Postseason Play Begins Friday With Hockey East Quarterfinal Series at BU

HOCKEY EAST QUARTERFINALS (Best of 3)
No. 6 UNH Wildcats (13-17-2, 11-11-2 Hockey East) at No. 3 Boston U. Terriers (17-10-6, 12-8-4 Hockey East)
Friday, Feb. 24 (7 p.m.) – Walter Brown Arena – Boston, Mass.
Saturday, Feb. 25 (3 p.m.) – Walter Brown Arena – Boston, Mass.
Sunday, Feb. 26 (3 p.m.) – Walter Brown Arena – Boston, Mass. [if necessary]

Video • Stats

The Postseason Is Here
The University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team begins postseason play this weekend in a Hockey East best-of-three quarterfinal series against Boston University at Walter Brown Arena. Game 1 is Friday, Feb. 24 (7 p.m.) and Game 2 is Feb. 25 (3 p.m.). If necessary, Game 3 is Sunday (3 p.m.).

Curtis Honored as Warrior Hockey Player of the Week
Senior forward and captain Jonna Curtis was named Warrior Hockey Player of the Week by Hockey East on Monday (Feb. 20). It is the fourth time this season Curtis has been bestowed this honor; she was previously feted Oct. 21, Nov. 17 and Jan. 13.
Curtis recorded six points (three goals, three assists) to lead UNH to a sweep at UConn in which the Wildcats were 4-1 victors Feb. 17 & 18. Her weekend highlights included recording her 100th career point and 50th career assist as well as scoring her 20th goal of the season.
Last Friday with the score tied 1-1, Curtis set up the next two goals and then scored a power-play goal to extend UNH's lead to 4-1 and record her 100th career point.
Then on Saturday, Curtis opened the game scoring with a shorthanded goal at 11:46 of the second period and closed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 18:24 of the third to secure the victory. She also tallied an assist, the 50th of her career, on what proved to be the game-winning goal.

The Series: UNH vs. Boston University
New Hampshire has a 20-22-3 lifetime record against BU. The Terriers have won each of the last 14 meetings, including three wins this season, two of which were at Walter Brown Arena – 5-1 (Oct. 7) and 5-2 (Feb. 11). BU also skated to a 4-3 victory at the Whittemore Center (Feb. 10). [See pp 17-18 for boxes and stats]
UNH's most recent win vs. BU was Nov. 9, 2012 – 4-2 at the Whittemore Center.
The Wildcats have an 8-12-1 road record against the Terriers. BU has won each of the last 10 matchups at Walter Brown Arena since UNH's 4-2 win Feb. 3, 2011.

Postseason History: UNH vs. Boston U.
New Hampshire has a 1-2 lifetime record against BU in Hockey East postseason play with an 8-0 win in the 2008 semifinals, 4-0 loss in the '10 semifinals and 9-1 loss in the '12 quarterfinals; both semifinal matchups were on neutral ice, whereas the quarterfinal was at BU's Walter Brown Arena.

The State of New Hampshire
New Hampshire enters the weekend with a 13-17-2 overall record that includes 11-11-2 in Hockey East and 6-8-2 on the road; the Wildcats are 5-5-2 on the road in league action.
UNH is 2-3-0 the past five games and 4-5-1 the past 10.
The Wildcats enter the Hockey East quarterfinal series at BU on a two-game win streak. The 'Cats closed the regular season last weekend with a pair of 4-1 wins at UConn.
UNH's 13 wins are the most since the 2012-13 team finished with 14.
The Wildcats' 11 wins in Hockey East are the most in league action since the 2009-10 squad had 13.
New Hampshire is averaging 2.50 goals and 27.9 shots per game while yielding 2.97 goals and 29.6 shots per game. On special teams, the 'Cats are 20-for-131 (15.3%) on the power play and 119 of 137 (86.9%) on the penalty kill.

'Cat Nips
Junior defenseman Julia Fedeski extended her assist and point streaks to six games with a career-high three assists last Friday and two more Saturday at UConn. Fedeski has 0-10-10 in that span.
Fedeski's six-game point streak matches the longest by a Wildcat this season (previously established by Jonna Curtis).
Fedeski's six-game assist streak is the longest by a 'Cat since 2009-10 (Micaela Long, 8 games; Kelly Paton, 7 games).
Junior defenseman Amy Schlagel extended her point streak to four games with a career-high two goals Friday and one assist Saturday. Schlagel has 4-3-7 in that span.
Sophomore goaltender Hilary Cashin stopped 56 of 58 shots (96.6%) to backbone UNH to last weekend's pair of 4-1 victories at UConn. She made 29 saves – and stopped all 10 third-period shots – in Saturday's 4-1 victory. On Friday night, she stopped all 15 shots she faced in the third period and 27 overall in a 4-1 triumph. Cashin backboned the penalty kill to a perfect 9-for-9 weekend (18 shots faced).
Freshman forwards Nicole Dunbar and Carlee Turner recorded a point in both games of the weekend series at UConn. Dunbar scored the game-winning goal last Friday and tallied an assist in the regular-season finale, while Turner recorded an assist Friday and goal Saturday.
Jonna Curtis carries a three-game point streak into postseason play with 3-4-7 in that span; she has tallied a point in 7 of 9 with 18 points (8g, 10a).

