 10-1-4 HE) is coming off a 3-2 win over Harvard University in the Beanpot Semifinals on Monday, Feb. 1. The Eagles are unbeaten in their last eight games (5-0-3).
The Eagles were down 2-1 heading into the second period, but would score twice to eventually finalize the score at 3-2. Both second period goals came on power plays. Netminder Thatcher Demko made 21 saves in the game for his 17th win of the season (17-4-3).
The last time UNH and BC played, (Nov. 21), the Eagles came away with a 6-3 win. (Box score on page 4).
The River Hawks (17-5-4, 10-3-3 HE) are coming off a weekend sweep of Arizona State University with a 4-1 win on Friday (Jan. 29) and a 8-1 win Saturday (Jan. 30). Warrior Hockey Player of the Week C.J. Smith tallied five points on the weekend (4g, 1a), including a hat trick on Saturday.
The last time UNH and UML played, the two teams battled to a 1-0 result in favor of the River Hawks on Jan. 8. (Box score on page 6).
The Wildcats are home next weekend with a pair of games against Vermont. Friday, Feb. 12 is at 7 p.m. while Saturday, Feb. 13 is at 5 p.m.

First Time in a Decade: In Friday's game against Notre Dame (Jan. 22), freshman Ara Nazarian made the first penalty shot for UNH since Feb. 17, 2006 when Josh Ciocco made one at Boston University.

Powering the Power Play: Senior forward Dan Correale is tied for the second spot in the nation with eight power play goals.

Kelleher Closing in on 100 Points: Junior forward Tyler Kelleher is just five points away from 100 for his career. The last time a junior hit the Century Club was in 2005-06 when Jacob Micflikier and Brett Hemingway each had over 100 points in junior standing. Kelleher had 16 points (5g, 11a) as a freshman and 42 points (18g, 24a) as a sophomore.

Points for Pots: Sophomore Andrew Poturalski is second in the nation in goals (19) and is second in the nation in points (40). He is averaging 1.65 points per game, making him second in the country.

Picking Apples: Tyler Kelleher is ranked first in the nation in assists (30) and is second in assists per game (1.15).

Fifty for Danny: Sophomore netminder Danny Tirone made a career-high 50 saves in Friday's 3-3 draw at Maine. He was the first UNH netminder with at least 50 saves since 2012.

The Ultimate Warrior: Sophomore forward Andrew Poturalski earned his second consecutive Warrior Player of the Week accolade, announced by Hockey East on Dec. 7. He earned the title on Nov. 30 and was named the Warrior Player of the Month for November and repeated for December.

Goals, Goals, Goals! The Wildcats defeated the Black Bears by a score of 7-0 on Dec. 30. The Last time UNH had a margin of victory of at least seven goals was Nov. 9, 2013 in a 9-0 win over UMass. That game was also the last time seven different Wildcats recorded at least one goal.

The 'CPK' Line: The line combination of Correale, Poturalski and Kelleher has a combined total of 98 points on the year with 41 goals and 57 assists.

Keeping up with Correale: Senior forward Dan Correale has already tallied more goals this season than any of his previous seasons. Thus far, he has 14 while having four as a junior and sophomore and three as a rookie.

Four in the First: UNH started off the game against Dartmouth (Dec. 11) with four goals in the first period. It was the first time the team had scored four in the first since Nov. 22, 2011 vs. Harvard.

Light it Up Up Up: Freshman forward Marcus Vela notched his first collegiate goal in Saturday's 5-4 win over Bentley on Saturday (Nov. 28).

Throw the Hats! Senior alternate captain Dan Correale scored a career high three goals at UMass (Oct. 23) for his first career hat trick. It was the first hat trick for a UNH player since Grayson Downing scored three against Maine on Dec. 13, 2014.

Lending a Hand: Junior Tyler Kelleher registered a career high four assists at UMass (Oct. 23). It was the first time a Wildcat had four assists since Trevor van Riemsdyk had four against Merrimack on Jan. 26, 2013 vs. Merrimack College.

Oh What a Night: The Wildcats opened up the regular season with a 7-3 win over American International College (Oct. 10) on Saturday. Twelve skaters recorded at least one point while Tyler Kelleher and Andrew Poturalski had four points apiece.

Number 100: Junior blueliner Matias Cleland played his 100th career game against UMass Lowell on Friday, Jan. 8. Senior forward Maxim Gaudreault played his 100th career game against UMass on Oct. 23. The only other active Wildcat with more than 100 games played on the roster is Dan Correale (135).

First, First, First: Freshman defenseman Matt Dawson recorded his first career goal and first career assist in his first career game. The last freshman to collect two points in his first game (first game of the season) was James van Riemsdyk in a 4-1 win over Boston University in 2007.

Looking Ahead: The NCAA announced on Oct. 2 that UNH in conjunction with the Verizon Wireless Arena (Manchester, N.H.) will host the 2017 NCAA Men's Hockey Division I Northeast Regional. It will be the seventh regional hosted by the two and UNH has played in five of six of the previous tournaments.

C is for Captain, and Collin: Senior forward Collin MacDonald was elected to serve as captain for the 2015-16 season by his teammates. Serving as alternate captains are seniors Dan Correale and Maxim Gaudreault.

There's No Place Like Home: First year associate head coach Mike Souza ('00) returned to his alma mater after two years at the University of Connecticut and two years at Brown University.

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.

Take your Seats and Watch the Show: The state-of-the-art videoboard installed in September at the Whittemore Center is fully operational and ready to provide fans with pure HD content, including instant replay, interviews and much more.

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).

The One and Only Q: Senior defenseman Harry Quast is the only player in program history to have a last name that begins with the letter 'Q'.

Hailing from the Granite State: Freshman forward Chris Miller each hail from New Hampshire. His hometown is Windham.

Road Warriors: The men's hockey team will travel a total of 4,705.40 miles this season for road games. The biggest journey is 828 miles one way to Michigan State. The shortest trip is 34.4 miles to the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Hoist the Cup! Former men's hockey player Trevor van Riemsdyk ('14) became the sixth Wildcat in program history to win the Stanley Cup, the NHL's top honor. Here is the list of UNH Stanley Cup winners:
Trevor van Riemsdyk 2015   Chicago Blackhawks
Bryan Muir 2001   Colorado Avalanche
Kevin Dean 1995    New Jersey Devils
Normand Lacombe 1988    Edmonton Oilers
Dave Lumley 1985    Edmonton Oilers
Dave Lumley 1984   Edmonton Oilers
Rod Langway 1979    Montreal Canadiens

Do you know the way to San Jose? Freshman forward Marcus Vela was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the 2015 NHL Draft as the 190th overall pick. He is just the second player in UNH history to be drafted by the Sharks. Michael Hutchins was taken by San Jose in the 2002 draft.

Wildcats Picked Sixth in Hockey East Preseason Coaches Poll: New Hampshire was picked sixth in the 2015-16 Hockey East Preseason Coaches Poll, announced by the league in September. Here are the full results:
Rk.             Team (FPV)                        Points
1.             Boston College (7)                        115
2.             Boston University (3)            107
3.             Providence (2)                        95
4.            UMass Lowell                        92
5.            Northeastern                        76
6.            New Hampshire                        74
7.            Notre Dame                        72
8.            Vermont                        57
9.            Connecticut                        34
10.            Maine                        29
11.            Merrimack                        27
12.            Massachusetts                               14

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