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University of New Hampshire Athletics
Filip Engaras is tied for the team lead with two goals and two assists. (China Wong photo)
Photo by: China Wong
Insider Report: Hockey East Test Time
10/22/2021 11:46:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider
No. 12 Friars Come to the Whitt to Face 'Cats Sunday at 5
DURHAM, N.H. – Now the bigger tests, the Hockey East battles, begin for the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team.
Providence College, No. 12 on this week's USCHO Top 20 chart, comes to the Whittemore Center on Sunday for a 5 p.m. game against the Wildcats, kicking off a string of three straight games against the Friars and nine consecutive against Hockey East foes.
Season, individual and group tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling the Whittemore Center Box office at 603-862-4000.
"It's going to be nice playing at home in front of our fans and to get into league play," said senior center Filip Engarås. "It's going to be an important stretch in the coming days. It's time for us to really test what we can do, especially against Providence. It's a great opportunity for us to show what we're capable of. I'm very confident in the group of guys we have in that locker room."
UNH opened the season with a pair of wins at home against Union and then dropped a pair of 5-1 contests at Arizona State last weekend.
The Wildcats have a total of 24 Hockey East games scheduled for the season and they play more than a third of those before Thanksgiving. Six of the nine are at the Whittemore Center and seven of them are against teams ranked in the top 20 this week.
They play at Providence next Friday, Oct. 29 and face the Friars at home again the next night at 7. They follow with a home and home series against No. 20 Northeastern (Friday home, Saturday in Boston) on Nov. 5 and 6, play a two-game set at home against Vermont on Nov. 12 and 13 and a home and home against No. 9 and defending national champion Massachusetts on Friday, Nov. 19 (in Amherst) and Saturday Nov. 20 (at the Whitt).
Providence provides the first – and second and third – challenges.
"They're a very detailed team," Engaras said. "They play very hard at both ends of the ice. They're not going to beat themselves."
The Friars are 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Hockey East and play No. 8 Denver at home on Friday night before coming to Durham.
The losses both came last weekend in a trip to Minnesota where Providence fell to then-No. 1 Minnesota State, 5-2, and then-No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth, 3-2.
"They pose a lot of problems for a lot of teams," said UNH coach Mike Souza. "They're good from the goal out. Their goaltending is excellent. I think they returned every one of their defensemen from last year and they certainly have some good ones back there."
Sophomore forward Brett Berard played in the World juniors and has five goals and a pair of assists through five games to share the league lead in scoring and goal scoring.
Junior goalie Jaxson Stauber has a 2.04 goals against average and .925 save percentage.
Souza and the Wildcats are eager to turn the page on their Arizona trip. The team didn't do a good job of funneling back into its own end to play defense, could have done better managing the puck and certainly needs to score more goals, the coach said.
"Scoring two goals on the weekend is just not good enough, I don't care who you're playing," Souza said.
He and his staff tinkered with the forward lines in the second game on Saturday night and continued to this week in practice.
"We made some changes already," Souza said. "You come out of a weekend only scoring two goals and certainly it's a call to make some adjustments. . . We have to find a way to create some offense this week against a team that doesn't give you a lot. . . . We've got certainly got guys who are capable of doing that in our lineup. We know that."
One of the players Souza is counting on to break out is senior Tyler Ward. He is tied for the team lead in scoring with four assists, but has yet to get a goal.
"Tyler gives you all he has every night," Souza said. "It's going to go in for him. He works too hard. He's got too good of a release. He's a real competitive kid so I'm not worried at all about that."
Engaras has been the team's most consistent player, the coach said, and has a pair of goals to go with a pair of assists.
Freshman forward Robert Cronin has a couple of goals and an assist and is the only Wildcat besides Engaras with more than one goal.
Senior goalie Mike Robinson is 2-1-0 with a 2.63 goals against average and save percentage of .875. He's started every game, but received a game misconduct penalty in the second period of Friday night's game at Arizona State and was replaced by sophomore Jeremy Forman.
Junior goalie David Fessenden, a 6-foot-6 and 230-pound transfer from Alabama-Huntsville, was not on the trip to Arizona State but likely will get a start in net fairly soon, Souza indicated.
This weekend, it's full speed ahead.
"It's early in the year," Ward said. "We've just got to put last weekend behind us and look ahead. Can't dwell on the past. Three big games against Providence, especially Sunday. We'll focus on Sunday and go from there."
