UNH forward Morgan Winters, right, fist bumps with goalie Jakob Hellsten after scoring a second-period goal during Saturday night’s Hockey East game against Maine at the Whittemore Center in Durham. The Wildcats won, 5-2.
UNH forward Morgan Winters, right, fist bumps with goalie Jakob Hellsten after scoring a second-period goal during Saturday night’s Hockey East game against Maine at the Whittemore Center in Durham. The Wildcats won, 5-2.
WHAT’S the biggest game? Coaches and players usually agree that it’s the next one, and that saying rings true for the UNH men’s hockey team.
The Wildcats can’t live in the past, and that could be difficult considering the most recent past was a wildly successful home weekend against rival Maine. A pair of sellout crowds — Saturday’s gathering included former UNH star James van Riemsdyk — were treated to two decisive victories that shocked more than a few folks in the college hockey world. In short, UNH showed what it can be when it (generally) stays out of the box, occasionally cashes in on a power play and gets solid goaltending (take a bow, Jakob Hellsten). In other words, when it plays smart, aggressive hockey.
And because of that six-point weekend, the Wildcats have placed themselves squarely in the hunt for a top-five finish in Hockey East, which guarantees an opening-round bye in the postseason tournament. Frankly, a top-three seed isn’t out of the question, either.
So, right on cue, here come Greg Carvel’s UMass Minutemen for a home-and-home series, Friday night in Amherst, Mass., and Saturday night in Durham. That would be the UMass that is tied with UNH for fifth place, each with 28 points and 18 games played.
Three more Hockey East weekends remain. Six more games. The last two were important, but the next two are crucial. Just check the standings.
“That was an exciting experience and huge for us for the season,” said UNH defenseman Colton Huard on Wednesday, referring to the Maine series.
“But now it’s just time to focus on this week and kind of just ... it starts in practice, competing out there. Worry about Friday, then after Friday, worry about Saturday.”
Some quick reflections from Saturday night’s game and Hockey East in general:
• Freshman Ryan Conmy continues to amaze. His pass setting up Huard’s power-play goal — from the top of the right wing circle, he bounced the puck off the end boards to Huard on the left side of the net — showed that he must have aced geometry in high school. Conmy’s backhand pass setting up Cy LeClerc’s goal was also pretty special. In this era of transfers and pro departures, here’s hoping the L.A. Kings draftee is digging his time in Durham and stays for a while.
• Maine’s heralded Nadeau brothers collected the same number of points that their team did over the weekend at the Whittemore Center. They didn’t even have many great looks.
• The Black Bears buried themselves on Saturday with not one, but two five-minute majors. UNH scored once on each power play and that was the ballgame.
•For their efforts over the weekend, Bedford’s Alex Gagne was named the league’s Defender of the Week, Liam Devlin the Co-Player of the Week.
• Hockey East is strong in general, but Boston College and Boston University are in a class by themselves. But which is better?
Other thoughts as the winter season heads for crunch time ...
• Chip Kelly should be in a great spot as offensive coordinator for Granite State buddy Ryan Day at Ohio State. As we speak, he’s probably drawing up plays in the snow somewhere. Dealing with the necessary evils of transfer portals and NIL issues as UCLA’s head coach may not have been his strong suit, according to reports.
• Remember the UNH men’s basketball team? The Wildcats will play their first game in seven days when they host NJIT on Thursday night, and like their hockey brethren, the next game is the biggest. UNH sits in fourth place in America East, a conference that awards home games to the top four teams for the first round of the postseason tournament. Down the stretch, the Wildcats will need big games from the league’s leading scorer, power forward Clarence Daniels (averaging 20.0 points per game), who has sputtered a bit over the last three games during which UNH has gone 1-2.
• The players with “Red Sox” on the front of their uniforms open spring training games on Friday with the traditional contest against Boston neighbor Northeastern University. The Red Sox may have their hands full. The Huskies are ranked No. 23 nationally and were able to take a game against the University of Arizona last weekend.
• RIP, Don Gullett, who died last week at age 73. In the mid-70s, the Gullett seen on the TV sceen seemed unhittable — especially to a young left-handed batter. Fortunately, he was in the majors and I was in high school, so I never faced him.
• It’s unfathomable to think Pinkerton Academy’s Jackson Marshall is going to college to play anything except basketball. Watching the 6-8, 260-pound center dominate the paint against NHIAA competition is a thing to behold. Plus, his teammates rebound exceptionally well, so he’s able to sneak out for fast-break dunks, like we saw last Friday in a 45-point effort at Trinity. Marshall poured in another 40 on Tuesday night at Goffstown. He’s headed to SNHU on a baseball scholarship.
• Here’s a primer on where we stand with the boys and girls high school basketball tournaments: Division I finishes its regular season on Friday; Division II finishes on Thursday; Division III plays its championship games on Saturday at Keene State College, and the Division IV tournaments are well underway and stage their championships next Saturday, March 2 at Colby-Sawyer College in New London.
• Even some racing fans are less than satisfied with a race ending under the yellow caution. But that’s what we got on Monday at the Daytona 500, where the cars hit the finish line going no faster than everybody who passes me on Route 93.
• Wishing Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy a get-well after heart surgery. Shaughnessy has been holding people’s feet to the fire for a very long time, with style.
•Really, UNH hockey fans, did you think your guys would still be in the conversation for an NCAA berth on Feb. 22?
