GAME DAY: #4 WOMEN'S HOCKEY TRAVELS TO VERMONT
THE MATCHUP: BATTLE OF THE
'CATS
The University of New Hampshire women’s
ice hockey team, ranked fourth in both national polls, travels to
the University of Vermont for a Nov. 14 game at Gutterson
Fieldhouse. Game time is two o’clock.
UNH has won all 21 lifetime meetings against
Vermont and that includes nine road games. Last year, the Wildcats
outscored the Catamounts 13-3 with 6-2 and 3-1 victories at
Gutterson Fieldhouse as well as a 4-0 win at home. New Hampshire
has shut out UVM 14 times in 21 games.
BIRCHARD
RECEIVES HOCKEY EAST ACCOLADE
Junior defenseman Courtney Birchard was named
the Pure Hockey Player of the Week by Hockey East on Nov. 9.
Birchard recorded four points with a goal and an assist in both
games of the home-and-home series vs. eighth-ranked Boston
University (Nov. 6-7). She scored the game-tying goal with 54
seconds remaining in regulation to lift UNH into a 4-4 tie on
Saturday; she also set up the team’s third goal, which gave
the ‘Cats a 3-0 first-period lead. One night earlier,
Birchard set up the UNH goal that tied the game, 1-1, and her
second-period goal gave the Wildcats a 3-2 lead they would not
relinquish.
Birchard is the second UNH skater to win the
award in as many weeks, as senior forward Kelly Paton was the Nov.
2 honoree.
THE STATE OF NEW
HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire extended its unbeaten streak to
five games (3-0-2) last weekend with a 4-3 road win and 4-4 tie at
home against eighth-ranked Boston University.
UNH has a Hockey East regular-season unbeaten
streak of 16 games (15-0-1) dating back to last season. The
Wildcats ended the 2009 league schedule with 11 consecutive wins
and they are 4-0-1 in league play this season.
UNH scored a goal in 10 consecutive periods
(spanning four games) until its scoreless second period vs. BU on
Nov. 7; the Wildcats netted a total of 14 goals in those 10
periods.
Nineteen of the team’s 43 goals have been
scored on the power play. The ‘Cats have scored a power-play
goal in 10 consecutive games and in 11 of 12 this season.
New Hampshire is 7-0-2 at the Whittemore Center
this season and has outscored the opposition 34-12 in those nine
games.
UNH has not lost a regular-season game at the
Whittemore Center since Nov. 11, 2007 (2-1 to Princeton). Since
that game, the ‘Cats are 28-0-6 in regular-season home
games.
Eighth-year head coach Brian McCloskey is
approaching the 200-win milestone, as he enters the weekend with
197 career victories (197-42-27 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.
STREAKING
Dating back to last season, Kelly Paton has
recorded a point in 21 consecutive games. She tallied a point in
each of the last nine games of ‘09 and has opened 2010 with a
point in 12 straight. Overall, she has amassed 13 goals and 36
assists for 49 points (2.33 points per game) during the streak.
The last time a UNH Wildcat recorded a
point-scoring streak of 20+ games was nearly 20 years ago, spanning
the 1990-91 seasons. That’s when Karyn Bye opened the 1991
season with a point in 19 consecutive games after ending ‘90
with a four-game point-scoring streak for a total of 23 consecutive
games with a point.
'CAT
NIPS
Senior forward Micaela Long has already tied
her single-season high of 16 assists in just 12 games this season.
She has two assists each of the last four games.
Junior defenseman Courtney Birchard has scored
five of her seven goals on the power play.
Freshman forward Kristina Lavoie tallied three
points with a goal and two assists in the two-game series vs.
eighth-ranked Boston University; she also had a +2 rating for the
week. In the series opener at BU, she helped ignite UNH’s
comeback by setting up the team’s first goal of the game that
leveled the score, 1-1, with 37 seconds remaining in the first
period. She then gave the ‘Cats a 2-1 lead with a power-play
goal at 5:26 of the second period. In the next game, Lavoie once
again set up UNH’s first goal, but this time it gave the
Wildcats a 1-0 lead just 1:10 after the opening faceoff.
