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University of New Hampshire Athletics
Colton Huard led the Wildcats with a goal and three assists against Clarkson.
Photo by: Jess Speechley
1/13/2022 4:16:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider
'Cats Aim to Keep Scoring, Keep Winning
DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire men's hockey team takes a little momentum into this weekend's home-and-home series with No. 20 Boston College: Not only the momentum from a two-game win streak, but the boost from scoring goals.
The Wildcats have had their biggest scoring nights in their last two games in a 7-1 win over Mercyhurst on Dec. 31 in the Ledyard Classic in Hanover and 5-1 over Clarkson last Saturday.
"It's been nice to find the back of the net a little bit the last couple of games," said senior forward Jackson Pierson. "Hopefully we can keep that going."
It's all Hockey East play for the Wildcats from here, starting with Friday's 7 p.m. game at the Whittemore Center against the Eagles, presented by Eversource and featuring the giveaway of a Wildcat gnome to the first 1,000 fans.
Individual and group tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at 603-862-4000. Friday night's game will be shown on NESN.
Under the school's COVID-19 regulations, all spectators, regardless of vaccination status, must wear masks at all indoor athletic events.
UNH and Boston College will meet again on Saturday night at 7:05 in Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill on CollegeSportsLive.
Coach Mike Souza likes the way the offense has looked since coming back from a Christmas break, starting with a 3-1 loss to Dartmouth in the first round of the Ledyard tournament.
"I thought we converted on our opportunities starting with Mercyhurst, but I thought we actually generated more offensive chances against Dartmouth," Souza said. "I thought coming out of the break we were in a good place offensively. Did a nice job against Mercyhurst. Last week with a depleted lineup (due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols) against Clarkson, I was very proud of the way the guys played."
The Wildcats had a shortened lineup and had people playing extra time (senior defenseman Ryan Verrier was on the ice for 28 minutes) and out of position and even used an emergency backup goalie in Jake Moniz who plays intramural hockey at UNH and had to adjust his travel schedule to be able to join the team.
Pierson has at least a goal in each of the last three games and leads the Wildcats with nine goals and five assists for 14 points for the season.
Forward Liam Devlin had a goal and an assist in the Ledyard games to earn Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors after that weekend.
Defenseman Colton Huard had a goal and three assists in the win over Clarkson and was named the league's Defender of the Week this week.
Devlin has four goals in his last four games and is up to seven goals and three assists for the year. The seven goals have him tied for second in goals in the league among freshmen.
"He's real smart and makes a lot of little plays," said Pierson, who is one of Devlin's linemates. "He's real strong and doesn't get knocked off the puck easily and likes to hold onto it and make plays."
Huard missed the first six games of the season with an injury and has been coming on since joining the lineup.
He was impressive last year in the USHL and was second in the league in plus-minus at plus-34 among defenseman to the plus-35 of Alex Gagne, also a UNH freshman defenseman.
"He's big (6-foot-3 and 200 pounds), he's mobile and he can really shoot the puck," Souza said. "He has the hardest shot on the team. He sees the ice well. We're excited to watch him progress here."
Huard is out of Foothill Ranch, Calif., and his father, Bill, played in the NHL for parts of eight seasons, including a couple of games with the Bruins.
Colton has fit in nicely with the defensive group.
"We've been pleased with our 'D' corps as a whole," Souza said. "I think Jeff (assistant coach Giuliano) has done a very nice job with them. Less is more. Take your first pass, make your first pass. The Tom Brady rule of survival. Sometimes it's OK to dump it off five yards to open up a 30-yard pass. Getting our defenseman to understand making a 5-foot, 7-foot pass is the way to go sometimes."
Case in point, two of Huard's assists helped set up Devlin's goals against Clarkson.
"Colton made a little three-foot pass that sprung us for Liam's first goal and then later in the game he made a 75-foot pass that sprung us for Liam's second goal," Souza said. "It's fun to see these guys develop and take a lot of pride in their development. He's someone who's got a bright future with us."
Souza, of course, is happy to see his team score some goals – they had scored as many as four in a game just once and that was in the season opener - but two games does not make a trend, he noted, and wants to see the offense continue to grow.
One key to that is getting more out of the team's power play, which has struggled.
"A lot of the road leads back to a lack of production on the power play and that's something we've got to get going," Souza said. "You're not going to score five goals without having a productive power play. You're certainly going to struggle to score if you don't produce on the power play."
On the flip side, the Wildcats will attempt to stay stingy on defense against the Eagles and beyond.
Grad student goalie Mike Robinson has given up the two goals in the last two games, dropping his goals against average to 2.16 per game and upping his save percentage to .913.
The Wildcats bring a 9-10-1 overall record and 3-7-1 mark in Hockey East into the weekend.
Boston College, led by Hockey Hall of Fame coach Jerry York, is 10-6-3 overall and 5-4-2 in the league.
THE ROAD AHEAD
· UNH plays No. 20 Boston College on Friday night at 7 at the Whittemore Center.
· The Wildcats and Eagles play again Saturday night at 7:05 at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
· 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).
· Friday night's game is on NESN and Saturday night's is on CollegeSportsLive.
· 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 Wildcats have 13 games remaining. All are Hockey East contests.
· The next four games after Friday are on the road, starting with games at UConn next Friday and Saturday.
· The Wildcats play at Merrimack on Friday, Feb. 4.
· UNH's next home game after Friday is Saturday, Feb. 5 against UConn.
THE EAGLES
· York is in his 50th year as a head coach, his 28th at BC.
· He is the winningest coach in college hockey history with 1,118 victories.
