Border War Comes to the Whitt Saturday and Sunday for Whiteout Weekend

DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team, riding a three-game winning streak, face off with state-line rivals, the Maine Black Bears, in a two-game series this Saturday and Sunday at the Whittemore Center.

The two teams, tied with 17 points in the Hockey East standings, are vying for playoff positioning as they begin the last month of regular season play.

The two games will take place Saturday, February 2 and Sunday, February 3, and will wrap up the season series between the two schools, having already played one game back in October. Both puck drop times are at 2 P.M.

The Wildcats are coming off a weekend sweep of Holy Cross, winning 4-1 at home and 3-1 on the road. Maine had a three-point weekend as they hosted UConn and took a 5-1 victory in game one and skated to a 0-0 tie in game two.

Whiteout Weekend:
This year marks the 20th anniversary of White Out The Whitt. This season the Whiteout tradition spreads to the whole weekend with six total events including men's and women's hockey, women's basketball, and gymnastics. For tickets, call (603) 862-4000 or visit UNHWildcats.com.

The Series: New Hampshire vs. Maine
   The Border War between Maine and New Hampshire has taken seen 60 meetings in women's hockey dating all the way back to 1999. Earlier this season, the Wildcats fell to the Black Bears in Orono by a score of 5-3. The Wildcats are 40-13-7 all-time when playing the Black Bears, and 22-7-3 at the Whittemore Center. The last time the two teams met at the Whitt, the Wildcats edged out the Black Bears 2-1. Maine has won the most previous two matchups in the series.

Last Time Out:
   UNH faced off with Holy Cross in a two-game home-and-home series with the Crusaders last Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The Wildcats got off to a slow start Saturday, not scoring until the second period, but switched gears in the third period tallying three goals for the second game in a row.
   On Sunday UNH opened up the scoring earlier and led by a score of 3-0 by the second intermission. The Crusaders got a late goal in both games to prevent the shutout. Top scorers from the weekend were junior Meghara McManus (Milton, Mass.) who tallied a two-point effort on Sunday with the game-winning goal and an assist, senior Jenna Rheault (Deering, N.H.) who posted a career-high effort on Saturday with three assists, and several other Wildcats whom tallied a point in each game.

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.
- The 'Cats started off the season with an even 1-1-1 record after their home opener, losing and tying to #10 St. Lawrence to open the season, then beating UConn 5-3 to open up Hockey East play 1-0 for the first time since 2010-11.
- The Wildcats then faced a nine-game winless streak, facing ranked foe Northeastern in their three-game season series, and going 0-2-1 against Vermont.
- UNH snapped their winless drought with a 4-1 victory over Holy Cross just before Thanksgiving break.
- From that Holy Cross victory, the Wildcats then went on a nine game unbeaten streak (7-0-2) with wins over conference foes Merrimack and Boston College, and ECAC foes Dartmouth, Rensselaer and Yale.
- The unbeaten streak included two straight come-from-behind third period rallies, trailing 2-1 against Boston College (won 3-2) and trailing 3-2 at Yale (won 4-3).
- The Wildcats had their unbeaten streak snapped in mid-January by the UConn Huskies, who took the season series 2-1-0.
- After dropping the first game of the Providence series by a score of 4-0, the 'Cats bounced back and snapped their losing streak with a 5-0 victory over the Friars. Riding that performance, the 'Cats swept Holy Cross to keep their playoff hopes alive and move into a tie with Maine in seventh place.

Players to Watch
- Junior forward Taylor Wenczkowski (Rochester, N.H.) now leads the team in points after a red-hot January where tallied a team-high six goals. She holds the team-lead in goals with 13, with four power play goals, three game-winning goals, and a short-handed goal. She holds the team-high in points with 16. Wenczkowski holds the longest point streak of the season for UNH, seven points in four games.
- Fellow junior Meghara McManus is now second on the team in points with 14 after her two-point game at Holy Cross. It was her fourth multi-point game of the season and the 11th of her career (most on the team). McManus and Wenczkowski also lead the team in multi-goal games with two this season, and four total in their careers.
- Four skaters are tied for the third-higest point total on the team, 13. Junior Carlee Turner (Scottsdale, Ariz.), after a two-goal weekend, is now at seven goals and six assists; Junior Nicole Dunbar (Coto de Caza, Calif.) has six goals, including three power play goals, and seven assists on the year; Senior captain Marie-Jo Pelletier (Dalhousie, New Brunswick) is also at 13 points with a team-high 10 assists; Freshman Lauren Martin (Cambridge, Ontario) is also at 10 assists and three goals after tallying one of each against Holy Cross this past weekend;
- Senior Devan Taylor (North Billerica, Mass.) rounds out the top scoreres with 12 points on five goals, seven assists. She has three power play goals and two game-winning goals on the year.

