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New Hampshire Wildcats
Hockey current event Current season
New Hampshire Wildcats athletic logo
University University of New Hampshire
Conference Hockey East
Head coach Michael Souza
3rd season, 27–30–13 (.486)
Captain Anthony Wyse
Arena Whittemore Center
Capacity: 6,501
Location Durham, New Hampshire
Colors Blue, Gray, and White[1]
              
NCAA Tournament Runner-up
1999, 2003
NCAA Tournament Frozen Four
1977, 1979, 1982, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003
NCAA Tournament appearances
1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013
Conference Tournament championships
1979, 2002, 2003
Conference regular season championships
1992, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010
Current uniform
HE-Uniform-UNH

The New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of New Hampshire. The Wildcats are a member of Hockey East. They play at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire.[2]

History[]

Early years[]

The first New Hampshire ice hockey team played in January 1925, winning its first two games in a contest held in Lewiston, Maine.[3] A year later, now under the stewardship of Ernest Christensen, UNH played its first home game at the UNH ice rink, an outdoor facility that was completely dependent on cold weather for its surface. The Wildcats would play a small number of games for their first 15 seasons, fluctuating between an undefeated season in 1927 and a winless campaign in 1932. Christensen retired in 1938 and the team eventually came under the tutelage of Anthony Dougal but his tenure was suspended in 1943 due to the outbreak of World War II. The team finally returned to the ice in January 1947 with Dougal remaining for one year before handing the program over to Joseph Petroski. Horace "Pepper" Martin took over after four rather poor seasons and New Hampshire's fortunes began to change. By the mid-1950s the Wildcats started to play more and win more games than they ever had before and in 1955 an artificial ice rink was constructed on campus to help the team play more than a handful of home games.[4]

ECAC[]

In 1961 New Hampshire was one of 28 schools that were founding members of ECAC Hockey. Martin turned the team over to A. Barr Snively and plans were underway to replace the Harry C. Batchelder Rink with an indoor ice rink. In the offseason of 1964, two events happened that hampered the ice hockey program. First, in April, head coach Snively suffered a heart attack and tragically died.[5] With the school searching for a replacement the ECAC announced that it was dividing itself into two separate tiers. 'Major' program would continue on with ECAC Hockey but 'minor' schools would be forced to join the newly-formed ECAC 2. Because their indoor facility had not yet been completed New Hampshire was forced out of the top tier. Rube Bjorkman was eventually named as head coach and he led the team for four years. During his tenure, the indoor arena was completed and christened as the Snively Arena after his late predecessor and a year later the program was readmitted into the top echelon of college hockey.

It was Bjorkman's successor, Charlie Holt, who put New Hampshire on the college hockey map. In Holt's first season UNH played its first postseason game, earning Holt his first of three Spencer Penrose Awards. In his first five seasons, the Wildcats finished with a winning record and then won the ECAC regular season championship in his sixth year. The Wildcats made their first NCAA appearance in 1977 and captured their first Conference championship two years later, but no matter how good Holt's teams were national success continued to elude him. under Holt the Wildcats went 0–6 in the frozen four and 2–8 in the tournament overall. While the wins started to come few and far between in the mid-1980s Holt continued to helm the program as it left ECAC Hockey to form Hockey East with six other northeastern schools.

Bob Kullen[]

Holt stepped down in 1986 and was replaced by long-time assistant Bob Kullen. In his first year the team saw marginal improvement but that summer Kullen was diagnosed with a rare form of heart disease that necessitated a transplant and his missing an entire season to recuperate.[6] Dave O'Connor served as the interim head coach for 1987–88 allowing Kullen to return in the fall of '88. In two years New Hampshire saw its wins total improve to 12 and then 17 but by 1990 Kullen started rejecting his new heart and was forced to resign. Another UNH assistant, Dick Umile, was named as his replacement and unfortunately, Kullen died in November 1990 at the age of 41. Hockey East swiftly renamed its coach of the year award in his honor while the team continued the upward swing he began, allowing Umile to be the first recipient of the rechristened award.

