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University of New Hampshire Athletics
Eric MacAdams and the Wildcats play at BC on Wednesday on NESN in the first round of the Hockey East tournament.
3/8/2022 11:56:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
'Cats Look to Keep Season Going Wednesday on NESN
DURHAM, N.H. – Last year, the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team's season ended in Conte Forum on the campus of Boston College.
"We certainly don't want to replay that movie," said UNH head coach Mike Souza during a Zoom media session on Monday.
The script is similar and the Wildcats will be out to rewrite the ending when they take on the Eagles on Wednesday night at BC in a-first round game in the Hockey East tournament.
Boston College and New Hampshire were competing for the eighth spot in the standings and home ice for the opening games last weekend. BC nailed down the spot with a win over Massachusetts on Friday night, while UNH fell at UMass Lowell. BC completed its sweep of the Minutemen the next night and the Wildcats dropped a second game to the River Hawks.
Boston College comes into the tournament at 14-17-5 overall and 9-12-3. UNH was 14-8-1 overall and 8-15-1 in the league during the regular season.
"I think they're firing at full capacity right now after a big weekend versus UMass," Souza said. "They went out there and spoiled UMass' opportunity to win Hockey East (regular season title) . . . They're probably feeling pretty good about themselves."
The Wildcats need to regroup quickly.
"I think we kind of need to play with a chip on our shoulder," said senior forward Eric MacAdams. "We need to go in there and kind of take it to them. We've got to, figuratively, punch first. We've got to take it to them and after that play our system, play consistent defense, our forwards have to be working their 'D'. It's going to be a fun game."
Last year, UNH won a first-round game at Maine, 7-2, and went to Conte to play the Eagles, who were the No. 1 seed in Hockey East.
The Eagles took a 3-0 lead in the first period. The Wildcats battled back with a pair of quick-strike goals in the second period – MacAdams had the first and he had an assist on a goal by defenseman Luke Reid for the second – but were unable to get another.
BC has rebounded from a brutal start to the calendar year. The Eagles had zero wins and a couple of ties through their 12 games from the beginning of January through the middle of February.
UNH beat the Eagles, 3-2, in the Whittemore Center on Friday, Jan.14 and then again the next night in Conte, 5-2.
BC had been dealing with injuries and players missing time to illness and then had forwards Marc McLaughlin and Jack McBain and defenseman Drew Helleson leave and play in the Olympics.
The Eagles earned splits with Northeastern (Feb. 18 and 19) and then Boston University and now are on a three-game winning streak, their longest of the season.
Boston College averages 3.0 goals a game.
The Eagles have nine players with 20 or more points and three with 15 or more goals. McBain, who played for Team Canada, has 18 goals and 11 assists for 29 points and McLaughlin, who played for Team USA, is at 19-9-28.
"It's fun to play against those guys," Pierson said. "They're a skilled team and they like to play hard and fast. You have to be extremely detailed when you play against them because they thrive off transition and turnovers and things like that."
Senior forward Tyler Wards leads UNH in scoring at 8-16-24 and senior forward Jackson Pierson is the only Wildcat with double figure goals at 12-11-23.
The Eagles have given up 114 goals this season, the most in Hockey East and an average of 3.3 a game.
They've allowed only five goals total in their current three-game win streak.
Grad student goalie Eric Dop, a transfer from Bowling Green, had 42 saves in a 3-1 win over Boston University, 25 in a 2-1 win over UMass on Friday and 42 in a 4-3 win over UMass on Saturday.
He has a 3.08 goals against average and .895 save percentage for the season with 11-14-5 record.
UNH grad student goalie Mike Robinson has started the bulk of the team's games and has a 2.56 goals against average with a .906 save percentage with a record of 12-13-0. Junior David Fessenden had 28 saves in the 1-0 loss to UMass Lowell on Saturday night and has a 2.19 goals against average with a .909 save percentage and record of 2-4-1.
THE ROAD AHEAD
· The UNH-BC game will be shown on NESN.
· The winner of the UNH at BC game advances to a quarterfinal game on Saturday.
· Wednesday's other first-round games have No. 11 Maine at No. 6 Merrimack and No. 10 Vermont at No. 7 Providence.
· Each Hockey East game will be livestreamed for free on College SportsLive.
· All UNH games are also available on the Wildcat Sports Radio Network.
· The standings are reset after Wednesday's games.
· The lowest remaining seed in the tournament will play at No. 1 Northeastern on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
· No. 5 seed Boston University will play at No. 4 Connecticut.
