University of New Hampshire Athletics
Junior defenseman Nikolai Jenson returns to the lineup against Providence on Wednesday.
Insider Report: Tourney Time
3/8/2023 12:52:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey, UNH Insider
'Cats Look to Get Physical in Hockey East Opener at Providence on Wednesday
DURHAM, N.H. – The last time the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team visited Providence College's Schneider Arena, the Wildcats posted an impressive 2-0 victory that propelled them to a strong showing over the last two months of the regular season.
Senior forward and captain Chase Stevenson and his teammates are hoping they can get a similar boost out of Wednesday night's game at Schneider.
The Wildcats and Friars go at it again at 7 p.m. in the first round of the Hockey East tournament.
The winning team advances to a quarterfinal game on Saturday night. The losing team closes up shop for the season.
The game will be available on ESPN+ and the Wildcat Sports Radio Network, which can be reached through www.unhwildcats.com.
UNH is the 10th seed for the tournament with a 6-15-3 record in Hockey East and has an overall record of 11-20-3. Providence, which has struggled since that 2-0 loss on Jan. 6, is the No. 7 seed with marks of 9-9-6 in the league and 14-13-7 overall.
"To be honest, we didn't really care who we played against (in the tournament)," Stevenson said. "But when it fell to Providence, we have confidence playing in that building. Everyone knows it's going to be a physical game and we've been playing real hard. Everyone's excited and ready to go."
Coach Mike Souza is happy to have tough junior defenseman Nikolai Jenson, who has missed the last two games as he recovers from an injury, returning to the lineup.
"He's had a really good year for us," Souza said. "We're excited to have him back."
At plus-7, Jenson is the only Wildcat with a plus number in plus-minus statistics.
UNH had a difficult first half of the year and came back after its Christmas break and lost a pair of close games at Union, 4-3 and 3-2.
Souza liked the way the team competed in those games and the Wildcats went to Providence to take on the Friars, then ranked No. 11 in the country.
Cy LeClerc, a freshman out of Brentwood, N.H., scored just over four minutes into the game and Stevenson scored just under 10 minutes later and behind the 35 saves of senior goalie David Fessenden, the Wildcats blanked the Friars.
That started a three-game win streak and the Wildcats later compiled a four-game win streak that stretched into a six-game unbeaten run and they were played well against ranked teams.
The team went into the Jan. 6 contest looking to play a more physical game and needs to keep up that style, Stevenson said.
"I think we were preaching at the time that we really wanted to be a harder team to play against," Stevenson said. "I thought in the first half of the year we weren't as physical, we weren't as prepared for the game. . . . When I look back at that game we really focused on our physicality. That's the game we need to focus on going into this one. . . . I also think from a team dynamic standpoint, beating a team like that, that been playing real well, was a confidence boost for us."
The details
The top five teams in the final Hockey East standings received first-round byes for the tournament and will host quarterfinal games on Saturday.
Boston University won the regular season championship, Merrimack College was runnerup and is the second seed, followed by No. 3 Northeastern, No. 4 UConn and No. 5 UMass Lowell.
There are three games Wednesday night: Besides UNH at Providence, No. 11 seed Vermont is at No. 6 Maine and No. 9 UMass is at No. 8 Boston College.
The tournament will be reseeded after Wednesday's game and the three winners will play at the top three seeds on Saturday.
Sophomore forward Liam Devlin leads the Wildcats with 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points. Freshman Cy LeClerc (13 goals, seven assists) and Stevenson (12 goals, eight assists) each have 20 points and freshman defenseman Damien Carfagna is at 6-10-16.
Fessenden has a 2.68 goals against average and .910 save percentage. Freshman goalie Tyler Muszelik had 22 saves against Vermont in a 3-2 loss last Thursday and the game before that had 29 saves in a 0-0 tie against Maine.
Senior forward Parker Ford has 11-14-25 totals for the Friars. Junior forward Brett Berard is at 10-14-24, senior defenseman Max Crozier at 3-20-23 and junior forward Nick Poisson at 10-10-20.
Freshman Philip Svedeback has a 2.28 GAA and .906 save percentage.