Umile years[]

In Umile second season New Hampshire made the NCAA tournament for the first time in almost a decade and retroactively finished first in the conference after Maine was forced to forfeit 13 games. The team continued to play well for several seasons but after a disappointing season in 1996, the team won its first Hockey East Championship and set a new program record with 28 wins. The following year the Wildcats made the Frozen Four for the first time in 16 years and then reached even higher in 1999. in the penultimate year of the millennium the Wildcats won 30 games for the first time, establishing a still-record of 31 victories (as of 2019), winning their second conference title (first outright) and were led by sophomore goaltender Ty Conklin and senior center Jason Krog, the latter won the NCAA scoring title by 16 points and captured the Hobey Baker Award (UNH's only recipient as of 2019). Despite losing in the Hockey East tournament finale The team received the #2 overall seed and a bye into the second round. The Wildcats defeated two Michigan schools to reach their first National Championship game where they would ultimately fall in overtime to conference rival Maine.

UNH would continue to be a power in Hockey East, winning back to back conference championships in 2002 and 2003 and reached their second NCAA title game in '03 where they lost to Minnesota, 5-1. UNH would make the NCAA tournament every year from 2002 through 2011 but the team could not make it out of the Regionals after 2003. Starting in 2012 the program began a slow decline, ending up dead-last in the conference in 2017–18. After that season Umile decided to retire, leaving the school as the all-time leader in just about every coaching category and recording the third most wins all-time for one school at the Division I level.

Umile's final act for the program was to name his successor, allowing 1999 alumnus Michael Souza to become the 14th head coach in program history.

Season-by-season results[7][]

Head coaches[]

As of the completion of 2019–20 season[7]

Tenure Coach Years Record Pct.
1922–1923 Hank Swasey 1 2–2–0 .500
1925–1936, 1937–1938 Ernest Christensen 12 55–54–8 .504
1936–1937 Carl Lundholm 1 3–5–0 .375
1938–1939 George Thurston 1 5–4–0 .556
1939–1943, 1946–1947 Anthony Dougal 5 15–28–0 .349
1947–1951 Joseph Petroski 4 9–20–0 .310
1951–1962 Horace "Pepper" Martin 11 76–76–3 .500
1962–1964 A. Barr Snively 2 23–22–0 .511
1964–1968 Rube Bjorkman 4 57–40–0 .588
1968–1986 Charlie Holt 18 347–232–18 .596
1986–1987, 1988–1990 Bob Kullen 4 37–66–8 .369
1987–1988 Dave O'Connor 1 7–20–3 .283
1990–2018 Dick Umile 28 598–375–114 .603
2018–Present Michael Souza 2 27–30–13 .479
Totals 14 coaches 94 seasons 1261–970–167 .561

Statistical Leaders[8][]

Career points leaders[]

Player Years GP G A Pts PIM
Cox, RalphRalph Cox 1975–1979 128 127 116 243
Krog, JasonJason Krog 1995–1999 151 94 144 238
Haydar, DarrenDarren Haydar 1998–2002 158 102 117 219
Hislop, JamieJamie Hislop 1972–1976 119 77 132 209
Mowers, MarkMark Mowers 1994–1998 144 85 112 197
Frigon, LouisLouis Frigon 1967–1971 89 98 95 193
Gould, BobBob Gould 1975–1979 135 91 101 192
Cox, CliffCliff Cox 1972–1976 108 87 88 175
Fontas, JonJon Fontas 1974–1978 107 72 102 174
Roy, FrankFrank Roy 1975–1979 131 71 103 174
Flanagan, JoeJoe Flanagan 1988–1992 140 85 89 174

Career goaltending leaders[]

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

minimum 30 games played

Player Years GP Min W L T GA SO SV% GAA
Conklin, TyTy Conklin 1998–2001 93 5580 57 23 12 202 1 .915 2.18
Regan, KevinKevin Regan 2004–2008 112 6599 70 29 10 250 9 .928 2.27
DeSmith, CaseyCasey DeSmith 2011–2014 97 5637 48 36 8 218 9 .923 2.32
Pietrasiak, JeffJeff Pietrasiak 2002–2006 55 2904 27 13 6 119 2 .917 2.46
Ayers, MikeMike Ayers 2000–2004 102 5755 58 25 12 239 12 .914 2.49

Statistics current through the start of the 2019–20 season.