Mind the Net
   Senior captain Kyra Smith (Littleton, Colo.) has been the go-to starter in net for UNH and has a 10-5-2 record since taking the starting job. Overall this season she has a .939 save% and a 1.79 GAA for a 10-7-2 record. Her save% is good for seventh-best in the nation, second-best in the conference.
   Sophomore Ava Boutilier (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) returned for her second season after setting a new record for saves in a single season (886) in her rookie year. Boutilier held a 1-5-2 record this season, with a .924 save% and a 2.23 GAA, before her season was cut short due to injury.

Super Juniors
The four top scorers for UNH this season have been redshirt-junior Taylor Wenczkowski, and true juniors Meghara McManus, Nicole Dunbar, and Carlee Turner. Those four have tallied a total of 35 of UNH's 58 goals (60% of team total), and 57 of the teams 145 points (39% of team total).

The entire junior class has tallied 38 goals (65%) and 70 points (48%).

Rheault Goes to the Pride
Senior defender Jenna Rheault (Deering, N.H.) was selected 25th overall by the Boston Pride in the 2018 NWHL draft on Thursday, December 20, 2018. She becomes the third active Wildcat to be drafted to an NWHL team.

For the 2017-18 season, Rheault was awarded the team's Sue Merz 7th Player award for her clutch defensive play in key situations and on the penalty kill. Rheault was a crucial member of the Wildcats' penalty kill that only allowed 23 power-play goals in the 2017-18 season.

"I am very proud of Jenna," says head coach Hilary Witt. "She is a great person, teammate and hockey player. Her work ethic and commitment to excellence on the ice, in the weight room and in the classroom has propelled her to this achievement."

Wenczkowski Wins Weekly Honors
For her two-goal performance against #10 Boston College, Taylor Wenczkowski was named the Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday, January 7th. The honor is UNH's first weekly award all season, and the first weekly award for Wenczkowski in her career.
Smith Stops Them All
For her 41-save shutout over #9 Providence, along with her 22-save performance in Friday's loss, Kyra Smith was named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, January 21. It was Smith's fifth career weekly accolade from the Hockey East conference, and UNH's second of the year.

Down (A Player) But Not Out
When playing on the penalty kill this season, the Wildcats have stopped 89.4% of opponent's power play attempts, which ranks fourth-best in the nation. The Wildcats have allowed just nine power play goals this season, on 85 attempts.

Goalies Are Skaters, Too
Kyra Smith is the first UNH goaltender to record a point since Lindsey Minton in the 2010-11 season. Smith assisted on the game-winning goal at Yale, as she sent her save to Taylor Wenczkowski, who passed up-ice to Lauren Martin, who then sent a drop-pass back to Wenczkowski for the goal.

Lindsey Minton's assist came in a 4-1 victory over Union on October 16, 2010. She was the lone assist on an empty-net goal.

Historic Streak
The Wildcats were unbeaten through a nine game stretch, having not lost from November 10, 2018 at #6 Northeastern up until January 11th at UConn. They had a 7-0-2 record in that stretch, which was the longest unbeaten streak for the team since the 2007-08 season, when they went unbeaten through 19 games on their way to the women's Frozen Four.

In the streak, the Wildcats outscored opponents 27-15, led by Taylor Wenczkowski who had seven goals and four assists in the streak. Meghara McManus had five goals, two assists in the streak, and was one of four Wildcats with seven points in the streak. Tori Howran had a team-high six assists during the run.

In net, Kyra Smith made 220 saves and allowed just 15 goals, for a .936 save% and 1.64 GAA.

Scouting Maine
-The Black Bears (Orono, Maine) come into the weekend series at the Whittemore Center with an overall record of 14-10-3 and an away record of 6-6-1. The Black Bears in conference record this season hold a 7-10-3 record.
- The last two games for UMaine were a double header against the University of Connecticut at home. On Jan. 25 the Black Bears beat UConn 5-1 and then on Jan. 26 they tied 0-0.
- The Black Bears are averaging 2.6 goals and 30 shots per game, and their shot percentage this season is .086 this season. They have a .122 power play conversion percentage, and 4.7 penalties per games. The opposition is averaging 1.8 goals and 23.7 shots per game, opposition has a .077 shot percentage. Opposition has a .165 power play conversion percentage and averages 3.7 penalties per game.
- Junior Tereza Vanisova is second for the Black Bears in points with 21 (15G,6A). She leads UMaine in goals and plus/minus with 15 goals and a +15 +/-.
- Freshmen Celine Tedenby is first for Maine in points with 23 (10G,13A). Tedenby is second on the team in goals with 10 but leads the team in assists with 13. She is second on the team in penalties with 17 so far this season. She is fourth for the Black Bears in shot percentage with a .161 and third in total shots with 62.
- In net, the Black Bears have looked to junior netminder Carly Jackson in 21 of their 27 starts. Jackson holds a 9-9-3 record with a team-high .932 save% and a 1.75 GAA. Jackson saw all the action in last weekend's UConn series, where she posted her third shutout of the season.
- In the other six starts and in one relief appearance, sophomore Loryn Porter has been between the pipes; she holds a season record of 5-1-0, a .907 save%, and a team-best 1.64 GAA. Porter's last action came against UConn on November 10th.

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