University of New Hampshire Athletics
The celebration of Maddie Truax' OT goal is under way. (Jack Bouchard photo)
1/15/2020 4:48:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey, Women's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider
One Big Saturday Down, Another on The Way
DURHAM, N.H. – Three games. Three overtimes.
The University of New Hampshire women's basketball team took America East-leading Stony Brook to overtime last Saturday afternoon in Lundholm Gymnasium.
Across Main Street, the Wildcat women's and men's hockey teams proceeded to follow suit in the Whittemore Center.
While the women's basketball team ended up falling in its game to Stony Brook, the hockey teams rallied to win in their extra sessions.
Working overtime paid off for the skating Wildcats with key Hockey East victories on a wild, extended-time Saturday.
The teams picked up their winning goals in similar fashion: Each got a goal in the third minute of the five-minute overtime session, from a defenseman known more for defense than offense, from out in front of the net and through a little traffic.
Junior Maddie Truax scored the goal for the women 2:12 into overtime off an assist from Carlee Turner.
Sophomore Will MacKinnon got the winner for the men at 2:28 with Liam Blackburn and Eric MacAdams collecting assists.
For both Truax and MacKinnon, it was their first goal of the year and second of their career.
"I'm good for one a year so I thought I'd use it now," MacKinnon said with a laugh afterwards.
Players from both Wildcat teams rushed the ice and their teammates to celebrate the big wins.
In true what-have-you-done-for-me-lately fashion that is the nature of sports, players and their coaches were soon looking ahead to this weekend and an even more busy Saturday in Durham.
Six UNH teams compete in five home events between the Field House and the Whittemore Center on Saturday.
The women's and men's track & field teams compete in a track meet against Holy Cross beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the Paul Sweet Oval; the men's basketball team plays UMBC in Lundholm Gymnasium at 11:30 a.m.; women's hockey hosts Providence on Friday at 6 p.m. and then again Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Whitt; men's hockey faces Providence at the Whitt at 7; and gymnastics hosts Southern Utah in its first home meet of the season in Lundholm at 7.
Tickets for the basketball and hockey games and gymnastics meet are available at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling 603-862-4000. Group and individual game tickets – including a flexible, six-ticket mini-plan – are available for all UNH men's hockey home games. Tickets start at $9.
The women's hockey team will have a postgame autograph session Saturday.
The men's game that night will be presented by ABM and the first 1,000 fans will receive "I Believe in UNH" rally towels.
Hockey coaches Hilary Witt and Mike Souza loved the resiliency their teams showed in their OT wins, savored those victories and hope they lead to more this weekend and down the road.
"UConn is good," Witt said. "They're tough to play against. They're big. They're strong. They're disciplined. They're tough to score on. I was proud of our players to keep grinding it out."
The Wildcats bounced back nicely from a 4-0 loss at home to UConn on Friday night and stayed in the running for a home playoff series in the Hockey East tournament.
UNH is 11-9-2 overall and 8-7-1 in the league and stands two points out of fourth place and three out of third.
"To get the first goal of the weekend, late in overtime, you've got to have some patience and some grit and not panic," Witt said. "I felt we played real well today. Real gritty. When we show up and play 60 minutes we're really tough to beat. We've just got to keep playing. It's a tough league and everybody's good."
Sophomore Nikki Harnett made 32 saves for her first career shutout.
The Wildcats are a point ahead of Providence in the standings and two in front of Vermont heading into this weekend.
The UNH men set a team record with their fifth overtime win of the season against Northeastern. They are 8-1-0 at the Whittemore Center this season, which is tied for the third-best home winning percentage in the country.
"We showed great resiliency," Souza said. "We stuck with it. Credit to our kids. I thought each guy that was in the lineup tonight played a role in our victory and I was very proud of them. It's a good way to start Hockey East play in the second half."
The Wildcats led 3-1 going into the third period and Northeastern tied it with a couple of quick goals. Junior forward Kohei Sato scored to give UNH the lead again at 4-3, but the Huskies answered with another and it went to OT.
"We made it harder on ourselves obviously in the third period," Souza said. "You know they're going to push. They're so talented and have so much depth and they can beat you in so many ways."
Souza and assistant captain Charlie Kelleher talked to the team on the bench heading into OT.
"There was tension in the arena," Souza said. "You could feel it. We said we can't play with tension on the bench. We had to try play on our toes and establish a forecheck after that and I thought we did that."
Kelleher's message was the same.
"We said we're not going to sit on our heels and play for the tie," MacKinnon said. "Kelleher said we're going to play for the win here. I thought we were all over them in overtime."
They were. And soon they had their win, the second Wildcat OT win in a matter of about five hours on Whittemore Center ice.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
The University of New Hampshire women's basketball team took America East-leading Stony Brook to overtime last Saturday afternoon in Lundholm Gymnasium.
