Wildcats Battle UMass Lowell in Hockey East Quarterfinals Starting Friday (7:15 PM)

University of New Hampshire Men's Hockey
Hockey East Best-of-3 Quarterfinals
New Hampshire (14-18-5, 7-11-4 HEA) at UMass Lowell (22-9-3, 14-7-1 HEA)
Date: Friday, March 10, 2017 - 7:15 PM
Radio: Mike Murphy (Play-by-Play) // Pete Webster (Analyst) (6:45 PM Pregame Show)
Up Next: Game 2 - Saturday, March 11 - 7:05 PM

What to Know...

The Wildcats are coming off a 5-2 win at Merrimack College in a must-win game three of the HE Opening Round to advance to the quarterfinals against top-seeded UMass Lowell.
Junior netminder Danny Tirone was named the Hockey East Player of the Week Monday after making 111 saves on 116 shots faced, recording a 44-save shutout and tallying an assist. He is the only goaltender in Hockey East to win the Player of the Week accolade this season.
Tirone currently leads the nation in saves with 1,059. He is just the eighth netminder in program history to make 1,000-plus saves in one season.
Senior forward Tyler Kelleher is tied for first in the nation in points with 62 on 23 goals and 39 assists. His assist total is tops in the nation.
Senior captain Matias Cleland is the top scoring defenseman in the country with 35 points on two goals and 33 assists.
In the Hockey East playoffs, the Wildcats have a program record of 53-42-2 while head coach Dick Umile has a career record of 50-37-1.
Umile has coached the most HEA playoff games (88) among active coaches and the second most in conference history (Jack Parker - 98).
UNH's win over Merrimack on Sunday, March 5 was the 50th HE Playoff victory of Umile's career. He is just one of three coaches in conference history to achieve the 50-win mark.
UNH and the River Hawks have met 11 times in the HE Playoffs with Lowell holding a 6-5-0 advantage.
In the quarterfinal round, the Wildcats have an overall record of 38-24-1.
The River Hawks won the season series with UNH, 2-0, but UNH holds a 59-41-15 lead in the all-time rivalry.

Constantly Improving: Junior Jason Salvaggio leads the NCAA in goal improvement from last season to this season at plus-20. Classmate Michael McNicholas has the biggest point increase from last season to now at plus-33. Salvaggio is plus-30 in points.

50 Playoff Wins: Head coach Dick Umile earned his 50th career HEA Playoff victory on Sunday over Merrimack. He is just one of three head coaches in conference history to reach that mark.

60 Points in a Season: Senior forward Tyler Kelleher has 62 points on the season and is the first Wildcat with 60-plus points in one year since Colin Hemingway (66) and Darren Haydar (72) since 2001-02.

Walter Brown Award Semifinalists: Kelleher and freshman Patrick Grasso were named semifinalists for the 65th annual Walter Brown Award on Monday. It is bestowed to the best American-born college hockey player in New England.

Milestones: Senior forward Tyler Kelleher notched his 100th career assist in the Feb. 3 loss to Boston College, becoming the 17th Wildcat ever to tally 100 assists. He also tallied his 150th career point against UMass Lowell on Feb. 4, becoming the 25th skater to reach 150 points and the first since Jacob Micflikier in 2007.

Powerful Power Play: In Sunday's 7-4 win over Brown (Jan. 8), the Wildcats went 4-for-5 on power plays and converted the first four consecutively. It was the first time UNH had four ppgs in a game since Feb. 23, 2008 against Boston College (4-for-8). UNH scored each goal under one minute into the power play, using only 1:43 total out of eight minutes.

Helping out Five Times: Tyler Kelleher had five assists in Sunday's 7-4 win at Brown (Jan. 8). He was the first 'Cat to tally five assists since Nick Sorkin did on Nov. 26, 2011.

Offensive Defenseman: Senior captain Matias Cleland was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Jan. 9 for his four-assist performance against Brown on Jan. 8. The four points were a career high. He is tied for first in the nation in scoring among defensemen with 34 points.

What a Warrior: Senior forward Tyler Kelleher was named the Warrior Hockey Player of the Month for December by Hockey East. He had six goals and five assists during the month with three two-goal games.

Five is Fine: Senior forward Tyler Kelleher recorded a career-high five points against the University of Massachusetts on Friday, Nov. 22 with one goal and four assists. He was the first 'Cat to record five points in a game since Kevin Goumas on Nov. 24, 2012.

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 was awarded the league Rookie of the Month accolade again on Thursday, Dec. 1.

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.

Grasso's National Ranking (Updated 3/8):

Among Freshmen All Players Totals

Goals T-2nd T-16th 19 goals

Points T-9th T-71st 31 points

Power Play Goals 1st T-9th 9 goals

Power Play Points 1st T-21st 18 points

Hat Tricks T-1st T-8th 1 hat trick

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 355-199-92. 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 in his 27th season with the 'Cats. Red Berenson (Michigan) is in his 33rd season while Rick Gotkin (Mercyhurst) is in 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. Nick Nonis is the son of Dave Nonis, who was a two-year captain at Maine and the former General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks (2004-08) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (2013-15) and is currently the consultant to the GM for Anaheim.

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).

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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