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University of New Hampshire Athletics
Will MacKinnon is one of the Wildcat seniors who will take on UMass Lowell this weekend.
Photo by: China Wong
3/3/2022 4:59:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider
Looking for Home Ice, 'Cats Open Series with No. 16 UMass Lowell Friday Night
DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire men's hockey team has at least three games remaining in the season. The Wildcats hope to get on a roll and play several more contests than that.
UNH plays No. 16 UMass Lowell on Friday night at 7 at the Whittemore Center, presented by Mass General Brigham/Wentworth Douglass Hospital, for Senior Night and Fan Appreciation Night. The next night the teams meet at 6:05 at the Tsongas Center in Lowell to wrap up the regular season.
Individual and group tickets for home games are available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at 603-862-4000. Under the school's COVID-19 regulations, all spectators, regardless of vaccination status, must wear masks at all indoor athletic events.
After the UMass Lowell series, the Wildcats face Boston College on Wednesday in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs.
Where UNH and the Eagles will meet has yet to be determined: The site of the game is up for grabs.
The Wildcats trail BC by a point in the Hockey East standings heading into the weekend. The team that leads after Saturday's games – the Eagles play league-leading Massachusetts at home on Friday night and are at UMass on Saturday night - will be the home team on Wednesday night.
Home ice advantage could come in handy, especially since Hockey East has switched to a single elimination format for each round of its tournament. Traditionally, the early rounds have been best-of-three setups.
"There's little margin of error in a one-game playoff," said UNH coach Mike Souza. "You can't get them the next night. There is no next night. It's exciting."
The Wildcats are 9-5-1 at home this year and 4-11-0 on the road.
There's more motivation for his team as well, Souza said. "We just want to host a game because it's been too long since we've hosted one."
UNH last hosted a Hockey East playoff game in 2015. The Wildcats took two of three games to oust Connecticut in the first round that year and then won two of three quarterfinal games at Providence to make their most recent appearance in the semifinals at the TD Garden.
The other goal for UNH this weekend is to get its game in shape and be playing as well as possibly going into the tournament.
"It would be nice to get a home game here at the Whitt," said UNH senior captain and defenseman Will MacKinnon. "It would be awesome for our guys and great for the school to get a good crowd at that. Regardless of home ice, we want to win both games this weekend and build some momentum going into the playoffs. In a one-game elimination, anything can happen and whichever team gets hot can do some damage."
UMass Lowell is playing for Hockey East playoff positioning, too, trying to nail down a bye for the first round of the playoffs as well as to shore up its overall resume in pursuit of a spot in the NCAA tournament.
UNH is 14-16-1 overall and 8-13-1 in Hockey East. UMass Lowell is 18-9-3 and 13-8-1.
The Wildcats are 6-3-0 against nationally ranked teams this season and in their most recent test against such an opponent blanked UMass Lowell, 3-0, on Feb. 13 in the Whittemore Center.
Grad student goalie Mike Robinson had 32 saves for the shutout that night, freshman forward Liam Devlin had the winning goal and sophomore forward Nick Cafarelli and senior forward Tyler Ward also scored. Senior forward Jackson Pierson had a couple of assists and Ward had an assist as well.
Pierson and Ward lead UNH in scoring. Pierson has 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points and Ward has seven goals and 16 assists for the same total.
Robinson has a record of 12-12-0 with a 2.46 goals against average and .909 save percentage.
UNH is coming off a 4-3 loss at home to Merrimack last Saturday night.
UMass Lowell beat Long Island University, 5-1, at home last Friday.
The weekend before, the River Hawks split a series with Providence College, each team winning 3-2 in its home rink.
Goaltender Owen Savory has a 17-5-2 record with a .926 save percentage and goals against average of 2.66 for UMass Lowell. He did not play in the Feb. 13 game against UNH.
THE ROAD AHEAD
· The Wildcats close out the regular season with a series against UMass Lowell.
· They are home for Senior Night and Fan Appreciation Night on Friday at 7 p.m.
· They finish out the regular season with a game at UMass Lowell on Saturday.
· Every Hockey East game will be livestreamed for free on College SportsLive.
· All UNH games are also available on the Wildcat Sports Radio Network.
· 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.
· First-round games in the Hockey East tournament will be played Wednesday, March 9 at the home of the top four seeds.
