College hockey: UNH freshmen learning -- and progressing -- on the job
Feb. 16—COACH Mike Souza joked that his University of New Hampshire men's hockey team is certainly not an offensive juggernaut but goals have been easier to come by lately for the Wildcats.
Souza credited UNH's second-half scoring surge to the growth and, subsequently, more contributions from its freshmen.
The Wildcats (11-18-1, 6-13-1 Hockey East) averaged 1.8 goals per game and took a 4-14-1 overall and 0-11-1 Hockey East record into the holiday break. UNH has averaged three goals per game over its 11 games since returning from the break.
The Wildcats have also climbed within two points of eighth place in the 11-team Hockey East standings and are on a season-best four-game winning streak entering their home series with rival Maine this weekend.
"I think a lot of guys, it might have just taken them a little longer to get adjusted and find the offensive scoring touch that they might have had in juniors or before," UNH sophomore right wing Liam Devlin said. "I think we've seen a lot of guys progress and get more confident as the year went on and going into that break — that eight days we had off — definitely helped us to reset from the game and come back with a fresh mindset."
UNH will host the seventh-place Black Bears (13-13-3, 7-9-2) tonight and Saturday night at 7, marking its first two home games against Maine with fans in the Whittemore Center since 2019. Tonight's game will be aired on NESN and both will be livestreamed on ESPN+.
According to UNH Athletics, tickets were selling briskly but were available for both nights.
Maine hosted both regular-season games against the Wildcats last year. No fans were allowed in the Whittemore Center due to COVID-19 when the Black Bears last came to Durham to open the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
The Nos. 6-8 seeds of the Hockey East tournament will host first-round playoff games.
The Wildcats' recent offensive production has come without forward Nick Cafarelli (ankle) and freshman forward Morgan Winters (shoulder), who both suffered season-ending injuries last month.
"We're certainly a team that, I think, has the ability now to use our speed," Souza said. "(Jake) Dunlap can really skate, obviously, (Stiven) Sardarian is more confident, (Kristaps) Skrastins is playing better and so on and so forth. Just, I think, there's more guys playing better."
Dunlap, a freshman left wing from Windham, was named this week's Hockey East rookie of the week after posting his first multi-point game in the Wildcats' 3-2 home overtime win over then-No. 13 Connecticut last Saturday. Dunlap broke a 1-1 tie with his third-period goal and assisted on Damien Carfagna's overtime game-winner.
Four of Dunlap's six points (three goals, three assists) have come since returning from the holiday break.
Dunlap and Devlin (10 goals, 11 assists) skated alongside Cy Leclerc (team-high 13 goals, seven assists), a freshman center from Brentwood, in the UConn series last weekend.
Carfagna, a freshman defenseman, also scored the overtime game-winner in UNH's 3-2 home triumph over then-No. 15 Merrimack College on Feb. 3. Carfagna, who won the USHL's Clark Cup with Sioux City last year, has tallied four goals and two assists over the Wildcats' last five games.
"We had high expectations for Damien coming in," Souza said. "I think Damien consistently, for our freshmen, has had the smoothest transition. He moves the puck very well. He's competitive for his size. ... He knows how to miss the first layer (with his shots), which is a great skill for a defenseman to have and he's among our team leaders in shots on goal."
Sardarian, a freshman forward, has recorded six points (two goals, four assists) this season. All of those have come since the holiday break, including his three-assist outing in the Wildcats' 5-4 win at then-No. 16 UMass Lowell on Feb. 4.
Skrastins, a freshman forward, has logged a goal and two helpers since the holiday break and tallied five points (two goals, three assists) over 21 games.
Sardarian and Skrastins skated last weekend with senior captain and center Chase Stevenson, who Devlin said has been the team's best all-around player lately. Stevenson recorded two goals and an assist in the UConn series last weekend and is on a four-game point streak with four goals and three assists.
"We're getting production from four lines right now," Devlin said. "I'd say at the beginning of the year, it was not as much up-and-down the lineup production so, I think, that definitely helps."
Like the Wildcats, Maine has had its own successful stretch lately.
The Black Bears are 4-1-1 over their past six games, including two wins over then-No. 16 Providence College and another over then-No. 15 Merrimack. Maine, which has gone 7-5-2 since the holiday break, is five points ahead of the Wildcats in the league standings.
Boston College (10-12-6, 5-8-5) owns the No. 8 spot with 21 points.
"If you go back to (my) comments earlier in the year, we wanted to be one of the teams in the league playing their best hockey at the end of the year," Souza said. "That's all for naught if we don't continue to play well."
Concannon semifinalists
Plymouth State seniors Myles Abbate and Brendahn Brawley, Franklin Pierce University senior Conor Foley, Saint Anselm seniors Matt Hayes and Jack Murphy and Assumption College senior Colin Philippon are among the 33 semifinalists for The Gridiron Club of Boston's Joe Concannon Award.
The award, named after the late longtime Boston Globe sportswriter, is presented annually to the best American-born NCAA Division II/III hockey player in New England.
Abbate, a forward from Norwell, Mass., and a finalist for last year's award, led the MASCAC in points (30) and assists (21) entering Thursday.
Brawley, a goaltender from Morton, Pennsylvania, was tied for the program's single-season wins record (18), led the MASCAC in goals-against average (2.22), and ranked second in save percentage (.93) entering Thursday.
Foley, a forward from Nahant, Mass., is the Ravens' captain and leads the team in points with 34 (16 goals, 18 assists) and in plus-minus rating (+5).
Hayes, a forward from Salem, leads Saint Anselm in points (24) and is second in assists (17) behind Murphy (18).
Murphy, a defenseman from Marshfield, Mass., is tied with Chase Reynolds for second on the team in points (21).
Philippon, a forward from Salem, leads Assumption in points (26) and assists (17).