UNH to play Cornell
DURHAM – The speculators suggested it would be St. Cloud State, or maybe North Dakota. Perhaps in Worcester. Perhaps in St. Paul.
There weren’t many – if any – who foresaw the University of New Hampshire being sent to Albany, N.Y., to face Cornell in the first round of the NCAA hockey tournament, and so there was a visible, audible sense of surprise as the Wildcats learned of their fate yesterday in a Whittemore Center lounge. But aside from the initial shock, they didn’t much care.
It didn’t matter if the prognosticators correctly picked the who. Or the where. As far as UNH was concerned the only relevant prediction related to whether it would be invited at all – so when their invitation came delivered via the television, as was expected, the ‘Cats were simply thankful for their rebirth. Regardless of the opponent they’ll play, or the travel required to get there.
“We’ve got a second life, and you can’t be picky with who you get. You’ve got to be happy that you’re in,” said UNH co-captain Peter LeBlanc. “We had to depend on a lot of other things to happen, and it happened. It doesn’t matter who you play, what building you’re playing in, who the fans are for – you’ve got to find a way to get your team together and win.”
No. 3 UNH (17-13-7) and No. 2 Cornell (21-8-4) will take the Times Union Center ice on Friday evening at approximately 6:30, after No. 1 Denver (27-9-4) meets No. 4 Rochester Institute of Technology (26-11-1) to open the East Regional that afternoon – and, based on the PairWise Rankings, it makes total sense that the three teams joining the Wildcats would all share a bracket.
According to that system, Denver is the second overall seed, while RIT is 15th, so the Tigers are a natural first-round foe for the Pioneers. Cornell finished at No. 7, so it belongs in that set, too, as does No. 10.
But that’s why few saw UNH landing in this region. The Wildcats finished in a tie for 11th overall, but the committee apparently saw an opportunity to place each of the teams slotted as No. 3 seeds into locations that wouldn’t force any of them to fly, figuring it would help both cost effectiveness and attendance numbers. As a result, Northern Michigan went to the West, Michigan went to the Midwest, Yale went to the Northeast – and UNH ended up in Albany.
“It’s exciting,” said Wildcats Coach Dick Umile, whose team will make its ninth straight NCAA appearance, and be joined in the tourney by Boston College (No. 1, Northeast) and Vermont (No. 4, West). “It’s a chance to prove a lot of things. It’s an opportunity to get to the Frozen Four. That’s the goal.”
Although the liberties taken by the committee technically lifted UNH to one spot better than it mathematically deserved, it was certainly done no favors by this draw. Not only will Cornell have the advantage of staying in its home state, but they’re coming back to the very same building where it won the ECAC championship this past weekend.
Those two wins allow the Big Red to take a six-game unbeaten streak to the NCAAs, while senior goalie Ben Scrivens brings with him a shutout streak that currently stands at 230 minutes and 30 seconds. That dates to the first half period of Cornell’s quarterfinal series with Harvard, and – given what happened to UNH in the Hockey East playoffs – makes this a matchup pitting a team that hasn’t given up a goal in its last three games against a club that hasn’t scored in its last two.
“We need to battle through that, and hopefully we’re able to handle that,” Umile said. “Maybe we just went through our dryspell. That’s how I’ll look at it.”
UNH saw Cornell’s capabilities first-hand earlier this season, when the Big Red came to the Whitt and claimed a 5-2 win on Jan. 3. That tilt was actually tied after two periods, and the final margin featured an empty-net goal, but Cornell’s big, tough lineup almost doubled UNH in shots on net (43-22) and controlled play for much of the afternoon.
The most memorable display of the Red’s dominance came early in the third, when it scored the two goals that ultimately won the game, and never gave the ‘Cats even a chance to retort. The tallies were separated by just 3:04, and UNH spent all but 21 seconds of that time in its defensive zone, including one stretch of 2:14 where the puck never touched neutral ice.
As a result, New Hampshire had the same line stranded on the ice for the entire sequence, while Cornell was in the midst of its third line change when Riley Nash – a first-round pick in the 2007 NHL Draft – tipped the puck past Brian Foster and gave his team a two-goal lead.
“They had a couple of games under their belt, and we didn’t. I think if we come ready to play we should beat them,” said UNH captain Bobby Butler, disagreeing with both of the ESPN analysts who picked Cornell to win the regional. “No respect right now; we’ve got to play our game and be ready to go.”
The Wildcats are optimistic the results can be different this time in part because that January meeting marked UNH’s return to action after a 23-day layoff, while Cornell entered fresh off a holiday tournament – though they’re hardly discounting the difficulty of the task ahead.
They know Cornell’s fifth-in-the-nation winning percentage is no accident, not from a club that ranks 10th in converting power plays (20.9 percent), third in killing penalties (87.8 percent) and first in overall defense (1.85 goals per game). They know they’ll themselves need to be better than they were against Vermont, and better than they were while winning just two of their last eight skates.
But they know they’ve got a new opportunity, now. And that’s all that matters.
“Second life,” Butler said. “Can’t wait.”