· BC is coming off a 5-4 loss to UConn last Saturday.
· Senior forward Jack McBain leads the Eagles with 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points.
· Senior forward Marc McLaughlin has 14 goals and six assists for 20 points.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
The Wildcats have had their biggest scoring nights in their last two games in a 7-1 win over Mercyhurst on Dec. 31 in the Ledyard Classic in Hanover and 5-1 over Clarkson last Saturday.
"It's been nice to find the back of the net a little bit the last couple of games," said senior forward Jackson Pierson. "Hopefully we can keep that going."
It's all Hockey East play for the Wildcats from here, starting with Friday's 7 p.m. game at the Whittemore Center against the Eagles, presented by Eversource and featuring the giveaway of a Wildcat gnome to the first 1,000 fans.
Individual and group tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at 603-862-4000. Friday night's game will be shown on NESN.
Under the school's COVID-19 regulations, all spectators, regardless of vaccination status, must wear masks at all indoor athletic events.
UNH and Boston College will meet again on Saturday night at 7:05 in Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill on CollegeSportsLive.
Coach Mike Souza likes the way the offense has looked since coming back from a Christmas break, starting with a 3-1 loss to Dartmouth in the first round of the Ledyard tournament.
"I thought we converted on our opportunities starting with Mercyhurst, but I thought we actually generated more offensive chances against Dartmouth," Souza said. "I thought coming out of the break we were in a good place offensively. Did a nice job against Mercyhurst. Last week with a depleted lineup (due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols) against Clarkson, I was very proud of the way the guys played."
The Wildcats had a shortened lineup and had people playing extra time (senior defenseman Ryan Verrier was on the ice for 28 minutes) and out of position and even used an emergency backup goalie in Jake Moniz who plays intramural hockey at UNH and had to adjust his travel schedule to be able to join the team.
Pierson has at least a goal in each of the last three games and leads the Wildcats with nine goals and five assists for 14 points for the season.
Forward Liam Devlin had a goal and an assist in the Ledyard games to earn Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors after that weekend.
Defenseman Colton Huard had a goal and three assists in the win over Clarkson and was named the league's Defender of the Week this week.
Devlin has four goals in his last four games and is up to seven goals and three assists for the year. The seven goals have him tied for second in goals in the league among freshmen.
"He's real smart and makes a lot of little plays," said Pierson, who is one of Devlin's linemates. "He's real strong and doesn't get knocked off the puck easily and likes to hold onto it and make plays."
Huard missed the first six games of the season with an injury and has been coming on since joining the lineup.
He was impressive last year in the USHL and was second in the league in plus-minus at plus-34 among defenseman to the plus-35 of Alex Gagne, also a UNH freshman defenseman.
"He's big (6-foot-3 and 200 pounds), he's mobile and he can really shoot the puck," Souza said. "He has the hardest shot on the team. He sees the ice well. We're excited to watch him progress here."
Huard is out of Foothill Ranch, Calif., and his father, Bill, played in the NHL for parts of eight seasons, including a couple of games with the Bruins.
Colton has fit in nicely with the defensive group.
"We've been pleased with our 'D' corps as a whole," Souza said. "I think Jeff (assistant coach Giuliano) has done a very nice job with them. Less is more. Take your first pass, make your first pass. The Tom Brady rule of survival. Sometimes it's OK to dump it off five yards to open up a 30-yard pass. Getting our defenseman to understand making a 5-foot, 7-foot pass is the way to go sometimes."
Case in point, two of Huard's assists helped set up Devlin's goals against Clarkson.
"Colton made a little three-foot pass that sprung us for Liam's first goal and then later in the game he made a 75-foot pass that sprung us for Liam's second goal," Souza said. "It's fun to see these guys develop and take a lot of pride in their development. He's someone who's got a bright future with us."
Souza, of course, is happy to see his team score some goals – they had scored as many as four in a game just once and that was in the season opener - but two games does not make a trend, he noted, and wants to see the offense continue to grow.
One key to that is getting more out of the team's power play, which has struggled.
"A lot of the road leads back to a lack of production on the power play and that's something we've got to get going," Souza said. "You're not going to score five goals without having a productive power play. You're certainly going to struggle to score if you don't produce on the power play."
On the flip side, the Wildcats will attempt to stay stingy on defense against the Eagles and beyond.
Grad student goalie Mike Robinson has given up the two goals in the last two games, dropping his goals against average to 2.16 per game and upping his save percentage to .913.
The Wildcats bring a 9-10-1 overall record and 3-7-1 mark in Hockey East into the weekend.
Boston College, led by Hockey Hall of Fame coach Jerry York, is 10-6-3 overall and 5-4-2 in the league.
THE ROAD AHEAD
· UNH plays No. 20 Boston College on Friday night at 7 at the Whittemore Center.
· The Wildcats and Eagles play again Saturday night at 7:05 at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
· 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).
· Friday night's game is on NESN and Saturday night's is on CollegeSportsLive.
· 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 Wildcats have 13 games remaining. All are Hockey East contests.
· The next four games after Friday are on the road, starting with games at UConn next Friday and Saturday.
· The Wildcats play at Merrimack on Friday, Feb. 4.
· UNH's next home game after Friday is Saturday, Feb. 5 against UConn.
THE EAGLES
· York is in his 50th year as a head coach, his 28th at BC.
· He is the winningest coach in college hockey history with 1,118 victories.
· BC is coming off a 5-4 loss to UConn last Saturday.
· Senior forward Jack McBain leads the Eagles with 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points.
· Senior forward Marc McLaughlin has 14 goals and six assists for 20 points.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Players Mentioned
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