Across Main Street, the Wildcat women's and men's hockey teams proceeded to follow suit in the Whittemore Center.
While the women's basketball team ended up falling in its game to Stony Brook, the hockey teams rallied to win in their extra sessions.
Working overtime paid off for the skating Wildcats with key Hockey East victories on a wild, extended-time Saturday.
The teams picked up their winning goals in similar fashion: Each got a goal in the third minute of the five-minute overtime session, from a defenseman known more for defense than offense, from out in front of the net and through a little traffic.
Junior Maddie Truax scored the goal for the women 2:12 into overtime off an assist from Carlee Turner.
Sophomore Will MacKinnon got the winner for the men at 2:28 with Liam Blackburn and Eric MacAdams collecting assists.
For both Truax and MacKinnon, it was their first goal of the year and second of their career.
"I'm good for one a year so I thought I'd use it now," MacKinnon said with a laugh afterwards.
Players from both Wildcat teams rushed the ice and their teammates to celebrate the big wins.
In true what-have-you-done-for-me-lately fashion that is the nature of sports, players and their coaches were soon looking ahead to this weekend and an even more busy Saturday in Durham.
Six UNH teams compete in five home events between the Field House and the Whittemore Center on Saturday.
The women's and men's track & field teams compete in a track meet against Holy Cross beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the Paul Sweet Oval; the men's basketball team plays UMBC in Lundholm Gymnasium at 11:30 a.m.; women's hockey hosts Providence on Friday at 6 p.m. and then again Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Whitt; men's hockey faces Providence at the Whitt at 7; and gymnastics hosts Southern Utah in its first home meet of the season in Lundholm at 7.
Tickets for the basketball and hockey games and gymnastics meet are available at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling 603-862-4000. Group and individual game tickets – including a flexible, six-ticket mini-plan – are available for all UNH men's hockey home games. Tickets start at $9.
The women's hockey team will have a postgame autograph session Saturday.
The men's game that night will be presented by ABM and the first 1,000 fans will receive "I Believe in UNH" rally towels.
Hockey coaches Hilary Witt and Mike Souza loved the resiliency their teams showed in their OT wins, savored those victories and hope they lead to more this weekend and down the road.
"UConn is good," Witt said. "They're tough to play against. They're big. They're strong. They're disciplined. They're tough to score on. I was proud of our players to keep grinding it out."
The Wildcats bounced back nicely from a 4-0 loss at home to UConn on Friday night and stayed in the running for a home playoff series in the Hockey East tournament.
UNH is 11-9-2 overall and 8-7-1 in the league and stands two points out of fourth place and three out of third.
"To get the first goal of the weekend, late in overtime, you've got to have some patience and some grit and not panic," Witt said. "I felt we played real well today. Real gritty. When we show up and play 60 minutes we're really tough to beat. We've just got to keep playing. It's a tough league and everybody's good."
Sophomore Nikki Harnett made 32 saves for her first career shutout.
The Wildcats are a point ahead of Providence in the standings and two in front of Vermont heading into this weekend.
The UNH men set a team record with their fifth overtime win of the season against Northeastern. They are 8-1-0 at the Whittemore Center this season, which is tied for the third-best home winning percentage in the country.
"We showed great resiliency," Souza said. "We stuck with it. Credit to our kids. I thought each guy that was in the lineup tonight played a role in our victory and I was very proud of them. It's a good way to start Hockey East play in the second half."
The Wildcats led 3-1 going into the third period and Northeastern tied it with a couple of quick goals. Junior forward Kohei Sato scored to give UNH the lead again at 4-3, but the Huskies answered with another and it went to OT.
"We made it harder on ourselves obviously in the third period," Souza said. "You know they're going to push. They're so talented and have so much depth and they can beat you in so many ways."
Souza and assistant captain Charlie Kelleher talked to the team on the bench heading into OT.
"There was tension in the arena," Souza said. "You could feel it. We said we can't play with tension on the bench. We had to try play on our toes and establish a forecheck after that and I thought we did that."
Kelleher's message was the same.
"We said we're not going to sit on our heels and play for the tie," MacKinnon said. "Kelleher said we're going to play for the win here. I thought we were all over them in overtime."
They were. And soon they had their win, the second Wildcat OT win in a matter of about five hours on Whittemore Center ice.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Ice Hockey
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/ Women's Ice Hockey
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/ Men's Ice Hockey
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/ Men's Ice Hockey
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/ Men's Ice Hockey
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/ Men's Ice Hockey
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/ Women's Ice Hockey
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/ Women's Ice HockeySunday, October 18
Saturday, October 17
Friday, October 16
Thursday, October 15