MEN'S HOCKEY ENTERS HOME-AND-HOME SERIES WITH MERRIMACK
Game
Notes
THE MATCHUP: The 12th-ranked University of New
Hampshire men’s hockey team puts its 11-game Hockey East
unbeaten streak on the line as it enters into a home-and-home
series with Merrimack College. The Wildcats travel to Merrimack on
Friday night (7 p.m.) to play a Warrior team that is 8-1-0 at home
this season. The two square off on Saturday night (7 p.m.) at
Whittemore Center.
SCOUTING THE WARRIORS: Merrimack enters this
weekend’s matchup with UNH with an 8-13-0 overall mark, 5-9-0
in Hockey East. It has truly been a tale of two teams home and away
this season for Merrimack. The Warriors are 8-1-0 at home with
their lone loss being a 5-4 defeat to UNH on Nov. 28. However, on
the road Merrimack is 0-11-0. The Warriors sit in ninth place a
point ahead of 10th-place Providence. Merrimack is just 2-11-0 over
the last 13 games with a 2-1 overtime win over Providence last time
out snapping a seven-game losing streak. The Warriors are led
offensively by freshman standout Stephane Da Costa. The
nation’s leading scorer among freshmen, Da Costa has 25
points (11g, 14a) in 19 games.Chris Barton is second on the team in
scoring with 22 points (12-10-22). Netminders Chris Cannata and
Andrew Braithwaite have split time in net for Merrimack. Cannata is
3-9-0 with a 3.81 GA and .876 save percentage, while Braithwaite is
5-4-0 with a 3.01 GAA and a .903 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY VS. MERRIMACK: The Wildcats hold
the advantage in the all-time series vs. Merrimack College at
62-12-8 in 82 all-time meetings dating back to Jan. 16, 1960.
Since 1996, UNH is 38-3-6 in the last 47 games including a 5-4 win
in this year’s only meeting. UNH owns a 23-3-2 all-time
record vs. Merrimack at the Whittemore Center and Coach Umile in
his 20-year coaching career has compiled a 50-9-7 all-time mark
against the Warriors. The ‘Cats are 13-2-0 in the last 15
meetings against Merrimack at Towse Rink. Senior Bobby Butler
(4-4-8) is the active leading Wildcat scorer against Merrimack with
eight points. Senior goaltender Brian Foster has posted a 3-1-1
lifetime record against the Warriors with a 2.37 GAA, a .922 save
percentage and one career shutout.
SCORING LEADERS VS. THE WARRIORS:
Player GP
G-A-P
Bobby Butler 10 4-4-8
Paul Thompson 6 2-3-5
Phil DeSimone 6 2-3-5
Peter LeBlanc 10 1-3-4
Blake Kessel 4 0-3-3
Damon Kipp 2 0-2-2
Mike Sislo 7 2-0-2
Mike Beck 2 0-1-1
Stevie Moses 3 1-0-1
Nick Krates 6 0-1-1
Matt Campanale 5 0-0-0
Greg Manz 2 0-0-0
Mike Borisenok 2 0-0-0
Kevin McCarey 2 0-0-0
John Henrion 1 0-0-0
Austin Block 1 0-0-0
Scott Pavelski 1 0-0-0
Brett Kostolansky 1 0-0-0
Connor Hardowa 1
0-0-0
Goaltending Stats
Player GP/Min
GA GAA W-L-T
SV SV%
Foster 5/303:38
12 2.37 3-1-1
141 .922
Foster Game-by-Game vs. the Warriors
Date Min
Res. Svs. GA
Shots
3-1-08
64:57 T 34
1 35
11-29-08
59:12 L 23
4 27
2-27-09
60:00 W 24
3 27
2-28-09
60:00 W 26
0 26
11-28-09
59:29 W 34
4 38
Totals
303:38 3-1-1
141 12 153
LAST TIME THESE TEAMS MET (Nov. 28, 2009): The top line
of Paul Thompson (2g, 1a), Bobby Butler (2g, 1a) and Phil DeSimone
(1g, 2a) scored three points apiece to lift UNH to a 5-4 win
over Merrimack College at J. Thom Lawler Arena. Brian Foster
stopped 34 shots including 15 in the first period.