THE ROAD AHEAD
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Providence College, No. 12 on this week's USCHO Top 20 chart, comes to the Whittemore Center on Sunday for a 5 p.m. game against the Wildcats, kicking off a string of three straight games against the Friars and nine consecutive against Hockey East foes.
Season, individual and group tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling the Whittemore Center Box office at 603-862-4000.
"It's going to be nice playing at home in front of our fans and to get into league play," said senior center Filip Engarås. "It's going to be an important stretch in the coming days. It's time for us to really test what we can do, especially against Providence. It's a great opportunity for us to show what we're capable of. I'm very confident in the group of guys we have in that locker room."
UNH opened the season with a pair of wins at home against Union and then dropped a pair of 5-1 contests at Arizona State last weekend.
The Wildcats have a total of 24 Hockey East games scheduled for the season and they play more than a third of those before Thanksgiving. Six of the nine are at the Whittemore Center and seven of them are against teams ranked in the top 20 this week.
They play at Providence next Friday, Oct. 29 and face the Friars at home again the next night at 7. They follow with a home and home series against No. 20 Northeastern (Friday home, Saturday in Boston) on Nov. 5 and 6, play a two-game set at home against Vermont on Nov. 12 and 13 and a home and home against No. 9 and defending national champion Massachusetts on Friday, Nov. 19 (in Amherst) and Saturday Nov. 20 (at the Whitt).
Providence provides the first – and second and third – challenges.
"They're a very detailed team," Engaras said. "They play very hard at both ends of the ice. They're not going to beat themselves."
The Friars are 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Hockey East and play No. 8 Denver at home on Friday night before coming to Durham.
The losses both came last weekend in a trip to Minnesota where Providence fell to then-No. 1 Minnesota State, 5-2, and then-No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth, 3-2.
"They pose a lot of problems for a lot of teams," said UNH coach Mike Souza. "They're good from the goal out. Their goaltending is excellent. I think they returned every one of their defensemen from last year and they certainly have some good ones back there."
Sophomore forward Brett Berard played in the World juniors and has five goals and a pair of assists through five games to share the league lead in scoring and goal scoring.
Junior goalie Jaxson Stauber has a 2.04 goals against average and .925 save percentage.
Souza and the Wildcats are eager to turn the page on their Arizona trip. The team didn't do a good job of funneling back into its own end to play defense, could have done better managing the puck and certainly needs to score more goals, the coach said.
"Scoring two goals on the weekend is just not good enough, I don't care who you're playing," Souza said.
He and his staff tinkered with the forward lines in the second game on Saturday night and continued to this week in practice.
"We made some changes already," Souza said. "You come out of a weekend only scoring two goals and certainly it's a call to make some adjustments. . . We have to find a way to create some offense this week against a team that doesn't give you a lot. . . . We've got certainly got guys who are capable of doing that in our lineup. We know that."
One of the players Souza is counting on to break out is senior Tyler Ward. He is tied for the team lead in scoring with four assists, but has yet to get a goal.
"Tyler gives you all he has every night," Souza said. "It's going to go in for him. He works too hard. He's got too good of a release. He's a real competitive kid so I'm not worried at all about that."
Engaras has been the team's most consistent player, the coach said, and has a pair of goals to go with a pair of assists.
Freshman forward Robert Cronin has a couple of goals and an assist and is the only Wildcat besides Engaras with more than one goal.
Senior goalie Mike Robinson is 2-1-0 with a 2.63 goals against average and save percentage of .875. He's started every game, but received a game misconduct penalty in the second period of Friday night's game at Arizona State and was replaced by sophomore Jeremy Forman.
Junior goalie David Fessenden, a 6-foot-6 and 230-pound transfer from Alabama-Huntsville, was not on the trip to Arizona State but likely will get a start in net fairly soon, Souza indicated.
This weekend, it's full speed ahead.
"It's early in the year," Ward said. "We've just got to put last weekend behind us and look ahead. Can't dwell on the past. Three big games against Providence, especially Sunday. We'll focus on Sunday and go from there."
THE ROAD AHEAD
- The Wildcats face Providence College on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 5 p.m.
- Fans can purchase season, group and individual game tickets at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the UNH Wildcats box office at 603-862-4000 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm).
- Fans must wear masks while inside the Whittemore Center.
- Every home game and away Hockey East game will be livestreamed for free on College SportsLive.
- The Providence game starts a string of nine consecutive Hockey East games, the first three of which are against the Friars.
- UNH plays at Providence on Friday, Oct. 29.
- The Wildcats play the Friars again at home on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Ice HockeySunday, March 08
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Tuesday, February 24
Sunday, February 22