Frozen Fenway: Looking to Make More Memories

On to Fenway Park. In the best of spirits.

The University of New Hampshire hockey team played a fast and furious third period and rallied late for a key 5-3 Hockey East win over Northeastern on Thursday night at the Whittemore Center.

The two teams will do it again on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the home of the Boston Red Sox as part of this winter's rendition of Frozen Fenway.

The dramatic photograph from UNH's last time around at Fenway covers most of the wall behind Dick Umile's desk in the men's hockey offices on the second floor of the Whittemore Center.

Former Wildcat Jeff Silengo is taking the draw and Eric Knodel and Trevor van Riemsdyk are in position on defense against the University of Maine in the photo from five years ago. Fenway's stands and press box rise in the background.

The two longtime border rivals battled on the ice at Fenway on a gorgeous night on Jan. 7, 2012.

"It's Fenway Park," said Umile, who grew up in Melrose, Mass., a big fan of the place. "You're playing in Fenway Park. Bruce Springsteen played there. All the events that go on there. Here we are playing an outdoor hockey game there. It's Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox. You're playing a featured game. An overtime game. It was the whole thing. The lights. It was a perfect day."

Umile is taking his team back to Fenway on Friday for a workout ahead of Saturday's game.

The Wildcats and Northeastern play the second game of their season series in the historic ballpark in a game to be televised on NESN.

Note the 5 p.m. start time: the game was originally scheduled for 7:30 p.m. It was moved up to allow fans to more easily watch the New England Patriots-Houston Texans game on Saturday night.

Tickets for the Fenway game are available by CLICKING HERE and tickets for all UNH home games are available by CLICKING HERE, by calling 603-862-4000 and at the Whittemore Center box office.

The next three home games, incidentally, are all high-profile events: Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27 against Providence College and Friday, Feb. 3 against Boston College. The Jan. 28 game is being celebrated as "Family Night" and "Shirt Off Your Back Night" and the Boston College game as "I Believe in UNH Night."

First comes Fenway.

The UNH-Northeastern is the nightcap of a Hockey East doubleheader at the ballyard. Maine and UConn play in the first game at 1:30 p.m.

The Wildcats will ride a major bit of momentum – momentum gained from scoring three goals in the last seven minutes Thursday night to upend the Huskies – into Fenway Park.

Freshman Patrick Grasso had two of the goals, his first off a faceoff win by classmate Liam Blackburn to tie things at 3-3 and the second into an empty net. Sophomore Marcus Vela scored the game-winner.

UNH improved to 11-8-2 overall and 6-2-1 in Hockey East and jumped into a tie for third place in the league with Vermont.

They'll look to keep moving up at Fenway.

"I'm so excited," Grasso said. "It will be my first time playing an outdoors game. I've been to Fenway to watch a baseball game, but this will be another whole monster."

A Green Monster perhaps?

"I'm very excited," Vela said. "The whole team is. It's a once in a lifetime experience."

Umile and the Wildcats can't wait.

Defenseman and captain Matias Cleland, a senior out of Longmont, Colo., has been to a couple of Red Sox games since he came to UNH.

Cleland participated in a promotional event at Fenway for the game last summer.

"They put me to work out there," he said. "I was able to put first, second and third base in place with some of the other hockey captains. That was a pretty cool experience. It was really cool."

Umile likes the idea of going back and getting another shot at a Hockey East rival.

"We had a great experience the last time and we're looking forward to it again," Umile said. "I thought it was awesome. We were fortunate. The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was a typical UNH-Maine game. It was a fond memory of playing in Fenway. The only disappointing part was we lost in overtime."

Director of athletics Marty Scarano cherishes his Fenway hockey memories, too, both from the men's game against Maine and from two years prior when the UNH women knocked off Northeastern, 5-3, as part of the first-ever Frozen Fenway on Jan. 8, 2010. That game was the first outdoors contest in women's college history.

"I think my best memory of Fenway, both on the men's and women's sides previously, is just the fact that you're in one of the great sport venues in the world," Scarano said. "When you're in Fenway, underneath where the infrastructure is and you're walking the tunnel to the dugouts and you know people like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio and people like that walked through those tunnels, it's kind of awe-inspiring. I think it's great for the student-athletes because they're inside of Fenway, they're getting dressed downstairs, walking through those very tunnels. I just remember how excited everybody was to be a part of something like that."

Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu

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