Wildcats Face UConn Huskies in Hockey East Semifinals (Sat., 3:30 P.M., NESN+)

No. 6 NEW HAMPSHIRE (18-14-4, 12-12-3 Hockey East) vs. No. 5 CONNECTICUT (18-17-2, 13-12-2 Hockey East)
Saturday, March 7 – 3:30 P.M. – Lawler Arena – North Andover, Mass. – NESN+
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DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team heads to Lawler Arena in North Andover, Massachusetts for the 2020 Hockey East Semifinals, its first semifinal appearance in 10 years, as the Wildcats take on the University of Connecticut Huskies at 3:30 P.M. on Saturday.

The Wildcats advanced to the semis thanks to a two-game road sweep of Providence College in the Hockey East Quarterfinals last weekend, 4-2 in game one and 1-0 in game two. The Huskies of UConn forced a game three with Boston College, coming back with a 2-0 victory in game two. They took game three with a two-goal third period come-from-behind victory, 2-1 at Conte Forum.

Both the #6 seed Wildcats and the #5 seed Huskies were two of three low-seed teams to advance to the conference semis, with the #7 seeded Maine Black Bears upending the #2 seed Boston University Terriers in a two-game sweep. The conference's top seed, Northeastern, was the lone home team to advance to the conference's final four.

Maine and Northeastern face off at 12 P.M. on Saturday, March 7, before UNH and UConn face off at 3:30 P.M. The winner of both contests will move on to Sunday afternoon's championship game at 2 P.M. All three of the weekend's games at Lawler Rink will be broadcast on NESN+.

PLAYOFF NOTEBOOK
- New Hampshire enters the Hockey East playoffs for the eighth straight season.
- The Wildcats are the #6 seed for the second straight season.
- New Hampshire making its first semifinal appearance since the playoff format changed to a best-of-three quarterfinal round, with UNH's last semifinal appearance coming in 2009-10.
- UNH and UConn have faced off five times in the postseason, four times in Hockey East. This will be the third semifinal meeting between the two programs.
- The Wildcats are 6-2 all-time in semifinal games in Hockey East play. UNH won four straight semifinal appearances on its way to its four-year streak of Hockey East titles from 2006-2009.
- UNH's last semifinal appearance was a 4-0 defeat from Boston University in 2010.

LAST TIME OUT

The Wildcats won their first ever quarterfinal series, sweeping the Providence College Friars last Thursday and Friday by a score of 4-2 in game one, 1-0 in game two.
Goals in game one came from senior Taylor Wenczkowski (Rochester, N.H.) to open up the scoring in the first, sophomore Emily Rickwood (Brantford, Ontario) to open the second period, and two from junior Grace Middleton (Midland, Mich.) in her first career multi-goal game.
In game two, the two teams faced off in a defensive battle with a scoreless tie until the 53rd minute of play when senior Tori Howran (Bancroft, Ontario) charged the net to tip in a rebound from sophomore Lauren Martin (Cambridge, Ontario). This came despite a large shot discrepancy where Providence led in shots on goal 35-15.
Redshirt sophomore Ava Boutilier (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) posted a 35-save shutout in game two and a .967, 1.00 GAA, and one assist weekend which garnered conference and national recognition as she backstopped the Wildcats to their first semifinal appearance in a decade.

ABOUT UCONN

The Huskies (Storrs, Conn.) come into the semifinals with an 18-17-2 overall record, sitting at #20 in the Pairwise rankings.
UConn went 13-12-2 in the conference and secured the #5 seed with 28 conference points.
The Huskies are 4-5-1 in their last 10 contests; they tied Providence, split a home and home with Vermont and Merrimack and then got swept in a home and home with BU before outlasting BC in the quarterfinals, forcing a game three and winning the series.
UConn lost the season series with New Hampshire this season 1-2-0. Both teams won on each other's home ice, with UNH taking game one at Freitas Ice Arena 2-0 back in October.
The Huskies are led by junior forward Natalie Snodgross, with a team-high 33 points (16g, 17a). Senior forward Catherine Crawley follows close behind at 29 points (13g, 16a) as well as 5 game winning goals.
Sophomore forward Viki Harkness recently earned Hockey East co-player of the week for her 3 point (2g, 1a) performance in the quarterfinal series against Boston College. She has 14 points on the year (8g, 6a).

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