· No. 2 Massachusetts and No. 3 UMass Lowell will also host quarterfinal games.
· 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
"We certainly don't want to replay that movie," said UNH head coach Mike Souza during a Zoom media session on Monday.
The script is similar and the Wildcats will be out to rewrite the ending when they take on the Eagles on Wednesday night at BC in a-first round game in the Hockey East tournament.
Boston College and New Hampshire were competing for the eighth spot in the standings and home ice for the opening games last weekend. BC nailed down the spot with a win over Massachusetts on Friday night, while UNH fell at UMass Lowell. BC completed its sweep of the Minutemen the next night and the Wildcats dropped a second game to the River Hawks.
Boston College comes into the tournament at 14-17-5 overall and 9-12-3. UNH was 14-8-1 overall and 8-15-1 in the league during the regular season.
"I think they're firing at full capacity right now after a big weekend versus UMass," Souza said. "They went out there and spoiled UMass' opportunity to win Hockey East (regular season title) . . . They're probably feeling pretty good about themselves."
The Wildcats need to regroup quickly.
"I think we kind of need to play with a chip on our shoulder," said senior forward Eric MacAdams. "We need to go in there and kind of take it to them. We've got to, figuratively, punch first. We've got to take it to them and after that play our system, play consistent defense, our forwards have to be working their 'D'. It's going to be a fun game."
Last year, UNH won a first-round game at Maine, 7-2, and went to Conte to play the Eagles, who were the No. 1 seed in Hockey East.
The Eagles took a 3-0 lead in the first period. The Wildcats battled back with a pair of quick-strike goals in the second period – MacAdams had the first and he had an assist on a goal by defenseman Luke Reid for the second – but were unable to get another.
BC has rebounded from a brutal start to the calendar year. The Eagles had zero wins and a couple of ties through their 12 games from the beginning of January through the middle of February.
UNH beat the Eagles, 3-2, in the Whittemore Center on Friday, Jan.14 and then again the next night in Conte, 5-2.
BC had been dealing with injuries and players missing time to illness and then had forwards Marc McLaughlin and Jack McBain and defenseman Drew Helleson leave and play in the Olympics.
The Eagles earned splits with Northeastern (Feb. 18 and 19) and then Boston University and now are on a three-game winning streak, their longest of the season.
Boston College averages 3.0 goals a game.
The Eagles have nine players with 20 or more points and three with 15 or more goals. McBain, who played for Team Canada, has 18 goals and 11 assists for 29 points and McLaughlin, who played for Team USA, is at 19-9-28.
"It's fun to play against those guys," Pierson said. "They're a skilled team and they like to play hard and fast. You have to be extremely detailed when you play against them because they thrive off transition and turnovers and things like that."
Senior forward Tyler Wards leads UNH in scoring at 8-16-24 and senior forward Jackson Pierson is the only Wildcat with double figure goals at 12-11-23.
The Eagles have given up 114 goals this season, the most in Hockey East and an average of 3.3 a game.
They've allowed only five goals total in their current three-game win streak.
Grad student goalie Eric Dop, a transfer from Bowling Green, had 42 saves in a 3-1 win over Boston University, 25 in a 2-1 win over UMass on Friday and 42 in a 4-3 win over UMass on Saturday.
He has a 3.08 goals against average and .895 save percentage for the season with 11-14-5 record.
UNH grad student goalie Mike Robinson has started the bulk of the team's games and has a 2.56 goals against average with a .906 save percentage with a record of 12-13-0. Junior David Fessenden had 28 saves in the 1-0 loss to UMass Lowell on Saturday night and has a 2.19 goals against average with a .909 save percentage and record of 2-4-1.
THE ROAD AHEAD
· The UNH-BC game will be shown on NESN.
· The winner of the UNH at BC game advances to a quarterfinal game on Saturday.
· Wednesday's other first-round games have No. 11 Maine at No. 6 Merrimack and No. 10 Vermont at No. 7 Providence.
· Each Hockey East game will be livestreamed for free on College SportsLive.
· All UNH games are also available on the Wildcat Sports Radio Network.
· The standings are reset after Wednesday's games.
· The lowest remaining seed in the tournament will play at No. 1 Northeastern on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
· No. 5 seed Boston University will play at No. 4 Connecticut.
· No. 2 Massachusetts and No. 3 UMass Lowell will also host quarterfinal games.
· 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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