Insider Report: Five More Games - And Then What? - University of New Hampshire Athletics

DURHAM, N.H. – Five games.

The University of New Hampshire men's hockey team is guaranteed only five more games, starting with a pair of 7 p.m. battles against No. 12 Northeastern University on Friday and Saturday nights at the Whittemore Center.

Information on individual and group tickets for the Northeastern games, each of which features giveaways and promotions, is available by CHECKING HERE and by calling 603-862-4000.

What remains to be determined – based in part on what happens these next five games, a stretch that also includes a home and home next weekend with No. 14 UMass Lowell and a regular season finale on Friday, March 8 at Northeastern – is where and when the 2018-19 season actually comes to a close?

Will it be in Durham? In another Hockey East city, say Boston? In Manchester? Perhaps even in Buffalo, N.Y.?

The latter two options would involve the Wildcats advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2012-13 season.

With all due respect to taking things practice-by-practice and shift-by-shift and game-by-game, a team and its fandom are allowed to dream a little, are they not?

"I think you'd be crazy if that doesn't sit in the back of your head," said UNH senior forward Chris Miller. "We've talked about it a little bit, just as a senior class about how special it is. . . . We kind of have that unique opportunity as a senior class to elongate our careers so to speak. It's always kind of in the back of your head. But we've got to keep taking it day by day."

To be sure, that's the message first-year coach Mike Souza and his staff have preached from the start.

"The most important thing for us is to be playing our best hockey down the stretch," Souza said.

The first goal is to grab one of the eight spots in the Hockey East tournament – this year, for the first time, three teams will be left out of the playoffs.

"This five-game stretch is a great opportunity for us to play some good hockey and hopefully get into the tournament of eight," Souza said. "And then anything can happen. Why not us? That's a good slogan, though a little bit overused, I think, at times. I want our guys to realize the opportunity that's out there in front of them. But the only way to get there is take it one day at a time. I truly believe that. As boring as it sounds, I really believe it's served our team well this year."

So Souza and the Wildcats take aim at Friday's game against Northeastern. After that, they'll start thinking about Saturday night.

"The only thing we're planning is practice today and to be prepared to play Northeastern and hopefully we play well this weekend and give ourselves an opportunity to play beyond the regular season," Souza said. "That's what we're all chasing."

The Wildcats hold down the No. 8 spot in the standings going into the weekend and can clinch a berth in the tournament as early as Friday.

They are still in the running for a top four spot in the standings. The top four teams will host a quarterfinal best-of-three series March 15-17. The winners in the quarterfinals advance to the semifinals at Boston Garden.

UNH is five points behind UMass Lowell and Providence, who are tied for second place, and four behind Northeastern, which is in fourth place. The Wildcats trail fifth-place Boston College by two points and are a point behind Boston University and Maine, who are tied for sixth.

A strong finish to the regular season and a deep run in the Hockey East playoffs would also move UNH up in the PairWise rankings, the system that mimics how the NCAA selects at-large teams for the NCAA tournament.

The Wildcats were tied for No. 24 in the PairWise with Michigan as of Thursday afternoon. They were the fifth Hockey East team in the PairWise behind Massachusetts, tied for No. 1, Northeastern at No. 11, Providence at No. 12 and UMass Lowell at No. 14.

The NCAA Northeast Regionals return to SNHU Arena in Manchester this season and will be hosted by UNH on Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30.

Four teams will be sent to each of four regionals – the Eastern Regional is in Providence, R.I. – around the country.

The four regional winners advance to the Frozen Four in Buffalo, April 11-13.

All of which, of course, is far down the road.

"The NCAA tournament is a carrot for everyone," Souza said. "I think we can't get too far ahead of ourselves. I just want to make sure we get into the eight-team format we have here in our league. Then hopefully we have an opportunity to get into that tournament. It's funny. If you play well at the right time of the year, good things can happen for you and that's our goal."

This weekend, it's all about Northeastern.

The Huskies are 19-9-1 overall and 11-7-1 in Hockey East.

They have won their last three games. They knocked off Boston University, 4-2, to win the Beanpot tournament on Feb. 11 and last week swept Vermont at home, 4-1 and 2-1.

HOME AGAIN

UNH's next three games are at the Whittemore Center.
The Wildcats are 8-4-2 at the Whitt this year.
The Wildcats play Northeastern at home on Friday and Saturday. Both games are at 7 p.m.
Hot dogs will be $1 at concession stands both nights.
Friday's game against Northeastern is '80s Night at the Whitt.
As part of Fan Appreciation Friday, the sixth and final set of player trading cards will be given to the first 1,000 fans.
Saturday night is Star Wars Night.
The first 500 fans will receive blue light sabers and Star Wars Troopers will be in attendance for photos.
Friday's game is on NESNPlus and Saturday's is on NESN.
UNH's last home games were White out the Whitt games against Maine on Feb. 1 and 2.
The Wildcats won 3-2 in overtime in front of 6,152 on Friday.
They lost 5-3 in front of a sellout crowd of 6,501 on Saturday night.
The final regular season home game is Friday, March 1 vs. UMass Lowell at 7 p.m.
The remaining road games are at UMass Lowell on Saturday, March 2 and at Northeastern on Friday, March 8.
Individual and group tickets for UNH home games are available by calling 603-862-4000 or at www.unhwildcats.com.
UNH is hosting the 2019 NCAA Men's Hockey Northeast Regional at the SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H., on Friday and Saturday, March 29-30.

WILDCAT NOTES

Souza said sophomore forward Patrick Grasso is likely to miss the weekend series after a minor procedure to deal with a medial issue.
The Wildcats are 11-10-8 overall and 7-7-5 in Hockey East.
Northeastern beat UNH twice last season in late February, 8-0 in Boston and 4-0 in Durham.
The three games between the teams before that were ties.
Junior defenseman Jeremy Davies leads Northeastern in scoring with five goals and 20 assists for 25 points.
Sophomore goalie Cayden Primeau is second in the league in save percentage at .926.
He's sixth in goals against at 2.26.
UNH forward Angus Crookshank is tied for fifth among Hockey East freshmen in scoring with nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points.
Sophomore goalie Mike Robinson is tied for fourth in the league in both save percentage (.923) and goals against average (2.25).
He has four shutouts for the season, all in his last 13 starts.
He has three shutouts in his last eight starts.
The Wildcats are second in the league on the power play (20.4 percent). They are fourth in penalty kill (84.7).

OFFICIAL UNH GEAR:

Check out UNHShop.com for the latest in official UNH Wildcats' merchandise.

Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Insider Report: Five More Games - And Then What?

Players Mentioned

Angus Crookshank

Patrick Grasso

Chris Miller

Mike Robinson