UNH and Providence also met twice earlier in the season. They tied 2-2 in the Whittemore Center on Oct. 13 and the Friars picked up an extra point for a shootout win. The next night, the Friars won a 3-1 game in Providence that included an empty net goal.
Senior forward and captain Chase Stevenson and his teammates are hoping they can get a similar boost out of Wednesday night's game at Schneider.
The Wildcats and Friars go at it again at 7 p.m. in the first round of the Hockey East tournament.
The winning team advances to a quarterfinal game on Saturday night. The losing team closes up shop for the season.
The game will be available on ESPN+ and the Wildcat Sports Radio Network, which can be reached through www.unhwildcats.com.
UNH is the 10th seed for the tournament with a 6-15-3 record in Hockey East and has an overall record of 11-20-3. Providence, which has struggled since that 2-0 loss on Jan. 6, is the No. 7 seed with marks of 9-9-6 in the league and 14-13-7 overall.
"To be honest, we didn't really care who we played against (in the tournament)," Stevenson said. "But when it fell to Providence, we have confidence playing in that building. Everyone knows it's going to be a physical game and we've been playing real hard. Everyone's excited and ready to go."
Coach Mike Souza is happy to have tough junior defenseman Nikolai Jenson, who has missed the last two games as he recovers from an injury, returning to the lineup.
"He's had a really good year for us," Souza said. "We're excited to have him back."
At plus-7, Jenson is the only Wildcat with a plus number in plus-minus statistics.
UNH had a difficult first half of the year and came back after its Christmas break and lost a pair of close games at Union, 4-3 and 3-2.
Souza liked the way the team competed in those games and the Wildcats went to Providence to take on the Friars, then ranked No. 11 in the country.
Cy LeClerc, a freshman out of Brentwood, N.H., scored just over four minutes into the game and Stevenson scored just under 10 minutes later and behind the 35 saves of senior goalie David Fessenden, the Wildcats blanked the Friars.
That started a three-game win streak and the Wildcats later compiled a four-game win streak that stretched into a six-game unbeaten run and they were played well against ranked teams.
The team went into the Jan. 6 contest looking to play a more physical game and needs to keep up that style, Stevenson said.
"I think we were preaching at the time that we really wanted to be a harder team to play against," Stevenson said. "I thought in the first half of the year we weren't as physical, we weren't as prepared for the game. . . . When I look back at that game we really focused on our physicality. That's the game we need to focus on going into this one. . . . I also think from a team dynamic standpoint, beating a team like that, that been playing real well, was a confidence boost for us."
The details
The top five teams in the final Hockey East standings received first-round byes for the tournament and will host quarterfinal games on Saturday.
Boston University won the regular season championship, Merrimack College was runnerup and is the second seed, followed by No. 3 Northeastern, No. 4 UConn and No. 5 UMass Lowell.
There are three games Wednesday night: Besides UNH at Providence, No. 11 seed Vermont is at No. 6 Maine and No. 9 UMass is at No. 8 Boston College.
The tournament will be reseeded after Wednesday's game and the three winners will play at the top three seeds on Saturday.
Sophomore forward Liam Devlin leads the Wildcats with 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points. Freshman Cy LeClerc (13 goals, seven assists) and Stevenson (12 goals, eight assists) each have 20 points and freshman defenseman Damien Carfagna is at 6-10-16.
Fessenden has a 2.68 goals against average and .910 save percentage. Freshman goalie Tyler Muszelik had 22 saves against Vermont in a 3-2 loss last Thursday and the game before that had 29 saves in a 0-0 tie against Maine.
Senior forward Parker Ford has 11-14-25 totals for the Friars. Junior forward Brett Berard is at 10-14-24, senior defenseman Max Crozier at 3-20-23 and junior forward Nick Poisson at 10-10-20.
Freshman Philip Svedeback has a 2.28 GAA and .906 save percentage.
UNH and Providence also met twice earlier in the season. They tied 2-2 in the Whittemore Center on Oct. 13 and the Friars picked up an extra point for a shootout win. The next night, the Friars won a 3-1 game in Providence that included an empty net goal.
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