Hockey East Championship History
UNH has won four Hockey East championship titles (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) – the second-highest total in league history – and has been the runner-up twice (2003, 2004). The Wildcats' six title game appearances are the most of any Hockey East school.
New Hampshire has an overall record of 11-11 in 13 Hockey East postseason appearances. The Wildcats have been the No. 1 seed five times (9-1 record), No. 2 seed three times (1-3), No. 4 seed once (0-1), No. 5 seed once (0-2), No. 6 seed three times, including this year (1-3), and No. 8 seed once (0-1).
The Wildcats have lost four consecutive Hockey East postseason games, and the 'Cats have not advanced out of the quarterfinals in five previous appearances, all of which came the past five years. The last time the 'Cats advanced out of any round was in 2009, when they won the title by defeating Providence, 3-1, in the semifinals and BC, 2-1, in the championship game.
Hockey East implemented a best-of-three quarterfinal series in 2015. UNH was ousted by Northeastern University (2-1) in '15 and UConn (2-0) in '16; both series were on the road.
Boston U. won four consecutive Hockey East tournament titles spanning 2012-15 and five of the last seven.

National Numbers
Jonna Curtis is No. 15 in the nation in goals per game (0.62) and is No. 23 in points per game (1.22); she is also tied for fifth in shorthanded goals (two).
Julia Fedeski is No. 12 in defenseman scoring at 0.69 points per game and Amy Schlagel is No. 18 in that stats at 0.62 ppg.
Fedeski and Schlagel are tied for 15th in power-play goals with five.

Milestone Days
Jonna Curtis became the 44th UNH Wildcat to record 100 career points with the last of her three points Feb. 17 at UConn. The previous 'Cat to record 100 career points was Kristina Lavoie '13 (108).
Curtis scored her 50th career goal Feb. 3 at Vermont; prior to that, the most recent Wildcat to score 50 career goals was Lavoie (57).
Curtis tallied her 50th career assist in the Feb. 18 regular-season finale at UConn; Lavoie (51) and Kristine Horn '13 (55) had been the most recent 'Cats to tally 50 career assists.
Curtis scored her 20th goal of the season with the second of her two goals in the Feb. 18 regular-season finale at UConn to become the first Wildcat to reach that number since the 2008-09 season.

Milestone Watch
For the season, Jonna Curtis has 19 assists and 39 points. The last time a Wildcats recorded 20 assists in a season was in 2009-10, when both Micaela Long (38) and Kelly Paton (32) reached that mark. The last time a 'Cat reached 40 points in a season was that same season, when Long and Paton both finished with 51.

How the Playoff Picture Developed
UNH entered the final weekend of the regular season tied with UConn for sixth place in Hockey East with the possibility of finishing anywhere from fourth to seventh in the league standings.
Providence College and the University of Vermont entered the weekend tied for fourth, three points ahead of the Wildcats and Huskies.
New Hampshire was locked into the sixth seed following last Saturday's results. The Wildcats swept UConn but could finish no higher in the standings by virtue of one win by both PC and UVM.

Special Teams
New Hampshire's power play has been highly efficient the past two weeks. UNH went 4-for-9 on the power play in the home-and-home series against Boston University (Feb. 10-11) and then scored on 3 of 4 power plays Feb. 14 at UConn for a three-game stretch of 7-for-13 (53.8%).
The 'Cats netted multiple power-play goals three of the last four games; in comparison, they scored multiple PPG three times the first 28 games.
UNH's penalty kill was perfect (9-for-9) last weekend at UConn and is 17 of 19 (89.5%) in February – the two power-play goals were scored by Boston U.

League Leaders
Jonna Curtis ended the regular season ranked fourth in Hockey East in both goals (20) and points (39) as well as tied for seventh in assists (19). She is tied for third in power-play points (14) and ranks second in both shorthanded goals (two) and shots (149).
Julia Fedeski is tied for fifth in power-play goals with five and ranks fourth in power-play points with 13.
Amy Schlagel is tied for fifth in power-play goals (five) and tied for eighth in power-play points (11).
On the list of defensemen scoring, Fedeski is No. 3 (22 points) and Schlagel is tied at No. 4 (20).
Marie-Jo Pelletier ranks seventh in blocked shots (60) and Fedeski follows immediately in eighth place with 58.