Current roster[]

As of September 17, 2020.[9]

# S/P/C Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team NHL rights
1 Flag of Illinois Forman, JeremyJeremy Forman Freshman G 5' 10" (1.78 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1999-09-22 Northbrook, Illinois Corpus Christi (NAHL)
2 Flag of Connecticut Hickey, DrewDrew Hickey Junior D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1997-10-28 New Canaan, Connecticut Connecticut (NCDC)
3 Flag of Massachusetts Verrier, RyanRyan Verrier Junior D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1998-11-19 Reading, Massachusetts Green Bay (USHL)
5 Flag of Michigan MacKinnon, WillWill MacKinnon Junior D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 2000-04-13 Plymouth, Michigan Des Moines (USHL)
6 Flag of New York Herrmann, LucasLucas Herrmann Sophomore F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 2000-08-01 Lancaster, New York Madison (USHL)
8 Flag of Minnesota Jenson, NikolaiNikolai Jenson Freshman D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 2000-07-28 Cold Spring, Minnesota Youngstown (USHL)
9 Flag of British Columbia Crookshank, AngusAngus Crookshank Junior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1999-10-02 North Vancouver, British Columbia Langley (BCHL) OTT, 126th overall 2018
10 Flag of Sweden Eriksson, KalleKalle Eriksson Sophomore D 5' 10" (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1999-09-15 Leksand, Sweden Madison (USHL)
11 Flag of Indiana Pierson, JacksonJackson Pierson Junior F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1999-09-10 Zionsville, Indiana Culver (Midget AAA)
12 Flag of Connecticut Esposito, EricEric Esposito Junior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1998-08-24 West Haven, Connecticut Youngstown (USHL)
13 Flag of Massachusetts Cafarelli, NickNick Cafarelli Freshman F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 2001-12-31 Middleton, Massachusetts Wenatchee (BCHL)
15 Flag of British Columbia Stevenson, ChaseChase Stevenson Sophomore F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1999-01-13 West Kelowna, British Columbia Trail (BCHL)
16 Flag of Sweden Engarås, FilipFilip Engarås Junior F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-05-16 Stockholm, Sweden Skellefteå (J20 SuperElit) EDM, 169th overall 2020
17 Flag of Minnesota Richels, CarsenCarsen Richels Freshman F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 2001-10-03 Ham Lake, Minnesota Blaine (USHS–MN)
18 Flag of Japan Sato, KoheiKohei Sato Senior F 6' 1" (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1996-09-26 Nishitōkyō, Japan Northeast (NAHL)
19 Flag of Massachusetts MacAdams, EricEric MacAdams (A) Senior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1997-04-29 Salem, Massachusetts Dubuque (USHL)
20 Flag of Iowa Grasso, PatrickPatrick Grasso (A) Senior F 5' 7" (1.7 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1996-05-29 Ankeny, Iowa Des Moines (USHL)
21 Flag of New Hampshire Gendron, CamCam Gendron Freshman D 6' 3" (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1999-02-05 Hampstead, New Hampshire New Jersey (NAHL)
22 Flag of Minnesota Hankinson, JoeJoe Hankinson Sophomore F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-06-15 Hopkins, Minnesota Cedar Rapids (USHL)
23 Flag of Massachusetts Kelleher, CharlieCharlie Kelleher (C) Senior F 5' 8" (1.73 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1997-02-04 Longmeadow, Massachusetts Sioux City (USHL)
25 Flag of Massachusetts Nagle, JoeJoe Nagle Freshman D 5' 10" (1.78 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1999-05-17 Weymouth, Massachusetts New Jersey (NAHL)
27 Flag of Saskatchewan Reid, LukeLuke Reid Freshman D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2001-09-26 Warman, Saskatchewan Chicago (USHL) NSH, 166th overall 2020
28 Flag of Minnesota Maass, BentonBenton Maass (A) Senior D 6' 2" (1.88 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1998-11-25 Elk River, Minnesota Elk River (USHS–MN) WAS, 182nd overall 2017
29 Flag of New York Cipollone, JosephJoseph Cipollone Junior F 5' 8" (1.73 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1997-03-29 Purchase, New York Boston Jr. Bruins (NCDC)
31 Flag of New Hampshire Robinson, MikeMike Robinson Senior G 6' 4" (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1997-03-27 Bedford, New Hampshire Springfield (NAHL) SJS, 86th overall 2015
35 Flag of British Columbia Taylor, TyTy Taylor Junior G 6' 4" (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1999-07-05 Richmond, British Columbia Vernon (BCHL) TAM, 214th overall 2018

