University of New Hampshire Athletics
Goalie Mike Robinson made 27 saves in a 3-1 win over UMass on Nov. 10. (Andrew Yourell photo)
1/23/2020 4:49:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider
'Cats Take Aim at Hockey East Leader. Again
DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire men's hockey team takes on the No. 1 team in Hockey East this weekend. Yes, you have heard and read that before.
This is the third straight weekend that the Wildcats have taken on the team sitting atop the Hockey East standings.
UNH travels to Amherst to face the University of Massachusetts on Friday night at 7 in the Mullins Center.
The teams meet Saturday at the same time in the Whittemore Center in Durham in a Family Night Hockey event that will start with a spaghetti dinner and other activities and is being presented by EnviroVantage.
Tickets are available by CLICKING HERE or by calling 603-862-4000. Group and individual game tickets – including a flexible, six-ticket mini-plan – are available for all UNH home games. Tickets start at $9.
The Minutemen are 16-7-1 overall and at 9-4-1 in Hockey East play have a one-point edge on Boston College and Providence, who are tied for second place.
UNH goes into the weekend at 12-9-1 overall and is in eighth place in the league with a 6-6-0 mark, two points behind Boston University and Connecticut, who are tried for sixth.
In short, the league standings are as tight as ever.
"Our schedule's tough as of late but you come to expect it in Hockey East," said UNH coach Mike Souza. "There are no easy games. Right up and down the league standings. It doesn't matter who you play. I think you see that with the parity in our league. It's such a logjam from first place right on down the line. I would imagine that's the way it's going to stay through the rest of the year."
Souza's team is down to an even dozen games left in the regular season.
Only eight teams make the Hockey East playoffs and UNH enters the weekend looking to move up in the standings. The Wildcats have played a role in the recent shuffling at the top.
They beat Northeastern, 5-4 in overtime, to knock the Huskies out of first place on Jan. 11. Providence was at the top last week until the Wildcats stopped the Friars, 4-3, last Friday on the road. Both Providence and Northeastern were ranked No. 11 in the country at the time of the games. Providence won the rematch with UNH, 5-1, at the Whitt on Saturday night.
Now comes UMass, which is up to No. 7 in the country and following up nicely on its breakout season last year. The Minutemen, led by sophomore defensemen Cale Makar and Mario Ferraro, went 31-10-0 last season and advanced for the first time to the national championship game.
Makar is leading NHL rookies in scoring with 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points and Ferraro is a regular on the blueline with the San Jose Sharks these days.
UMass meanwhile is looking to repeat as Hockey East regular season champion and win its first league tournament title (the Minutemen lost in the semifinals last year to Boston College).
"They still have some good players, key players that they had last year," said junior defenseman Max Gildon. "It's going to be a fun battle. We're looking forward to it. They ended our season last year. We got them back once at our place here. Hopefully we can finish out the season series on a good note."
The Wildcats took UMass to double overtime before losing the first game of their Hockey East quarterfinal match last year and then falling in the two-game series.
UNH posted a 3-1 win over UMass in the Whittemore Center on Nov. 10. Gildon scored the winning goal on the power play in that game and junior Mike Robinson had 27 saves.
The Minutemen feature an up-tempo style of play and lead the league at just two goals allowed per game. Goalies Filip Lindberg and Matt Murray have split time and both have put up impressive numbers: Lindberg has a .929 save percentage and 1.93 goals against average and Murray is at .920 and 1.83.
"We know they're going to come guns blazing," said UNH junior forward Charlie Kelleher. "They're going to be flying so we have to match their intensity and we know that. Two points on the line every game. Hopefully we come out with those two points."
Souza praises Massachusetts coach Greg Carvel and his staff for the team's turnaround and its style of play.
"One thing I think they do a real good job with is on their forecheck and how active their defensemen are," Souza said. "They create a lot of confrontation in their offensive zone, our defensive zone, especially on the wall. They have mobile defensemen and smart defensemen. He allows them to make reads and play on their toes. . . . They're allowed to transition the puck, go with four guys in the attack. Any team that does that because they have a mobile defensive group poses a lot of threats."
Souza likes the confidence his team gained from close early wins over the likes of UMass, No. 2 at the time, and No. 15 Boston College and the stretch the team has been on since the new year began, winning four straight before the loss to Providence.
"You don't know what you have until the second half, the middle of January, into February," Souza said. "I like the direction that we're heading in, but you have to keep that momentum going."
HOME AGAIN
WILDCAT NOTES
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
This is the third straight weekend that the Wildcats have taken on the team sitting atop the Hockey East standings.
UNH travels to Amherst to face the University of Massachusetts on Friday night at 7 in the Mullins Center.
The teams meet Saturday at the same time in the Whittemore Center in Durham in a Family Night Hockey event that will start with a spaghetti dinner and other activities and is being presented by EnviroVantage.
Tickets are available by CLICKING HERE or by calling 603-862-4000. Group and individual game tickets – including a flexible, six-ticket mini-plan – are available for all UNH home games. Tickets start at $9.
The Minutemen are 16-7-1 overall and at 9-4-1 in Hockey East play have a one-point edge on Boston College and Providence, who are tied for second place.
