Insider Report: Building Off the Positives

Junior defenseman Anthony Wyse has been a Wildcat leader all season.

Defenseman Anthony Wyse is due to return for his senior season for the Wildcats.

Photo by: Jess Speechley

3/24/2019 3:52:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider

By: Allen Lessels

DURHAM, N.H. – University of New Hampshire men's hockey coach Mike Souza and his staff got an early jump on recruiting last week.

Souza, assistant coaches Glenn Stewart and Jeff Giuliano and the team would have much preferred to have practiced and competed in the championship rounds of the Hockey East tournament at Boston Garden.

They would have preferred to be excitedly waiting for Sunday night's NCAA Selection Show to see – among other things – which four teams will be assigned to the Northeast Regional to be played at SNHU Arena on Friday and Saturday, hosted by UNH.

Instead, Stewart and Giuliano hit the road to recruit and Souza met the media Wednesday for a season wrap-up session and discussion of his inaugural season that was a bit of a roller coaster ride featuring plenty of positives and ideally set things in motion for a further climb up the Hockey East standings.

The Wildcats jumped up a couple of spots in the rankings this season, finishing eighth after not being higher than 10^th the last few seasons. They grabbed the final spot in the league playoffs in the first season that not all 11 teams were invited.

They played in a program record 14 overtime games and a dozen of their games were decided by one goal.

"We got points in 21 of our 36 games, which I think is a step in the right direction," Souza said. "Last year, we lost a lot of those close games and I'd like to think we moved the needle a little bit this year in terms of being in more games. It shows me we're close."

Five of this year's top scorers are eligible to return for next season and three of them – Liam Blackburn and Brendan van Riemsdyk, who will be seniors, and sophomore-to-be Angus Crookshank scored 10 goals this season.

Souza said there will be four or five freshmen coming in, including forward Chase Stevenson, who had 19 goals and 34 assists for 53 points in 57 regular season games for the Trail Smoker Eaters of the British Columbia Hockey League this year.

The best news may have been that Souza said he expects defensemen Anthony Wyse and Max Gildon back. Both were considered candidates to move on and play professionally. Wyse will be a senior and Gildon a junior.

There are other plusses among returners. Patrick Grasso, who missed all of last season and some time this season with injuries, is due back.

Goalie Mike Robinson had five shutouts during the season and will return for his junior year with Ty Taylor back as a sophomore.

Then there's center Filip Engaras. A center out of Stockholm, Sweden, he joined the team last fall and practiced with the Wildcats all season. The hope was he would be able to play this season, but the NCAA ruled that he had to sit it out because of the teams he had played with back home. Engaras chose to stay in school and with the team and will help next season.

"He's a big part of our program," Souza said. "It's a testament to his character as a kid. He's been the captain of every team he's ever played on for a reason. We have a small sample size of why. It was a situation where we weren't sure how he was going to react to and the fact he wants to stay is huge for us."

Engaras is 6-foot and 190 pounds and had 28 goals and 28 assists for 56 points in 93 games with Sweden's under-20 team.

"He's a cerebral player," Souza said. "I think he's a two-way player, a 200-foot player. Those were always the reports on him. He's good on faceoffs. Responsible. He's just a really, really solid hockey player. As the year went on this year, we grew to appreciate him even more. Even at practice, having the ability to understand concepts and make plays and be responsible defensively. He gives us some size in the middle of the ice too, which is nice."

Engaras and the rest will be out to get the Wildcats back to winning seasons and the Hockey East championships round at the TD Garden and into the NCAA tournament.

This season, agreed outgoing captain Marcus Vela, got things headed toward those goals.

"I think the team's in a good spot for next year and the years coming," Vela said. "I thought coach Souza did a great job along with coach Stewart and coach Giuliano. I think they're in good hands with those three guys at the helm. A lot of young guys played who are going to be here again next year so that's a positive. They've just got to take what they did this year and move forward."

The season ended abruptly with a couple of losses last weekend to UMass, ranked in the top three in the country throughout the second half of the season.

But that series had its positives, too.

In the Friday night opener, the Wildcats owned leads of 3-0 and 4-2 over the Minutemen and eventually went to double overtime with them. The tough part was they were unable to hold on and pull out a win.

"It was a dagger when we ended up losing that one," Vela said. "It just shows what we can do and the kind of players we have here for the years to come."

THE NCAAs

UNH is hosting the 2019 NCAA Men's Hockey Northeast Regional at the SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H., on Friday and Saturday.
Four teams will be sent to each of four regionals around the country.
The four regional winners advance to the Frozen Four in Buffalo, April 11-13.
The East Regional is in Providence, R.I., on March 30-31; the Midwest is in Allentown, Pa., on March 30-31; and the West is in Fargo, N.D. on March 29-30.
The 16-team field for the 2019 NCAA tournament will be announced Sunday, March 24 on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m.

AN EARLY LOOK AHEAD

A pair of early home games against Michigan will be among the featured contests next year.
UNH plays Dartmouth at home.
The Wildcats will participate for the first time in the Friendship Four tournament in Belfast, Northern Island over Thanksgiving weekend.
UNH plays Northeastern in a first-round game Nov. 29.
Colgate plays Princeton in the other.
Championship and consolation games will be played the next day.
Road games include opening at the University of Miami in Ohio and playing at Army West Point.

WILDCAT NOTES

The Wildcats finished this season with an overall record of 12-15-9.
They were 8-10-6 in Hockey East during the regular season.
Blackburn led the team with 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points.
Crookshank (10-13-23) and senior forward Ara Nazarian (12-11-23) were close behind.
Gildon (6-15-21) and sophomore forward Charlie Kelleher (3-18-21) were two points back.
Freshman Jackson Pierson was at 8-11-19.
The Wildcats went 1-6-4 to start the season.
They were 1-6-1 in their final eight games.
In between, they had a 10-3-4 mark.