University of New Hampshire Athletics
The Wildcats hope to have plenty of reasons to celebrate this weekend. (Rick Wilson photo)
Photo by: Rick Wilson
Insider Report: White Out Returns
2/16/2023 1:36:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider
'Cats Aim to Extend Season-Best Win Streak vs. Maine
DURHAM, N.H. – "White Out the Whitt" opened to great reviews.
A pivotal series against arch-rival Maine loomed that first weekend in March of 1999 with the Hockey East regular season championship squarely on the line as the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team prepared to host the Black Bears for a pair of games.
Dot Sheehan and her marketing team in the UNH athletic department thought it might be fun to encourage Wildcat fans to dress in all-white in the Whittemore Center to support their team.
UNH, featuring a sophomore by the name of Mike Souza amongst a talented group of players, swept the Black Bears by impressive scores – 6-1 and 4-1 – to capture the title and rode the momentum from a raucous and winning whiteout weekend into the national championship game several weeks later across the country in Anaheim, Calif.
A tradition was born.
This weekend, for the first time since 2019, White Out the Whitt returns to the Whittemore Center. It's the first time for this year's Wildcat seniors – players as well as students – that fans will be allowed in the building to watch Maine and UNH go at it. Thanks, COVID.
"I'd say the boys are pretty excited, to say the least," said UNH sophomore forward Liam Devlin. "Real excited for this weekend."
The teams face off Friday and Saturday nights at 7 at the Whitt and a large crowd is expected each night.
Tickets for UNH hockey may be purchased at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the ticket office at (603) 862-4000. Friday's game is on NESN and both games are on ESPN+ and available on radio through www.unhwildcats.com.
Friday night's game is presented by Buffalo Wild Wings and t-shirts will be given to the first 2,500 fans. Saturday's game, which is also Senior Night for the Wildcats, is presented by Eastern Propane.
More than Border Battle bragging rights are on the line.
The Wildcats and Black Bears are angling for Hockey East playoff positions and have moved up in the standings in recent weeks.
Maine is 4-1-1 in its last half dozen league games and earned a 1-1 tie at UMass Lowell last Sunday.
UNH, playing its best hockey of the season, is 7-2-0 since January 1 and is on a season-best four-game win streak: the Wildcats beat No. 15 Merrimack, 3-2 in overtime; won at No. 16 UMass Lowell, 5-4; and at home against No. 13 UConn, 4-1, last Friday and UConn again, 3-2 in overtime, on Saturday.
Senior forward and captain Chase Stevenson has been on fire for UNH with four goals and three assists for seven points in the last four games. In each of the last four games, he has played a role in the winning goal.
He scored the winner against UMass Lowell and in the 4-1 win over Connecticut. He had assists on overtime winners by freshman defenseman Damien Carfagna against Merrimack and UConn.
Stevenson has four game-winning goals for the season, which ties him for first in Hockey East with Boston University's Lane Hutson and Providence's Patrick Moynihan.
Carfagna has two goals and three assists for five points in UNH's last five games.
The 5-foot-10 and 180-pound Carfagana has perhaps made the smoothest transition to college among the team's freshmen, said Souza, the Wildcat head coach.
"He moves the puck well, very well, and he's competitive for his size," Souza said. "I think sometimes guys who aren't as big don't get recognized for being competitive because they're not going to go in there like a bowling ball and knock people down. But they go in and win puck battles with their sticks and with their heads."
Souza also praised Carfagna's ability to get pucks past defenders and to the net from the blueline.
"He has a real knack for getting pucks through and missing the first layer," Souza said. "That's a great skill for a defenseman to have."
Devlin leads the Wildcats in scoring with 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points and freshman forward Cy LeClerc is right behind at 13-7-20. Sophomore defenseman Colton Huard is at 3-15-18 and Stevenson is at 11-6-17.
Senior goalie David Fessenden has improved his goals against average to 2.56 and save percentage to .914.
Junior forward Lynden Breen leads Maine with 16 goals and 10 assists for 26 points.
Junior goalie Victor Osman has a 2.15 gaa and .922 save percentage.
The Black Bears are 13-13-3 overall and 7-9-2 in Hockey East and enter the weekend in the No. 7 spot in the standings.
The Wildcats are tied for ninth with Massachusetts, five points behind the Black Bears. A win in regulation time is worth three points. Boston College is in eighth place, two points ahead of UNH and UMass.
The top five teams in the standings earn first-round byes for the playoffs and then get home ice for the quarterfinals.
Teams six through eight in the standings host teams nine through 11 in the first round. All tournament rounds are a single game.
UNH, 11-18-1 overall and 6-13-1 in Hockey East, has just four games remaining, while Maine, BC and UMass all have six.
After this weekend, the Wildcats play at UConn Saturday, Feb. 25 and then close out the regular season with a home game against Vermont on Thursday, March 2.
The goal for the Wildcats now is simple: to keep playing like they've played since the new year began.
"From the beginning, we wanted to be the team, be one of the teams in the league, playing their best hockey at the end of the season," Souza said. "It's all for naught if we don't continue to play well."
And yes, Souza, remembers the excitement and satisfaction of that first White Out the Whitt weekend. A photo of the team celebrating the Hockey East championship hangs in his office.