Awards and honors[]

Hockey Hall of Fame[10][]

US Hockey Hall of Fame[11][]

NCAA[]

Individual awards[]

Hobey Baker Award

Spencer Penrose Award

NCAA Scoring Champion

All-American teams[]

AHCA First Team All-Americans

AHCA Second Team All-Americans

ECAC Hockey[]

Individual awards[]

Player of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Most Outstanding Player in Tournament

  • Greg Moffett, G: 1979

All-Conference teams[]

First Team All-ECAC Hockey

Second Team All-ECAC Hockey

Hockey East[]

Individual awards[]

Player of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Best Defensive Forward

  • John Sadowski, F: 2000
  • Preston Callander, F: 2005

Len Ceglarski Award

Best Defensive Defenseman

  • Steve O'Brien: 1999
  • Joe Charlebois: 2008

Three-Stars Award

Coach of the Year

Tournament Most Valuable Player

All-Conference teams[]

First Team All-Hockey East

Second Team All-Hockey East

Third Team All-Hockey East

Hockey East All-Rookie Team

Program Records[]

Hockey East[]

Individual[]

New Hampshire Wildcats Hall of Fame[]

The following is a list of people associated with the New Hampshire men's ice hockey program who were elected into the New Hampshire Wildcats Hall of Fame (induction date in parenthesis).[12]

Wildcats in the NHL[13][]

= NHL All-Star Team = NHL All-Star[14] = NHL All-Star[14] and NHL All-Star Team = Hall of Famers

Player Position Team(s) Years Stanley Cups
Derek Bekar Center STL, LAK, NYI 1999–2004 0
Eric Boguniecki Center FLA, STL, PIT, NYI 1999–2007 0
Andy Brickley Left Wing PHI, PIT, NJD, BOS, WPG 1982–1994 0
Gary Burns Forward NYR 1980–1982 0
Bobby Butler Right Wing OTT, NJD, NSH, FLA 2009–2014 0
Matt Campanale Defenseman NYI 2010–2011 0
Gordie Clark Right Wing BOS 1974–1976 0
Ty Conklin Goaltender EDM, CBJ, BUF, PIT, DET, STL 2001–2012 0
Bruce Crowder Forward BOS, PIT 1981–1985 0
Kevin Dean Defenseman NJD, ATL, DAL, CHI 1994–2001 1
Casey DeSmith Goaltender PIT 2017–Present 0
Peter Douris Right Wing WPG, BOS, ANA, DAL 1985–1998 0
Warren Foegele Left Wing CAR 2017–Present 0
Jon Fontas Center MNS 1979–1981 0
Brian Foster Goaltender FLA 2011–2012 0
Bobby Francis Center DET 1982–1983 0
Jamie Fritsch Defenseman PHI 2008–2009 0
Bobby Gould Left Wing ATF, CGY, WSH, BOS 1979–1990 0
Darren Haydar Right Wing NSH, ATL, COL 2002–2010 0
Colin Hemingway Forward STL 2005–2006 0
Jamie Hislop Forward QUE, CGY 1979–1984 0
Jason Krog Left Wing NYI, ANA, ATL, NYR, VAN 1999–2010 0
Normand Lacombe Right Wing BUF, EDM, PHI 1984–1991 1

