Wildcats Head to Northeastern for Quarterfinal Round

Friday, February 23

Boston, MA

2 PM

University of New Hampshire

Northeastern University

Tickets

Tori Howran (Photo by Amanda Lee)

2/22/2018 12:16:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

The Wildcats, who are 1-2-0 against Northeastern this season, look to bounce back in the post-season.

2017-2018 New Hampshire Women's Ice Hockey
Friday, Feb. 23 (2:00 P.M.) / Saturday, Feb. 24 (2:00 P.M.) / Sunday, Feb. 25 (2:00 P.M.)
New Hampshire (14-13-7, 9-10-5 Hockey East) vs.
Northeastern (15-16-3, 11-11-2 Hockey East) Matthews Arena - Boston, Mass.
Women's Hockey East Quarterfinal Best of 3
WATCH | LIVE STATS | TICKETS | GAME NOTES

DURHAM, N.H. – The fifth-seeded University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team travels to fourth-seeded Northeastern for a best of three series at Matthews Arena Friday, Feb. 23. Both teams are coming off a loss in their regular season finales, just one point apart in the women's Hockey East standings.

The Matchup: Northeastern vs. New Hampshire
The Wildcats and the Huskies have met 139 times in their storied program histories, dating all the way back to the 70s. Most recently, the Wildcats took one game in the season series in an overtime thriller at the Whittemore Center, with the Huskies getting wins in both of their home games. In the post-season, UNH has a 8-6 record when facing Northeastern; since the formation of the Hockey East women's conference, the Wildcats and the Huskies are tied at 2-2 when facing each other in the post season, the most recent matchup being a best of three quarterfinal win for the Huskies in 2015.

The State of New Hampshire
• The Wildcats finished the first half of the season with a 9-6-5 overall record through 20 games; it was the teams' first winning record through 20 games since 2009-10, when the Wildcats had a .750 winning percentage, going 13-3-4.
• The Wildcats finish the regular season with a 14-13-7 overall record (.515 winning percentage), which is also the program's best record through the regular season since that 2009-10 season (.694).
• UNH has scored the first goal in 19 of 34 games this season; they are 11-3-5 in those games. In Hockey East games this season, UNH has scored the first goal in 13 of 24 games (8-0-3 record).
• New Hampshire has 10 skaters who have tallied at least 10 points on the season so far.
• The Wildcats are 9-2-0 when scoring three or more goals, and 5-11-7 when scoring less than three goals.
• UNH has 24 power play goals on a 16% power play efficiency. They have killed 115 of 136 penalties for a 84.6% penalty kill efficiency.
• The Wildcats average 4.4 power play chances per game give up 4.0 power play opportunities for their opponents per game.
• New Hampshire has outshot opponents by 38 shots in the third period (338-300). They have a slight lead in third period goals with 21 goals scored and 20 allowed in the third period.
• New Hampshire is 13-3-7 when holding opponents to less than three goals; only 11 times this season have opponents scored three or more goals (1-10-0 record in those games.)

Last Time Out
The Wildcats ended the regular season trading senior days with Boston University. The Wildcats fell by a score of 2-1 on Saturday on their senior day, and were blanked at Boston University on Sunday, 2-0. Both games were evenly mathced, with the shot totals only differentiating by three shots on Sunday (35-32 BU) and tying on Saturday (26-26). Saturday's late goal by Taylor Wenczkowski (Rochester, N.H.), assisted by the Carlee line, Carlee Turner (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Carlee Toews (Grand Prairie, Alberta) was the culmination of an agressive third period by the 'Cats, but they were unable to get the late equalizer.

'Cats in the Pro's
• Senior defensemen Amy Schlagel (Blaine, Minn.) and Julia Fedeski (Algonquin Highlands, Ontario) were both drafted to NWHL teams this offseason, Schlagel going 18th overall to the Buffalo Beauts, and Fedeski going 20th overall to the Boston Pride. They're the first two Wildcats to be drafted to a NWHL team before graduating.
• Fedeski has the third most points on the team with 17 points on seven goals and 10 assists. Six of her seven goals this season have come on the power play; two of her goals were game winners.
• Schlagel tallied a team-leading 11 goals for 15 total points, including seven power play goals and two game-winning goals, before her season was cut short due to injury.