FOSTER COLLECTS HOCKEY EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Brian Foster was named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week. He
earns this award for a league-best fourth time this season and
sixth time of his career. Foster stopped 64 of 67 shots (.955) over
the weekend lifting the Wildcats to critical road wins over
Providence and Boston University. Foster posted a 1.47 GAA and
allowed a pair of goals on Friday night and just a single power
play goal on Saturday night. Foster turned away 17 third period
shots in the winning effort against BU.
MEN’S HOCKEY DEBUTS IN USA TODAY POLL AT 12TH
SPOT:UNH has ridden a five-game unbeaten streak and debuts
in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine’s Men’s College
Hockey Poll Top 15 for the first time this season. The Wildcats
appear in the 12th spot garnering 144 points. The Wildcats last
appeared in the USA Today poll when it was ranked sixth in the
final national poll of the 2008-09 season. The 12th-ranked Wildcats
hold a five-point lead in the Hockey East standing and are the
highest ranked team of three league teams in the top 15 nationally,
Massachusetts (14) and Boston College (15).
‘CATS EXTEND HOCKEY EAST UNBEATEN STREAK TO 11
GAMES: UNH extended its Hockey East unbeaten streak to
11-game (9-0-2), marking the longest HE unbeaten streak since a
14-game league unbeaten streak that went from 1-11-08 to
3-8-08.
BUTLER JOINS CENTURY CLUB: Senior Bobby Butler recorded
his 100th point on Friday night against Providence. Butler’s
100th point came on the primary assist of the game winning overtime
goal by Phil DeSimone. Butler becomes the 67th Wildcat to join the
century club and the first since Mike Radja and Matt Fornataro did
so on Jan. 28, 2008 at Boston University.
UNH UNBEATEN IN LAST FIVE OVERALL: UNH is riding a
five-game unbeaten streak overall (4-0-1). Earlier this season, the
‘Cats enjoyed a seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1).
BUTLER FOURTH NATIONALLY IN POINTS, GOALS: Bobby Butler
ranks fourth in the nation in goals with 0.74 goals per game. In
addition, his 1.43 ppg is also good enough for fourth
nationally.
BUTLER, DESIMONE RIDING FIVE-GAME SCORING STREAK: Top
liners Bobby Butler and Phil DeSimone are riding five-game active
scoring streaks. Butler has nine points in the last five games (4g,
5a), while DeSimone has seven points in that same span (3g,
4a).
POINT SALE: 5 FOR 20: UNH is the only team in the league
with three players in the top 10 in scoring and five players with
20 points or more. Below is a breakdown of 20-point scorers by
Hockey East teams.
Team # of 20-point
Scorers
UNH 5
Massachusetts 4
Mass.-Lowell 4
Boston College 2
Maine 2
Merrimack College 2
Vermont 1
Boston University 0
Northeastern 0
Providence 0
WILDCATS CAPTURE SEASON SERIES WITH BU, IMPROVE TO 5-1-3 AT
AGGANIS ARENA: The Wildcats completed the weekend by
captured a 4-1 road win at Boston University. UNH completed the
series with BU with a 2-0-1 mark, improve to 5-1-3 all time at
Agganis Arena and helped the ‘Cats to their fourth-straight
win.
KESSEL SECOND NATIONALLY IN DEFENSIVE POINTS, MOST POINTS BY UNH
BLUELINER SINCE BRIAN YANDLE: Blake Kessel’s
27 points (6-20-27) is second only to Wisconsin’s Brendan
Smith (30). In addition, his 27 points are the most points by
defenseman since Brian Yandle had 30 points in 2005-06.