Player Position Team(s) Years Stanley Cups
Rod Langway Defenseman MTL, WSH 1978–1993 1
Jeff Lazaro Right Wing BOS, OTT 1990–1993 0
Steve Leach Right Wing WSH, BOS, STL, CAR, OTT, PHO, PIT 1985–2000 0
Peter LeBlanc Left Wing WSH 2013–2014 0
Dave Lumley Forward MTL, EDM, HFD 1978–1987 2
Bob Miller Wing BOS, COR, LAK 1977–1985 0
Jay Miller Left Wing BOS, LAK 1985–1992 0
Scott Morrow Left Wing CGY 1994–1995 0
Mark Mowers Center NSH, DET, BOS, ANA 1998–2008 0
Bryan Muir Defenseman EDM, NJD, CHI, TBL, COL, LAK, WSH 1995–2007 1
Eric Nickulas Right Wing BOS, STL, CHI 1998–2006 0
Brett Pesce Defenseman CAR 2015–Present 0
Adrien Plavsic Defenseman STL, VAN, TBL, ANA 1989–1997 0
Andrew Poturalski Forward CAR 2016–2017 0
Chris Pryor Defenseman MNS, NYI 1984–1990 0
Mike Sislo Right Wing NJD 2013–2016 0
Trevor Smith Center NYI, TBL, PIT, TOR, NSH 2008–2017 0
Garrett Stafford Defenseman DET, DAL, PHO 2007–2011 0
Paul Thompson Right Wing NJD, FLA 2015–2017 0
James van Riemsdyk Left Wing PHI, TOR 2009–Present 0
Trevor van Riemsdyk Defenseman CHI, CAR 2014–Present 1
Chris Winnes Right Wing BOS, PHI 1990–1994 0
Daniel Winnik Left Wing PHO, COL, SJS, ANA, TOR, PIT, WSH, MIN 2007–2018 0

WHA[]

Several players also were members of WHA teams.

Player Position Team(s) Years Avco Cups
Gordie Clark Right Wing CIN 1978–1979 0
John Gray Center PHX, HOU, WIN 1974–1979 1
Jamie Hislop Forward CIN 1976–1979 0
Gary Jacquith Defenseman SDM 1975–1976 0
Rod Langway Defenseman BIR 1977–1978 0
Cap Raeder Goaltender NEW 1975–1977 0
Guy Smith Left Wing NEW 1972–1974 1

See also[]

References[]

  1. Athletics Branding. University of New Hampshire Brand & Visual Guidelines. Retrieved on July 17, 2019.
  2. http://www.uscho.com/m/new-hampshire-wildcats/mens-college-hockey/team,unh.html
  3. New Hampshire man's ice hockey 2013-14 Media Guide. New Hampshire Wildcats.
  4. "Wildcat Hockey: Ice Hockey at the University of New Hampshire", New Hampshire Wildcats, October 2002. 
  5. "A. Barr Snively, Former Williams Grid Coach, 65", 1964-04-16. 
  6. "Wildcat Ice Hockey", October 2002. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 MHOC Year-by-Year Quick Look. New Hampshire Wildcats.
  8. "Team Records", New Hampshire Wildcats. 
  9. 2020–21 Men's Ice Hockey Roster. UNH Wildcats.
  10. Legends of Hockey. Hockey Hall of Fame.
  11. United States Hockey Hall of Fame. Hockey Central.co.uk.
  12. Wildcat Hall of Fame. New Hampshire Wildcats.
  13. Alumni report for U. of New Hampshire. Hockey DB.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Players are identified as an All-Star if they were selected for the All-Star game at any time in their career.

External links[]

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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