University of New Hampshire Athletics
The Wildcats take on No. 16 UMass in the Whitt on Friday night.
Photo by: Stu Horne
Insider Report: UMass Coming to Town
11/18/2022 10:54:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider
Wildcats Look to Pick Up the Pace vs. No. 16 Minutemen
DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire hockey team played a solid second period, got a gritty goal from senior captain Chase Stevenson in the third period and a nice outing from freshman goalie Tyler Muszelik on Tuesday night at the Whittemore Center in a 3-1 loss to No. 10 Harvard University.
The Wildcats aim to build on all of the above and hope to rebound from a tough stretch of results as they head into a game against No. 16 Massachusetts on Friday night at 7 at the Whittemore Center.
Tickets for UNH hockey at the Whittemore Center may be purchased at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the ticket office at (603) 862-4000.
Stevenson scored his goal off the rebound of a shot by junior Nick Cafarelli with 4:10 left in the game. Senior defenseman Kalle Eriksson also had an assist on the play.
Goals have been hard to come by of late for the Wildcats and they need to keep attacking the net, Stevenson said.
"I think the biggest thing is getting pucks to the net and getting bodies to the net, especially when you're struggling to score goals," Stevenson said.
There'll be time for prettier plays down the road, he figures.
"Once goals like that start going in, maybe we can make more plays," Stevenson said. "Right now, if we're going to get back on track as team and also in scoring, it's going to be a lot of getting in front of the goalie, whacking them in."
Coach Mike Souza pulled Muszelik for an extra attacker in the last 2:25 of the game and the Wildcats got some pressure on the Crimson but were unable to get another goal.
Muszelik had 20 saves in the game and two of the goals he allowed were on Harvard power plays. He made a nice save on a Crimson shorthanded bid midway through the first period and has some key saves throughout the game.
"I thought Tyler was outstanding," Souza said. "We've gotten great goaltending for the most part during this stretch. I was proud of Tyler tonight. They could have opened it up on us early and he made some big saves."
Souza was happy with the way his team played in the second period when it had an 11-7 edge in shots. But the Wildcats were not able to take advantage of three power plays in the period.
"I thought we outplayed them in the second period," Souza said. "I thought the game was right there for us to, to be honest. . . . It's been a hard stretch for our group. The sun's going to come out tomorrow. We can sit and feel sorry for ourselves or we can get prepared to try and beat UMass on Friday."
After an impressive start to the season, UMass has struggled recently, but has held on to its Top 20 ranking.
The Minutemen opened the season with a sweep at home of No. 1 Denver, 4-2 and 3-0, and then took a pair from Union, 7-1 and 7-0, and beat Merrimack, 3-2, in overtime at home.
UMass lost a rematch to Merrimack in overtime the next night and has been swept the last two weekends by Providence and University.
The Minutemen come in at 5-5-1 overall and 1-5-0 in Hockey East.
UNH is 3-9-1 overall and 0-8-1 in the league.
The Wildcats have three league games remaining before New Year's.
Their next game is at Holy Cross on Saturday, Nov. 26.
They play Boston University at home on Friday, Dec. 2 and are at BU the next night to close out the pre-holidays portion of their Hockey East schedule.
They are home for a series against Arizona State on Friday, Dec. 9 and Saturday, Dec. 10 and then travel to Union for games on Friday, Dec. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 31.
The Wildcats aim to build on all of the above and hope to rebound from a tough stretch of results as they head into a game against No. 16 Massachusetts on Friday night at 7 at the Whittemore Center.
Tickets for UNH hockey at the Whittemore Center may be purchased at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the ticket office at (603) 862-4000.
Stevenson scored his goal off the rebound of a shot by junior Nick Cafarelli with 4:10 left in the game. Senior defenseman Kalle Eriksson also had an assist on the play.
Goals have been hard to come by of late for the Wildcats and they need to keep attacking the net, Stevenson said.
"I think the biggest thing is getting pucks to the net and getting bodies to the net, especially when you're struggling to score goals," Stevenson said.
There'll be time for prettier plays down the road, he figures.
"Once goals like that start going in, maybe we can make more plays," Stevenson said. "Right now, if we're going to get back on track as team and also in scoring, it's going to be a lot of getting in front of the goalie, whacking them in."
Coach Mike Souza pulled Muszelik for an extra attacker in the last 2:25 of the game and the Wildcats got some pressure on the Crimson but were unable to get another goal.
Muszelik had 20 saves in the game and two of the goals he allowed were on Harvard power plays. He made a nice save on a Crimson shorthanded bid midway through the first period and has some key saves throughout the game.
"I thought Tyler was outstanding," Souza said. "We've gotten great goaltending for the most part during this stretch. I was proud of Tyler tonight. They could have opened it up on us early and he made some big saves."
Souza was happy with the way his team played in the second period when it had an 11-7 edge in shots. But the Wildcats were not able to take advantage of three power plays in the period.
"I thought we outplayed them in the second period," Souza said. "I thought the game was right there for us to, to be honest. . . . It's been a hard stretch for our group. The sun's going to come out tomorrow. We can sit and feel sorry for ourselves or we can get prepared to try and beat UMass on Friday."
After an impressive start to the season, UMass has struggled recently, but has held on to its Top 20 ranking.
The Minutemen opened the season with a sweep at home of No. 1 Denver, 4-2 and 3-0, and then took a pair from Union, 7-1 and 7-0, and beat Merrimack, 3-2, in overtime at home.
UMass lost a rematch to Merrimack in overtime the next night and has been swept the last two weekends by Providence and University.
The Minutemen come in at 5-5-1 overall and 1-5-0 in Hockey East.
UNH is 3-9-1 overall and 0-8-1 in the league.
The Wildcats have three league games remaining before New Year's.
Their next game is at Holy Cross on Saturday, Nov. 26.
They play Boston University at home on Friday, Dec. 2 and are at BU the next night to close out the pre-holidays portion of their Hockey East schedule.
They are home for a series against Arizona State on Friday, Dec. 9 and Saturday, Dec. 10 and then travel to Union for games on Friday, Dec. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 31.
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