‘Cats Face #8 BU in Hockey East Quarterfinals

Friday, March 1

Boston, Mass.

7 P.M.

University of New Hampshire

Boston University

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Lauren Martin, MJ Pelletier, and Taylor Wenczkowski celebrate a goal. (Photo by Meghan Murphy)

2/27/2019 4:41:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

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UNH faces BU in a best-of-three series starting this Friday, March 1 at 7 P.M.

DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire enters the 2019 Hockey East playoffs as the #6 seed, facing off with the #3 seed, Boston University in the quarterfinal round beginning Friday, March 1.

The BU Terriers, currently ranked #8 in the nation, welcome the Wildcats to Walter Brown Arena for a best-of-three series, with game one taking place Friday evening at 7 P.M. Game two is slated for Saturday, March 2, at 3 P.M. Game three, if necessary, will be played Sunday, March 3, also at 3 P.M.

All of the weekend's games and all games in the Hockey East playoffs will be broadcast by FloSports on FloHockey.TV. Tickets are available through Boston University's website.

The Series: New Hampshire vs. Boston University
   The Wildcats and the Terriers have met 51 times in women's hockey, a series that dates all the way back to 1977. The Wildcats dropped the season series against BU this season, with a 0-2-1 record. UNH's last victory came in the 2016-17 Hockey East quarterfinals when the Wildcats took game one of the three-game series, 4-2. In the most recent meeting in Boston, the Wildcats came back from down a goal three times to tie the Terriers 3-3 at Agganis Arena. Junior Taylor Wenczkowski (Rochester, N.H.) tallied her first career hat trick in the contest.

Last Time Out:
   The 'Cats fell to a two goal deficit 15:52 into the first period vs. #7 Boston College this past Saturday at the Whittemore Center. Just under two minutes later, Carlee Turner (Scottsdale, Ariz.) notched a power-play goal to cut the lead to 2-1. Five minutes into the second period, Tori Howran (Bancroft, Ontario) made a stretch pass up into the neutral which Paige Rynne (Ancaster, Ontario) collected and scored tying the game at 2-2. UNH took its first lead of the day on a Taylor Wenczkowksi goal at 19:11 giving the 'Cats a 3-2 lead entering the second intermission. BC got the equalizer in the third and both teams held on for the 3-3 tie to end the regular season.

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 with a weekend sweep.
- 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 #9-ranked Friars. Riding that performance, the 'Cats swept Holy Cross and Maine in consecutive weekends to secure the team's first five-game win streak since 2010 and move up two spots in the conference standings.
- UNH had its winning streak snapped at #7 BC, and fell to Merrimack the following afternoon at home. The Wildcats fell back down two conference spots to a tie with UConn.
- The Wildcats come into the final three games of the regular season needing a point or some help to clinch a playoff berth. They got both, in a BC win over Maine, which was good enough to clinch a playoff spot, and a tie against BU on Saturday, which would've secured the spot without help.
- New Hampshire ended the regular season with a 3-3 tie with #7 BC, clinching the sixth seed in the Hockey East playoffs, and slating the 'Cats for a first round matchup with the third-seeded #8 Boston University Terriers.

Players to Watch
- Junior forward Taylor Wenczkowski now leads the team in points and goals, with 20 goals and 26 points. Wenczkowski has tallied four power play goals, five game-winning goals, and a short-handed goal. She notted her first career hat trick at #7 BU. Wenczkowski becomes the first Wildcat to tally 20 goals in a season since Jonna Curtis in the 2016-17 season.
- Fellow junior Meghara McManus is now second on the team in points with 19 after tallying her fifth multi-point game of the season against Maine. She has a team-second-best 11 goals, along with eight assists.
- Senior Devan Taylor (North Billerica, Mass.) is tied for third on the team in points with 17 after a two-goal, one assist performance against Maine. Taylor has three power play goals on the year, with two game-winners, and nine assists.
- Tied with Taylor is freshman Lauren Martin (Cambridge, Ontario). Martin now leads the team with 14 assists, and leads all UNH freshmen with 17 points. In Hockey East, Martin is tied for the ninth-highest scoring freshman.
- Juniors Carlee Turner (Scottsdale, Ariz.) has eight goals and seven assists on the year.
- Tori Howran (Bancroft, Ontario),Nicole Dunbar (Coto de Caza, Calif.) and senior captain Marie-Jo Pelletier (Dalhousie, New Brunswick) round out the top scorers at 14 points each. Howran has four goals and ten assists, while Dunbar has six goals and eight assists, including three power play goals. Pelletier is tied for second on the team with 11 assists, along with three 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 12-8-4 record since taking the starting job. Overall this season she has a .928 save% and a 2.11 GAA for a 12-10-4 record. Her save% is good for 14th-best in the nation, fourth-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.

Playoff Time
The Wildcats have not missed the playoffs since 2011; this will be their eighth straight trip to the Hockey East Quarterfinals. UNH is looking for its first playoff victory since 2017, when they defeated Boston University 4-2 in game one of their best-of-three series. The Wildcats have not made it to the semifinal round since 2009, and have yet to make it back since the best-of-three format was implimented in 2015.

Lucky Number 7
   New Hampshire played the number 7 team in the nation for the third weekend in a row; on February 8th they faced #7 Boston College in Conte Forum, and fell by a score of 7-1. The following weekend, February 16th and 17th, they faced the new #7, Boston University, taking a 3-3 tie on the road and a 2-1 loss at home. In the third meeting, February 23rd, the Eagles were back to #7 in the nation and the Wildcats overcame a 2-0 defecit to end the game in a 3-3 tie.

Super Juniors
   Redshirt junior Taylor Wenczkowski, and true juniors Meghara McManus, Nicole Dunbar, and Carlee Turner, have tallied a total of 45 of UNH's 75 goals (60% of team total), and 74 of the teams 191 points (39% of team total).

   The entire junior class has tallied 50 goals (66%) and 92 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 on January 5, and her four-point weekend against Maine, Taylor Wenczkowski was named the Hockey East Player of the Week on two occasions this season (January 7th | February 4). The accolades are the first two weekly awards 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. Smith has tallied two shut outs on the season, four in her career.

Down (A Player) But Not Out
   When playing on the penalty kill this season, the Wildcats have stopped 87.6% of opponent's power play attempts, which ranks eighth-best in the nation. The Wildcats have allowed just 13 power play goals this season, on 105 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 (Bancroft, Ontario) 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 #8 BU
- The Terriers (Boston, Mass.) come into the weekend as the #8 team in the nation and the third seed in the conference tournament.
- BU has an overall record of 19-7-8, and are 15-6-6 in Hockey East play. In home games this year, BU is 7-4-5.
- The Terriers ended their regular season with a 2-1 loss at Providence.
- That loss snapped a 14 game unbeaten streak that dated back to January 6th.
- Junior Sammy Davis leads all Terriers in goals with 23; she's second on the team in assists(24) and points (47).
- Sophomore Jesse Compher has a team-high 55 points, and leads the team with 38 assists.
- The go-to starter in net for BU is sophomore Corinne Schroeder with an 1.85 GAA, and a .936 save%. She has a 16-6-7 in 29 starts on the year, with two shutouts.

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