Conference Call
Jonna Curtis tallied 32 points (17g, 15a) in 24 Hockey East games.
Also in league-only games, Amy Schlagel and Julia Fedeski are tied for second in points (18); Schlagel also ranks second in goals (eight) and Fedeski is seconds in assists (14).
Hilary Cashin posted a 10-5-1 league record with a 2.52 GAA and .902 save percentage.

'Cat Captains
Senior forward Jonna Curtis, junior forward Kate Haslett and sophomore defenseman Marie-Jo Pelletier are the three team captains this season.
Curtis leads the team in goals (20), assists (19), points (39), shorthanded goals (two), shots (149), faceoffs won (248) and total faceoffs (550). Also of note, Curtis ranks second in shooting percentage (.134) and third in power-play goals (four).
This is the third consecutive year that Curtis leads the team in goals and points, as well as the second straight year she is the assist leader.
Curtis has tallied a point in 19 of 32 games with a goal in 12 games and assist in 12 as well. Her 12 multiple-point efforts include a personal-best four goals vs. Merrimack College (Oct. 15) and six-point performance (3g, 3a) against Maine (Jan. 21).
Haslett has four goals and four assists for eight points in 32 games. She tallied back-to-back multiple-point games with a personal-best two goals vs. Merrimack (Dec. 3) and a one-goal, one-assist effort at Yale (Dec. 10).
Pelletier has five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 32 games. She recorded a point three of the last four regular-season games (2-2-4) and compiled 4-3-7 the last nine games.

Offensive Defense
New Hampshire's defense has been downright offensive this season, particularly the past month with three blue liners on the primary power play unit. Those skaters are juniors Amy Schlagel and Julia Fedeski as well as sophomore Marie-Jo Pelletier.
Fedeski leads all UNH defensemen and ranks second on the team in both assists (16) and points (22). She and Schlagel lead all 'Cats in power-play goals (five). Fedeski ended the regular season with a six-game point streak (0-10-10) and point in 8 of 9 (1-11-12). Fedeski tallied a point in 15 of 32 regular-season games with six multiple-point efforts, including a personal-best two goals in the season opener at Colgate (Oct. 1); she ended the regular season with multiple points in 3 of 4 games.
Schlagel leads all defensemen and is second overall in goals (10); she is second to Fedeski and third overall in points (20). Schlagel carries a four-game point streak into Friday's game with 4-3-7 in that span; she scored a goal three consecutive games Feb. 10-17, capped by a personal-best two tallies at UConn. She tallied a point in 12 of 32 games with six multiple-point efforts. Schlagel recorded a personal-best three points (1g, 2a) at Merrimack (Dec. 2) and matched that with a career-high three assists vs. Maine (Jan. 21).
Pelletier recorded five goals and nine assists for 14 points in the regular season; those numbers rank third among UNH blue liners. She recorded a point in 11 of 32 games with three multiple-point efforts and that included a personal-best two assists vs. Merrimack (Oct. 15).
Sophomore Jenna Rheault (2g, 3a) and freshman Tori Howran (5a) have tallied five points apiece, and freshman Lexie Revkin has three points, all on assists.

Cashin In Her Chance To Start
Sophomore goaltenders Hilary Cashin and Kyra Smith alternated starts through the first half of the season, but Cashin has started 15 of the last 17 games, including seven consecutive games spanning Nov. 20 to Jan. 7.
The streak ended Jan. 10 at Dartmouth College, which marked the Wildcats' third game in five days, and Smith started between the pipes.
Cashin, who saw limited action in three games last season, has a 2.54 GAA and .907 save percentage with a 12-8-1 record in 24 games (22 starts).
In the last weekend of the regular season, Cashin stopped 56 of 58 shots (96.6%) in UNH's pair of 4-1 wins at UConn.
Cashin recorded her first career shutout Jan. 21 with a 22-save effort against Maine at the Whittemore Center (7-0 win).
In addition to her career-high 41 saves Oct. 23 vs. Clarkson, Cashin made 32 saves (on 35 shots) in her first game of the season, a 3-1 loss at eighth-ranked Colgate (Oct. 2). Cashin recorded her second 40+ save effort in the 3-2 overtime win vs. Harvard on Nov. 16.
Cashin stopped 21 shots vs. Merrimack to earn her first career win Oct. 15.
Smith made 32 or more saves each of her first five games, and that included 38 saves in the season-opening 4-2 loss at No. 8 Colgate and 36 saves at No. 9 Boston University.
Smith made a personal-best 39 saves Nov. 19 at PC (6-3 loss) with 15 saves in the first period, 14 in the second and 10 in the third.
In 11 games (10 starts), Smith has a 3.55 GAA and .897 save percentage with a 1-9-1 record; she is 1-6-1 in Hockey East with a 3.91 GAA and .886 save percentage.