UNH’S OFFENSE SEVENTH NATIONALLY: New
Hampshire’s offense ranks seventh in the country at 3.48 gpg
including 12 games with four or more goals.
DEUCES WILDcats: The Wildcat defense has allowed two
goals or fewer in five straight games.
T-B-D LINE, A DETERMINED SUCCESS: Since its formation on
Nov. 14, 2009, the Wildcat TBD line (Thompson, Butler, DeSimone)
have posted 27 goals, 30 assists for 57 points in 13 games (4.38
ppg) and guided UNH to a 10-1-2 record over span.
Since the T-B-D line was formed 13 games ago
Player Goals
Assists
Points PPG
Butler 10 11
21 1.61
Thompson 11
8
19 1.46
DeSimone 6
11
17 1.30
Totals 27 30
57 4.38
FOSTER HEATING UP IN ‘CATS UNBEATEN STREAK: During
UNH’s 11-game Hockey East unbeaten streak, Brian Foster is
8-0-2 with a 2.06 GAA, a .934 save percentage and allowed two goals
or fewer on eight occasions during UNH’s 11-game Hockey East
unbeaten streak.
‘CATS HOLDING THE LEAD: UNH is 10-0-0 when leading
after two periods, while New Hampshire is also 7-0-0 after holding
a lead heading into the first intermission.
FOSTER CLIMBING UNH RECORD BOOKS: After sitting the wings
behind Wildcat legendary netminder Kevin Regan, Brian Foster is
writing his name in the Wildcat goaltending record book.
Career GAA: 2.81 (5th) Career
Save %: .908 (5th)
Career Games: 70 (10th) Career
Saves: 1,886 (10th)
Career Wins: 34 (13th)
BORISENOK COMING UP WITH TIMELY GOALS: Sophomore Mike
Borisenok scored a pair of goals last weekend for the Wildcats. He
scored the second goal of the game against PC and the first goal at
BU.
ROAD-SWEET-ROAD: After going 0-5-0 in its first five road
games, UNH has bounced back with a 6-0-1 record in its last seven
games. Below is a look at the difference from the first five to the
last seven:
First 5
Last 7
Record
0-5-0
6-0-1
Score 9-23
28-17
Offense 1.8
gpg 4.0
gpg
Defense 4.6 gpg
2.4 gpg
Power Play 5.3 %
9.4 %
Penalty Kill 75.0 %
73.9%
UNH’s Top Line 4 pts. (3g, 1a) (0.8
ppg) 33 pts. (14g, 19a)
(Thompson, DeSimone, Butler **not together** for first five
games)
Foster’s #
Record
0-5-0
5-0-1
Save %
88.3%
93.2%
GAA 4.38
GAA 2.29
GAA
TO THIS POINT LAST YEAR: A comparison through 23 games
between this season and last season.
07-08 08-09
09-10
Record 15-7-1
11-8-4 12-7-4
HE Record 9-3-1
7-6-3
11-2-3
Goals scored 81
69 80
Goals scored/PG 3.50
3.00
3.48
Goals Allowed 63
71 73
Goals Allowed/PG 2.70
3.09 3.17
Shots 776
782 681
Shots Allowed 711
695 748
Power Play 17.1%
13.6% 18.4
(19-111)
(18-132) (19-103)
Penalty Kill 84.6%
80.6% 80.2%
(104-123)
(104-129) (77-96)
Top 3 Scorers Fornataro van
Riem.
Butler
8-21-29
9-17-27
17-16-33
Radja Sislo,
LeBlanc Kessel
13-10-23 15-3-18,
8-10-18 6-21-27
van Riemsdyk
Butler
Thompson
10-12-22
6-11-17
13-12-25
30-30 FOR BUTLER: Bobby Butler posted 30 points
for the second-straight season. Butler finished 2008-09 with 30
points (9-21-30) and has 33 points through 23 games this season.