Players to Watch
• Sophomore forward Meghara McManus has a team-high 19 points with 11 goals and eight assists. She had her second mutli-goal game of her career against Northeastern. She had an assist on the game-winning, short-handed goal to take down #8 Providence, and tallied the first goal in the victory over #3 BC.
• Sophomore forward Taylor Wenczkowski is also now at 19 points on the season after her goal against BU. She has 11 assists, third-best on the team, and has tallied eight goals. Four of her eight goals were power play goals. Wenczkowski also leads the team in conference points with 14.
• Sophomore forward Carlee Turner is the third and final Wildcat with a team-high 19 points after her game-winning tally at #3 BC and an assist against BU; She has nine goals and 10 assists on the season. Turner also has the team-lead in conference points at 14, tied with Wenczkowski.
• Sophomore forward Nicole Dunbar (Coto de Caza, Calif.) has 15 points on the season with seven goals and eight assists. Dunbar had the game-winning goal against Holy Cross, and most recently in overtime against Northeastern. She also tallied goals against Yale and Boston College.
• Senior forward Carlee Toews had a multi-assist game against Quinnipiac, and a game-winning assist at #3 BC, and is now up to 15 points on 13 assists, which now leads the team in assists. Of her three goals, two have been game winners, including a short-handed goal against #8 Providence.
• Sophomore defender Tori Howran (Bancroft, Ontario) has the team's second-most assists at 12, adding in 1 goal for 13 points on the season. Howran scored her first career goal this season in a 9-1 victory over Holy Cross.

Boutilier Gets the Start
Freshman goaltender Ava Boutilier (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) ended her first regular season with a 12-11-7 record, with a .928 save% and 2.10 GAA. Boutilier got her first career shutout against #8 Providence, and made 34 saves in a 2-1 victory against offensive powerhouse #3 BC.

Return of Smith
Junior goaltender Kyra Smith (Littleton, Colo.) got her first action of the season in December, starting two games with a 2-0-0 record and earning two straight Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week awards. Smith is 2-2-0 on the season with 104 saves and nine goals allowed for a .920 save percentage and 2.48 GAA.

Four-Time Player of the Week
After her win at #3 BC, Ava Boutilier was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season on Feb. 12. This comes after being named the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the week on Jan. 29, the previous week.

Rookie Making the Record Books
Ava Boutilier has already cracked the top two in UNH history for single-season saves. Ava is at 817 saves on the season, which is the second-most saves in a single season by a UNH goalie. The single-season record is 841 saves by Jen Huggon in 2001.

The Carlee Line
Forwards Carlee Turner and Carlee Toews have been linemates for 20 of UNH's 34 games, including nine of the last 10 games. In those games, those lines have produced 21 total points, including five goals from their third linemate. In those games, Toews has four points, Turner has 10 points, and the third linemate has seven. They've skated with Meghara McManus, Amy Schlagel, Nicole Dunbar, and Caitlyn Radatovich (Advance, N.C.).

Take It To Overtime
The Wildcats have played 10 overtime games this season; so far, they are undefeated in games that require an extra period, with a 3-0-7 record. They are outshooting opponents 27-23 in overtime.

Ranked Woes
UNH has a losing record (2-6-1) against ranked opponents this season; they are 12-7-6 against unranked opponents this season. The Wildcats got their first points of the season against a ranked opponent against #8 Providence, tying 2-2 and winning 1-0.

Another Playoff Appearance
The Wildcats appear in the Hockey East playoffs for the 15th time since the creation of the women's Hockey East conference. The Wildcats have a 12-13 record in the Hockey East playoffs, including four Hockey East Tournament championships.

Series Adjustments
The Wildcats have played 10 back-to-back series' this season; in the first games of a back-to-back series this year they are 2-3-5, but in the second game in back-to-back series they are 5-3-2. Since the implementation of the Best-of-3 series' in the Hockey East quarterfinal round, the Wildcats are 2-1 in Game One, but 0-3 in Game Two and 0-2 in Game Three.

Scouting Northeastern
The Huskies (Boston, Mass.) come into the quarterfinal round with a 2-3-0 record in their last five games, including victories over Vermont and Merrimack. The Huskies finished the regular season with a 15-16-3 overall record and an 11-11-2 Hockey East record. Northeastern is averaging 2.85 goals per game and allowing 2.71 goals per game this season, outshooting their opponents by 84 shots and outscoring them by five goals.
Northeastern is led by senior forward McKenna Brand who has a team-high 29 points and 13 goals. She has four power play goals and one game-winning goal this season. The Huskies have two players at 26 points, junior forward Kasidy Anderson (12g, 14a) and senior forward Veronika Pettey with a team-high 17 assists.
In net, junior goaltender Brittany Bugalski has started 22 of Northeastern's 34 games and has a 9-9-1 record. Bugalski has a .891 save% and a 2.95 GAA this season. Her backup, freshman Aerin Frankel, has started 12 games with a 6-7-2 record and all three of Northeastern's shut outs. She has a .930 save% and a 2.09 GAA.-