Last 5
New Hampshire had a 2-3-0 record the last five games of the regular season (Feb. 4-18). The goals were even at 14 with the Wildcats generating a 166-123 shot advantage (33.2 to 24.6 shots per game).
On special teams, UNH was 7-for-22 (31.8%) on the power play and 16 of 18 (.889) on the penalty kill.
Hilary Cashin went 2-2-0 with a 2.26 GAA and .913 save percentage.
The top point producers were Julia Fedeski (0-9-9), Jonna Curtis (3-5-8) and Amy Schlagel (4-3-7).

Last 10
UNH went 4-5-1 the last 10 games of the regular season (Jan. 10 to Feb. 18), and that included a five-game winless streak of 0-4-1 from Jan. 28 to Feb. 11.
The Wildcats tallied the edge in both goals (29-26) and shots (317-258; shots per game: 31.7 to 25.8). New Hampshire was outscored 11-2 in the first period but turned the tables on the opposition in both the second (13-8) and third (14-7) periods.
Hilary Cashin went 4-3-0 with a 2.46 GAA and .905 save percentage.
The top point producers were Jonna Curtis (8-10-18), Julia Fedeski (1-11-12), Amy Schlagel (5-6-11) and Marie-Jo Pelletier (4-3-7), the last three of whom are defensemen.

On the Road
UNH had a 6-8-2 road record that included 5-5-2 in Hockey East. Opponents recorded the advantage in both goals (52-42) and shots (474-460). On special teams, the 'Cats were slightly more efficient at 13.8% (8-for-58) in comparison to 12.7% (8 of 63).
New Hampshire ended the regular season with a sweep of UConn at Freitas Ice Forum, and the 'Cats had an unbeaten stretch of 3-0-1 spanning four consecutive road games from Nov. 26 to Dec. 10.
In 12 road games, Hilary Cashin went 6-2-1 with a 2.48 GAA and .905 save percentage.
Four skaters tallied double-digit points in 16 road games; they are Jonna Curtis (8-10-18), Julia Fedeski (3-9-12), Carlee Toews (5-5-10) and Meghara McManus (4-6-10).

Rank and File
UNH was winless (0-9-0) against nationally-ranked teams and had a winning record (13-8-2) against unranked teams.

Single-Season Highs
Jonna Curtis has recorded a single-season highs in goals (20), assists (19) and points (39).
Julia Fedeski has also tallied single-season bests in goals (6), assists (16) and points (22).
Carlee Toews is another Wildcat who has established single-season highs in goals (6), assists (8) and points (14).

First Blood
New Hampshire has a 8-4-0 record when scoring the game's first goal, and the 'Cats are 5-13-2 in the 20 games they have fallen behind 1-0.
The opponent scored first six consecutive games before the Wildcats struck first to take a 1-0 lead in the regular-season finale at UConn. New Hampshire has fallen behind 1-0 in nine of the past 12 games (since Jan. 1).

Race to Three
UNH has a 12-2-1 record when scoring three or more goals.
The Wildcats are 2-15-1 when allowing three or more goals.

February Recap
UNH has a 2-3-1 record in February. The Wildcats opened the month with a 3-3 tie at Vermont, then lost three straight (3-1 at UVM, 4-3 vs. BU, 5-2 at BU) before sweeping UConn (4-1, 4-1). Quick math shows the goal total is equal at 17.

Scouting the Terriers
Boston University (Boston, Mass.) is the Hockey East tournament's No. 3 seed by virtue of a 12-8-4 league record. The Terriers are 17-10-6 overall.
BU has won four straight and is 4-0-1 in the last five games, scoring a total of 27 goals during this span.
Junior forward Victoria Bach leads Hockey East in points (47) and assists (25), as well as shots (162); she ranks third in goals (22). Bach has recorded three points eight times this season.
Senior forward Mary Parker leads Hockey East in goals (23) and is second in points (41), as well as tied for 10th in assists (18).
Victoria Hanson is the No. 1 goalie. In 24 games (all starts), she is 13-7-4 with a 2.31 GAA and .930 save percentage.
The Terriers average 3.64 goals per game, which leads Hockey East, and allow 2.82 gpg. BU averages 33.0 shots while yielding 33.7 shots per game.
While BU has played well on the power play (22.5%), they have struggled on the penalty kill (82.3%).
Boston University is tough to beat at home, as they have amassed an 11-3-2 record at Walter Brown Arena this season and that includes 8-2-2 in Hockey East.
In the last regular-season game, a 5-0 win against Maine on Feb. 19, nine players recorded at least one point.

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