Insider Report: Championship Swagger

DURHAM, N.H. – University of New Hampshire hockey coach Mike Souza said he was looking through some his old notes the other day that mentioned the University Massachusetts was a hockey team that played with some swagger.

And that was before the Minutemen won their first NCAA championship last spring.

The Wildcats will tangle with No. 8 UMass this weekend, Friday night in the Mullins Center in Amherst and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Whittemore Center in Durham. Saturday is '80s Night at the Whitt and there will be a rally towel giveaway.

Individual and group tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling the Whittemore Center Box office at 603-862-4000.

UMass is 6-3-1 overall and 4-1-1 in Hockey East. UNH is 4-6-1 and 2-4-1

The Minuteman confidence is well-earned, Souza pointed out.

Coach Greg Carvel's team won 31 games in 2019 and advanced to the national championship and was the runnerup for the title.

The 2020 tournament was canceled because of COVID-19 and the Minutemen came back last spring and finished the job, winning not only the school's first national championship in hockey, but its first Hockey East tournament title along the way.

"They certainly do play with swagger and they deserve to play with swagger," Souza said. "It's a credit to them. They've done a great job recruiting, they play hard and they play the right way, They play in your face and they've got good players to go along with it. It's kind of the perfect storm for their opponents. It's a huge challenge for UNH and whoever happens to be playing them."

Souza and his team are excited about the opportunity.

"Obviously it's a well-known team, especially now," said junior goaltender David Fessenden, who was in net for a 2-1 win and 3-3 tie against Vermont last weekend in the Whit. "You look forward to playing that top level talent. These are games you get excited for, playing someone of this stature."

His approach to the weekend won't change much, said Fessenden, who is in his first year as a Wildcat since transferring in from Alabama-Huntsville.

"Mostly it's just not letting that intimidate you," he said. "They're known to be a big team a physical team, but that doesn't really affect me. I need to be aware and ready for a challenge. When it comes to a team of any stature, or anybody in this league, it's just about being ready and knowing who's on the ice and the different plays they do. It's preparation and preparation is similar team to team, it's just a little more exciting when playing a top team."

Fessenden had 25 saves in Friday night's win over Vermont and 17 in the 3-3 tie the next night. Vermont got an extra point in the standings for a win in the shootout.

"I'm sure he'd like to have a couple of the goals back," Souza said. "The two-on-one and certainly the third goal on Saturday. That's what I like. He's a competitive kid. He takes ownership for the way he plays."

Fessenden fills a lot of net at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds.

"He's big and he blocks a lot of pucks and a lot of pucks hit him," Souza said.

Wildcat All American and former National Hockey league goalie Ty Conklin, UNH's goaltending coach, works with Fessenden as well as senior Mike Robinson and sophomore Jeremy Forman.

"David and Ty are working on being more efficient, trusting his size and maybe not moving quite as much," Souza said. "I think Ty has done a great job with him."

The Wildcats had averaged exactly a goal a game for the last seven games going into last weekend and then got the five over the two nights.

Senior Jackson Pierson, centering a line between freshman Liam Devlin and junior Chase Stevenson, had one of the goals Friday and two on Saturday.

"I think it's no secret we're trying to get Jackson going," Souza said. "I think Jackson is one of the best players in the country and I think he showed that this past weekend. I think he was the best player on the ice for both teams."

Person leads UNH with four goals and also has a couple of assists. Senior forward Filip Engaras shares the scoring lead with Pierson with three goals and three assists. Freshman forward Robert Cronin has three goals and two assists and senior forward Tyler Ward has a goal and four assists.

Fessenden has a 2.37 goals against average and .903 save percentage.

Senior forward Bobby Trivigno has four goals and eight assists in 10 games for UMass and freshman defenseman Scott Morrow has three goals and six assists for nine points. Morrow's father, Steve, and uncle, Scott, played at UNH.

Grad student goalie Matt Murray has a 2.27 goals against average and .927 save percentage for the Minutemen.

The Wildcats will see what they can do with that Minuteman swagger.

"For me, it's exciting," Souza said. "You bring yourself back to when there was a similar kind of swagger here, the kind of swagger we're trying to regain."

THE ROAD AHEAD

UNH plays No. 8 UMass at the Mullins Center on Friday night at 7 and Saturday night at the Whittemore Center at the same time.
Friday night's game is on NESN and Saturday night's is on CollegeSportsLive.
Fans can purchase 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 UMass games are the final two in a stretch of nine straight Hockey East contests.
UNH plays at Harvard, Friday, Nov. 26.
The Wildcats play Holy Cross at home on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m.
UNH plays at Boston University on Friday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
The teams meet again Saturday, Dec. 4 in Durham at 7.
The Wildcats are then off until playing Dartmouth in the first round of the Ledyard Classic in Hanover on Thursday, Dec. 30.
UNH plays at home against St. Lawrence on Friday, Jan. 7 and Clarkson, Saturday, Jan. 8.
The Wildcats get back to Hockey East play with a series against Boston College on Jan. 14 and 15.
The Friday night game is at the Whittemore Center.
Saturday's is in Conte Forum at BC.

THE MINUTEMEN

Greg Carvel is in his sixth year as coach at UMass.
The Minutemen tied at Boston University, 2-2, last Friday.
They lost to the Terriers in Amherst 4-3 the next night.
The tie snapped a four-game win streak.
UNH lost a pair of 4-0 games to UMass last season.
The Wildcats went 2-0-1 against the Minutemen the year before.
They won 3-1 and 1-0 games and tied the third, 1-1.

Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu

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Robert Cronin

Liam Devlin

David Fessenden

Jeremy Forman

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Tyler Ward

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