DURHAM – The only other time the University of New Hampshire men’s hockey team entered the Hockey East quarterfinals as the No. 8 seed in the tournament, the Wildcats knocked off No. 2 Providence College and advanced to the championship round at TD Garden in 2015.
This weekend, UNH will look to repeat its No. 8 history.
The Wildcats, who were the No. 11 seed in the tournament last year, take on top-rated Massachusetts in a best-of-three series at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass. starting on Friday. Games are set for Friday, Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday. Game time is 7 p.m. each night.
Information on tickets for the games at Massachusetts is available at www.unhwildcats.com and by calling 603-862-4000.
The Minutemen have been one of the top teams in the country all season. They are 26-8-0 overall and 18-6-0 in Hockey East and are ranked No. 2 in the country in one poll, No. 3 in another.
“We can’t worry too much about who they are and what they’ve accomplished,” said coach Mike Souza. “My hat’s off to them, but we’ve got to worry about UNH and what we do well. We know we’ve got a tough task. I’m proud of our group. No one picked us to make the playoffs. We’re in the playoffs. No one’s giving us a chance to beat UMass. We’re excited to get out there and see what we can do.”
Among the points of emphasis at UNH practice this week has been boosting the offensive attack.
The Wildcats have scored only eight goals in their last seven games.
“We need to pressure their D, make plays behind the net, get two or three guys crashing the net for secondary opportunities,” said senior forward Ara Nazarian. “We’ve been getting some good looks, just maybe some bad puck luck. Again, you create your own luck. That’s just a mindset we have to have going into this weekend. We’re going to get pucks in the crease, we’re going to get pucks to the net and they’re going to go in for us.”
UNH averages 2.53 goals a game. UMass averages 3.76 a game, which leads Hockey East and is third-best in the country.
The Minutemen’s success rate of 29.5 percent on the power play leads Hockey East and the nation.
UMass sophomore Cale Makar is second in the country in scoring among defensemen with 13 goals and 29 assists for 42 points. He was picked fourth overall in the 2017 NHL Entry draft by the Colorado Avalanche.
The Minutemen have the top three scorers in Hockey East with Makar, sophomore forward Mitchell Chaffee at 16-24-40 and senior forward Jacob Pritchard at 14-25-39. They have sophomore forward John Leonard at 13-21-34 and one of the top freshmen defensemen in the country in Marc Del Gaizo at 12-12-24.
“They’re good in every area,” Souza said. “They have elite defensemen. They have the best player in the country. They’re got some real good depth at the forward position. They’ve got a really solid goaltender.”
Makar leads the way.
“He’s good in all areas,” Souza said. “He’s physical. He’s a tough kid. He can skate. He’s a gamechanger. He’s a dynamic threat out there at all times. We’ve got to be aware when he’s on the ice.”
Offensively, junior forward Liam Blackburn leads a balanced UNH group with 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points. Nazarian has a team-best 12 goals with 11 assists. Next come freshman forward Angus Crookshank (9-13-22), sophomore defenseman Max Gildon (6-15-21), sophomore forward Charlie Kelleher (3-17-20), freshman forward Jackson Pierson (8-11-19), senior forward Marcus Vela (6-11-17), junior forward Brendan van Riemsdyk (9-6-15) and sophomore forward Patrick Grasso (7-8-15).
Grasso remains out of the lineup for medical reasons.
UNH sophomore goaltender Mike Robinson takes a 2.32 goals against average and .920 save percentage into the tournament and has five shutouts.
UMass sophomore Matt Murray has a 2.04 goals against average and .922 save percentage with one shutout. The Minutemen allow 2.06 goals a game, which is second to Providence in the league.
In that 2015 Hockey East tournament, UNH was the No. 8 seed and beat No. 9 UConn in the first round. The Wildcats won two games to one at No. 2 Providence to advance to the semifinals. UNH won the first game 2-1 in overtime, lost 1-2 and then won 2-1 in overtime.
It was the last time the Friars lost that season. They earned an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament and ran the table to their first national title.
At UMass, the Wildcats are playing for the right to keep playing.
“We were just talking about that,” Nazarian said Wednesday in a press conference. “As a senior class, we don’t want this to be our last practice here at the Whitt today. We want to be playing next weekend. It’s do or die for our group. We’re going to leave it all out there and hopefully we get the outcome that we want.”
WHAT’S AHEAD
This weekend’s winner between UNH and UMass will advance to a Hockey East semifinal game at TD Garden in Boston on Friday, March 22.
UNH is hosting the 2019 NCAA Men’s Hockey Northeast Regional at the SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H., on Friday and Saturday, March 29-30.
Four teams will be sent to each of four regionals around the country.
The four regional winners advance to the Frozen Four in Buffalo, April 11-13.
The East Regional is in Providence, R.I., on March 30-31; the Midwest is in Allentown, Pa., on March 30-31; and the West is in Fargo, N.D. on March 29-30.
The 16-team field for the 2019 NCAA tournament will be announced Sunday, March 24 on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m.
WILDCAT NOTES
UNH was picked ninth in the Hockey East preseason poll.
UMass was picked sixth.
The eighth-place finish for UNH is its best since finishing eighth in 2015.
This is the first year not all Hockey East teams made the playoffs.
The top eight teams made it and UConn, Vermont and Maine missed the playoffs.
UMass beat UNH twice during the regular season: 5-1 in Durham on Nov. 3 and 4-2 in Amherst on Nov. 18.
The Wildcats are 11-13-9 overall and were 8-10-6 in Hockey East.
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