· Semifinal games are Friday, March 18 in TD Garden in Boston.
· The championship game is Saturday, March 19 in the Garden.
· All rounds of the tournament are single elimination.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
UNH plays No. 16 UMass Lowell on Friday night at 7 at the Whittemore Center, presented by Mass General Brigham/Wentworth Douglass Hospital, for Senior Night and Fan Appreciation Night. The next night the teams meet at 6:05 at the Tsongas Center in Lowell to wrap up the regular season.
Individual and group tickets for home games are available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at 603-862-4000. Under the school's COVID-19 regulations, all spectators, regardless of vaccination status, must wear masks at all indoor athletic events.
After the UMass Lowell series, the Wildcats face Boston College on Wednesday in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs.
Where UNH and the Eagles will meet has yet to be determined: The site of the game is up for grabs.
The Wildcats trail BC by a point in the Hockey East standings heading into the weekend. The team that leads after Saturday's games – the Eagles play league-leading Massachusetts at home on Friday night and are at UMass on Saturday night - will be the home team on Wednesday night.
Home ice advantage could come in handy, especially since Hockey East has switched to a single elimination format for each round of its tournament. Traditionally, the early rounds have been best-of-three setups.
"There's little margin of error in a one-game playoff," said UNH coach Mike Souza. "You can't get them the next night. There is no next night. It's exciting."
The Wildcats are 9-5-1 at home this year and 4-11-0 on the road.
There's more motivation for his team as well, Souza said. "We just want to host a game because it's been too long since we've hosted one."
UNH last hosted a Hockey East playoff game in 2015. The Wildcats took two of three games to oust Connecticut in the first round that year and then won two of three quarterfinal games at Providence to make their most recent appearance in the semifinals at the TD Garden.
The other goal for UNH this weekend is to get its game in shape and be playing as well as possibly going into the tournament.
"It would be nice to get a home game here at the Whitt," said UNH senior captain and defenseman Will MacKinnon. "It would be awesome for our guys and great for the school to get a good crowd at that. Regardless of home ice, we want to win both games this weekend and build some momentum going into the playoffs. In a one-game elimination, anything can happen and whichever team gets hot can do some damage."
UMass Lowell is playing for Hockey East playoff positioning, too, trying to nail down a bye for the first round of the playoffs as well as to shore up its overall resume in pursuit of a spot in the NCAA tournament.
UNH is 14-16-1 overall and 8-13-1 in Hockey East. UMass Lowell is 18-9-3 and 13-8-1.
The Wildcats are 6-3-0 against nationally ranked teams this season and in their most recent test against such an opponent blanked UMass Lowell, 3-0, on Feb. 13 in the Whittemore Center.
Grad student goalie Mike Robinson had 32 saves for the shutout that night, freshman forward Liam Devlin had the winning goal and sophomore forward Nick Cafarelli and senior forward Tyler Ward also scored. Senior forward Jackson Pierson had a couple of assists and Ward had an assist as well.
Pierson and Ward lead UNH in scoring. Pierson has 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points and Ward has seven goals and 16 assists for the same total.
Robinson has a record of 12-12-0 with a 2.46 goals against average and .909 save percentage.
UNH is coming off a 4-3 loss at home to Merrimack last Saturday night.
UMass Lowell beat Long Island University, 5-1, at home last Friday.
The weekend before, the River Hawks split a series with Providence College, each team winning 3-2 in its home rink.
Goaltender Owen Savory has a 17-5-2 record with a .926 save percentage and goals against average of 2.66 for UMass Lowell. He did not play in the Feb. 13 game against UNH.
THE ROAD AHEAD
· The Wildcats close out the regular season with a series against UMass Lowell.
· They are home for Senior Night and Fan Appreciation Night on Friday at 7 p.m.
· They finish out the regular season with a game at UMass Lowell on Saturday.
· Every Hockey East game will be livestreamed for free on College SportsLive.
· All UNH games are also available on the Wildcat Sports Radio Network.
· 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.
· First-round games in the Hockey East tournament will be played Wednesday, March 9 at the home of the top four seeds.
· Semifinal games are Friday, March 18 in TD Garden in Boston.
· The championship game is Saturday, March 19 in the Garden.
· All rounds of the tournament are single elimination.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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