‘Cats Open Up the Regular Season at #10 St. Lawrence on ESPN+

Friday, October 5

Canton, N.Y.

6 PM

University of New Hampshire

St. Lawrence

Carlee Turner (Photo by Audrey Powell)

Photo by: Audrey Powell

‘Cats Open Up the Regular Season at #10 St. Lawrence on ESPN+

10/4/2018 12:39:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

New Hampshire faces off in a two game series: Friday at 6 PM, Saturday at 1PM.

New Hampshire (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WHEA) at St. Lawrence (1-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC)
Friday, October 5 • Appleton Arena - Canton, N.Y. • 6 P.M.
Saturday, October 6 • Appleton Arena - Canton, N.Y. • 1 P.M.
ESPN+ (Fri.) | ESPN+ (Sat.) | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES

DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team kicks off the 2018-19 season with a two game series at #10 St. Lawrence University Friday, October 5 and Saturday, October 6. The Wildcats face the Saints 6 PM on Friday and 1 PM on Saturday. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.

The Series: New Hampshire vs. St. Lawrence
The Wildcats and the Saints have a storied history featuring five playoff meetings out of 47 total. This old ECAC rivalry reignites after a five year hiatus, the last matchup occurring in 2013, which ended in a 1-1-0 series split between the two teams at St. Lawrence.
The Wildcats hold the all-time series lead with a record of 29-13-5. When playing on the road, UNH is 10-9-4 in this series.

The State Of New Hampshire
- New Hampshire was picked seventh in the Hockey East preseason poll released on September 20th. The Wildcats finished fifth in Hockey East in the 2017-18 regular season.
- From last year's roster, the Wildcats return 20 players with six newcomers. Despite losing five starters, UNH returns their three top scorers from the 2017-18 season. The group of juniors Meghara McManus (Milton, Mass.), Carlee Turner (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Taylor Wenczkowski (Rochester, N.H.) led the team last season with 20 points each.
- Also among those returning are goaltenders Ava Boutilier (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) and Kyra Smith (Littleton, Colo.). Boutilier had a breakout season her freshman year, breaking the UNH record for saves made in a single season (886) and backstopped the 'Cats in 32 of their 36 games played last season. Boutilier finished her freshman season with a 12-13-7 record. Smith saw action in the other four starts last season with a 2-2-0 record, with big wins over Northeastern and UConn in which she made 29 and 27 saves, respectively.

The Captains
Seniors Marie-Jo Pelletier (Dalhousie, New Brunswick) and Kyra Smith will serve as the team's two captains this season. Pelletier leads the team in career assists with 27, while Smith holds a .900 career save percentage and two shut outs in 41 career games played.

Scouting St. Lawrence
- The Saints (Canton, N.Y.) are already two games deep into their 2018-19 campaign. They split their first weekend at Robert Morris, winning 2-0 and losing 3-2.
- Justine Reyes posted 2 goals at RMU. Rachael Smith and Natalie Wozney scored one each.
- Goaltender Grace Harrison shutout Robert Morris in game one, making 25 saves. In game two, Sonjia Shelly stopped 18 of 21 posting a .857 save percentage.
- Last season, the Saints boasted a 20-11-4 record, including a 10-5-1 home record.
- Reyes lead the team in goals and assists (17g, 23 a, 40p). Kennedy Marchment (16g, 24a, 40p) was second and Hannah Miller (13g, 26a, 39p) was third.
- Harrison and Shelly split time in net last year. Harrison played 19 games (1144 minutes) and posted a 1.94 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. Shelly played 16 games (958 minutes) and posted a 1.88 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.

Starting Out Strong
Last season, UNH started out the year strong with a 9-6-5 record through their first 20 games; it was the first winning record the team had through 20 games since 2009-10. The 'Cats were averaging almost three goals per game (2.80) during that stretch.

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