GAME DAY: #4 WOMEN'S HOCKEY PLAYS HOST TO UCONN, MAINE

NOTES | VIDEO | AUDIO | STATS | TICKETS

THE MATCHUPS
    The University of New Hampshire women’s ice hockey team, ranked fourth in the national polls, returns home to the Whittemore Center this weekend for Hockey East league games against Connecticut (Oct. 31; 5 p.m.) and Maine (Nov. 1; 3 p.m. –White out the Whit).
    Both games will be videostreamed online at unhwildcats.tv and the Maine game will also be broadcast live via the airwaves on the Wildcat Sports Radio Network.
    UNH has a 28-3-4 lifetime record, including this year’s 3-1 victory, against UConn. The Wildcats are 15-1-2 at home vs. the Huskies. UConn’s only win in the series was in December 2001.
    New Hampshire has a 14-game unbeaten streak (12-0-2) in this series dating back to the Huskies’ 5-4 overtime win in the 2005 Hockey East semifinals.
    In this year’s season opener, UConn took a 1-0 lead early in the second period on Brittany Murphy’s goal. UNH’s Kelly Cahill netted a power-play goal at 9:54 of the middle stanza and Micaela Long scored with 1:21 remaining in the period to give the ‘Cats a 2-1 lead. Julie Allen struck at 5:17 of the final frame and that closed the game scoring. Lindsey Minton finished with 12 saves while UConn counterpart Alexandra Garcia stopped 27 shots. UNH was 1-for-6 on the power play, and UConn went 0-for-6 with the extra skater.
    UNH has a 30-1-3 lifetime record, including 3-0-0 last season, vs. Maine. The Wildcats have won 11 straight in the series and is unbeaten in the last 25 meetings (22-0-3). UNH had a 15-2 scoring advantage in last year’s three-game series, and the ‘Cats have outscored the Black Bears 60-7 during the 11-game winning streak.
    The ‘Cats have a 15-1-1 home record. Maine’s only win (2-1) in the series occurred January 2002 at the Whittemore Center.

SKUDDER HONORED AS HOCKEY EAST ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
    Freshman forward Brittany Skudder was honored as Rookie of the Week by Hockey East on Oct. 26. Skudder netted two power-play goals to lead UNH to a 3-3 tie at sixth-ranked St. Lawrence University last Saturday. Her first goal of the game gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game and the second tally extended UNH’s lead to 3-1 late in the second period. Both the two goals and two points are career highs.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
    New Hampshire concluded its season-opening six-game homestand with a 5-0-1 record. Dating back to last season, UNH’s regular-season unbeaten streak ended at 19 games (18-0-1).
    Staying within the realm of regular season play, UNH has not lost at the Whittemore Center since Nov. 11, 2007 (2-1 to Princeton). Since that game, the ‘Cats are 26-0-5 at home in regular-season games –that includes 12-0-2 against non-league opponents.
    New Hampshire is 13-for-28 on the power play in the last six games and that includes a 4-for-5 effort Oct. 18 vs. Niagara.
    The Wildcats have outscored the opposition 13-4 in the second period with a 86-48 shot advantage.
    UNH shut out the opposition in the second and third games of the season; the Wildcats did not record back-to-back shutouts last year. UNH’s shutout streak ended at 183 minutes, 30 seconds when Syracuse scored its second-period goal.
    Eighth-year head coach Brian McCloskey is approaching the 200-win milestone, as he enters the weekend with 194 career victories (193-42-25 overall record). There are currently nine active Division I coaches with 200+ wins. McCloskey’s predecessors at UNH also exceeded 200 victories. Russ McCurdy compiled a 264-36-10 record from 1978-92 and Karen Kay went 215-90-25 from 1993-2002.

'CAT NIPS
    Courtney Sheary matched her career highs in both assists (two) and points (two) at sixth-ranked St. Lawrence on Oct. 24.
    Brittany Skudder recorded her first multiple-goal game with two power-play goals Oct. 24 at SLU.
    Kristine Horn has scored three of her four goals on the power play. She carries a four-game point-scoring streak into this weekend’s action.

HOME SWEET HOME
    New Hampshire opened the 2010 season with a six-game homestand and went 5-0-1. The Wildcats outscored the opposition 22-6 with a 194-98 shot advantage.
    UNH had a 14-1-3 record at the Whittemore Center last season and went 17-1-1 at home in 2008; the ‘Cats had a 30-game unbeaten streak (26-0-4) spanning those two seasons.

HOME ICE ADVANTAGE
    UNH is 63-0-9 in home league regular-season games since the inception of Hockey East in the 2003 season. The ‘Cats are also 4-0 in postseason Hockey East home games. The Hockey East teams that have skated to a tie against New Hampshire at the Whittemore Center are Providence (three), UConn (two), Boston College (two), Boston University and Maine.