He recalls what followed as well.
"I tell everyone I'd just as well have lost that weekend and won a few weekends later," Souza said.
The Black Bears won the rematch in Anaheim.
A pivotal series against arch-rival Maine loomed that first weekend in March of 1999 with the Hockey East regular season championship squarely on the line as the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team prepared to host the Black Bears for a pair of games.
Dot Sheehan and her marketing team in the UNH athletic department thought it might be fun to encourage Wildcat fans to dress in all-white in the Whittemore Center to support their team.
UNH, featuring a sophomore by the name of Mike Souza amongst a talented group of players, swept the Black Bears by impressive scores – 6-1 and 4-1 – to capture the title and rode the momentum from a raucous and winning whiteout weekend into the national championship game several weeks later across the country in Anaheim, Calif.
A tradition was born.
This weekend, for the first time since 2019, White Out the Whitt returns to the Whittemore Center. It's the first time for this year's Wildcat seniors – players as well as students – that fans will be allowed in the building to watch Maine and UNH go at it. Thanks, COVID.
"I'd say the boys are pretty excited, to say the least," said UNH sophomore forward Liam Devlin. "Real excited for this weekend."
The teams face off Friday and Saturday nights at 7 at the Whitt and a large crowd is expected each night.
Tickets for UNH hockey may be purchased at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the ticket office at (603) 862-4000. Friday's game is on NESN and both games are on ESPN+ and available on radio through www.unhwildcats.com.
Friday night's game is presented by Buffalo Wild Wings and t-shirts will be given to the first 2,500 fans. Saturday's game, which is also Senior Night for the Wildcats, is presented by Eastern Propane.
More than Border Battle bragging rights are on the line.
The Wildcats and Black Bears are angling for Hockey East playoff positions and have moved up in the standings in recent weeks.
Maine is 4-1-1 in its last half dozen league games and earned a 1-1 tie at UMass Lowell last Sunday.
UNH, playing its best hockey of the season, is 7-2-0 since January 1 and is on a season-best four-game win streak: the Wildcats beat No. 15 Merrimack, 3-2 in overtime; won at No. 16 UMass Lowell, 5-4; and at home against No. 13 UConn, 4-1, last Friday and UConn again, 3-2 in overtime, on Saturday.
Senior forward and captain Chase Stevenson has been on fire for UNH with four goals and three assists for seven points in the last four games. In each of the last four games, he has played a role in the winning goal.
He scored the winner against UMass Lowell and in the 4-1 win over Connecticut. He had assists on overtime winners by freshman defenseman Damien Carfagna against Merrimack and UConn.
Stevenson has four game-winning goals for the season, which ties him for first in Hockey East with Boston University's Lane Hutson and Providence's Patrick Moynihan.
Carfagna has two goals and three assists for five points in UNH's last five games.
The 5-foot-10 and 180-pound Carfagana has perhaps made the smoothest transition to college among the team's freshmen, said Souza, the Wildcat head coach.
"He moves the puck well, very well, and he's competitive for his size," Souza said. "I think sometimes guys who aren't as big don't get recognized for being competitive because they're not going to go in there like a bowling ball and knock people down. But they go in and win puck battles with their sticks and with their heads."
Souza also praised Carfagna's ability to get pucks past defenders and to the net from the blueline.
"He has a real knack for getting pucks through and missing the first layer," Souza said. "That's a great skill for a defenseman to have."
Devlin leads the Wildcats in scoring with 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points and freshman forward Cy LeClerc is right behind at 13-7-20. Sophomore defenseman Colton Huard is at 3-15-18 and Stevenson is at 11-6-17.
Senior goalie David Fessenden has improved his goals against average to 2.56 and save percentage to .914.
Junior forward Lynden Breen leads Maine with 16 goals and 10 assists for 26 points.
Junior goalie Victor Osman has a 2.15 gaa and .922 save percentage.
The Black Bears are 13-13-3 overall and 7-9-2 in Hockey East and enter the weekend in the No. 7 spot in the standings.
The Wildcats are tied for ninth with Massachusetts, five points behind the Black Bears. A win in regulation time is worth three points. Boston College is in eighth place, two points ahead of UNH and UMass.
The top five teams in the standings earn first-round byes for the playoffs and then get home ice for the quarterfinals.
Teams six through eight in the standings host teams nine through 11 in the first round. All tournament rounds are a single game.
UNH, 11-18-1 overall and 6-13-1 in Hockey East, has just four games remaining, while Maine, BC and UMass all have six.
After this weekend, the Wildcats play at UConn Saturday, Feb. 25 and then close out the regular season with a home game against Vermont on Thursday, March 2.
The goal for the Wildcats now is simple: to keep playing like they've played since the new year began.
"From the beginning, we wanted to be the team, be one of the teams in the league, playing their best hockey at the end of the season," Souza said. "It's all for naught if we don't continue to play well."
And yes, Souza, remembers the excitement and satisfaction of that first White Out the Whitt weekend. A photo of the team celebrating the Hockey East championship hangs in his office.
He recalls what followed as well.
"I tell everyone I'd just as well have lost that weekend and won a few weekends later," Souza said.
The Black Bears won the rematch in Anaheim.
Players Mentioned
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