UNH goes into the weekend at 12-9-1 overall and is in eighth place in the league with a 6-6-0 mark, two points behind Boston University and Connecticut, who are tried for sixth.
In short, the league standings are as tight as ever.
"Our schedule's tough as of late but you come to expect it in Hockey East," said UNH coach Mike Souza. "There are no easy games. Right up and down the league standings. It doesn't matter who you play. I think you see that with the parity in our league. It's such a logjam from first place right on down the line. I would imagine that's the way it's going to stay through the rest of the year."
Souza's team is down to an even dozen games left in the regular season.
Only eight teams make the Hockey East playoffs and UNH enters the weekend looking to move up in the standings. The Wildcats have played a role in the recent shuffling at the top.
They beat Northeastern, 5-4 in overtime, to knock the Huskies out of first place on Jan. 11. Providence was at the top last week until the Wildcats stopped the Friars, 4-3, last Friday on the road. Both Providence and Northeastern were ranked No. 11 in the country at the time of the games. Providence won the rematch with UNH, 5-1, at the Whitt on Saturday night.
Now comes UMass, which is up to No. 7 in the country and following up nicely on its breakout season last year. The Minutemen, led by sophomore defensemen Cale Makar and Mario Ferraro, went 31-10-0 last season and advanced for the first time to the national championship game.
Makar is leading NHL rookies in scoring with 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points and Ferraro is a regular on the blueline with the San Jose Sharks these days.
UMass meanwhile is looking to repeat as Hockey East regular season champion and win its first league tournament title (the Minutemen lost in the semifinals last year to Boston College).
"They still have some good players, key players that they had last year," said junior defenseman Max Gildon. "It's going to be a fun battle. We're looking forward to it. They ended our season last year. We got them back once at our place here. Hopefully we can finish out the season series on a good note."
The Wildcats took UMass to double overtime before losing the first game of their Hockey East quarterfinal match last year and then falling in the two-game series.
UNH posted a 3-1 win over UMass in the Whittemore Center on Nov. 10. Gildon scored the winning goal on the power play in that game and junior Mike Robinson had 27 saves.
The Minutemen feature an up-tempo style of play and lead the league at just two goals allowed per game. Goalies Filip Lindberg and Matt Murray have split time and both have put up impressive numbers: Lindberg has a .929 save percentage and 1.93 goals against average and Murray is at .920 and 1.83.
"We know they're going to come guns blazing," said UNH junior forward Charlie Kelleher. "They're going to be flying so we have to match their intensity and we know that. Two points on the line every game. Hopefully we come out with those two points."
Souza praises Massachusetts coach Greg Carvel and his staff for the team's turnaround and its style of play.
"One thing I think they do a real good job with is on their forecheck and how active their defensemen are," Souza said. "They create a lot of confrontation in their offensive zone, our defensive zone, especially on the wall. They have mobile defensemen and smart defensemen. He allows them to make reads and play on their toes. . . . They're allowed to transition the puck, go with four guys in the attack. Any team that does that because they have a mobile defensive group poses a lot of threats."
Souza likes the confidence his team gained from close early wins over the likes of UMass, No. 2 at the time, and No. 15 Boston College and the stretch the team has been on since the new year began, winning four straight before the loss to Providence.
"You don't know what you have until the second half, the middle of January, into February," Souza said. "I like the direction that we're heading in, but you have to keep that momentum going."
HOME AGAIN
- Season, group and individual tickets for all UNH home games are available at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling 603-862-4000.
- Tickets start at $9.
- A flexible six-ticket mini-plan is available.
- Saturday's game will be shown on NESNplus.
- The games will be live-streamed on CBS All Access.
- Starting Saturday, five of UNH's next six games are at home.
- The Wildcats face UConn at home on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.
- Vermont is in for a series on Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8.
- Boston University is at the Whitt on Friday, Feb. 14.
- The final regular season home games are Saturday, Feb. 29 against UMass Lowell and Saturday, March 7 against Boston College.
WILDCAT NOTES
- UNH has played three fewer league games than UConn and two fewer than Northeastern.
- The Wildcats have played one fewer than Maine and Boston University.
- Seven points separate first-place UMass and eighth-place UNH.
- UMass beat UNH four times last season: Twice in the regular season and twice in the league playoffs.
- The Wildcats went 5-0-2 against UMass in the seven games before that.
- UNH is third in the league in power play at 21.2 percent.
- The Wildcats are last in penalty kill at 72.3.
- Junior forward Charlie Kelleher leads UNH with five goals and 16 assists for 21 points.
- He and teammate Angus Crookshank are tied with eight players for the league lead in game-winning goals with three.
- Junior Mitchell Chaffee leads UMass with 16 goals and 13 assists for 29 points and junior John Leonard is at 17-5-22.
- UNH junior goalie Ty Taylor has a 6-1-0 record with a 2.54 goals against average.
- Junior Mike Robinson has a 6-8-1 record with a 2.59 gaa.
- Sophomore defenseman Ryan Verrier is seventh in Hockey East with 30 blocked shots.
- Crookshank is second in the league in faceoff percentage at 62.7 percent.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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