1 Down, 2 To Go!!!

On Saturday night the UNH hockey team completed the first of 3 major goals for the season. The Wildcats clinched the Hockey East regular season championship. This was the Cats 2nd title in a row. The Cats did it in a convincing matter over the weekend. The Cats won at BC Friday night 2-0. The Cats played probably their best game of the year on Friday. Defensively it was easily the best game the Cats have played in a very long time and it came against no slouch of a team in BC , they are the 2nd rated offense in the country. The Cats limited BC scoring opportunities, and held most of BC shots to outside and cleared out any rebounds Kevin Regan left. When called upon Regan made some great saves. The Cats offense wasn’t clicking all night, they did have many shots go wide, and hit 3 post. But they did take advantage of opportunities when they needed to. John Muse did play a solid game in net for BC. With out him the game could have been 4 or 5 to 0.
So that win set up Saturday night, with a win UNH could win the regular season title. BC did come out playing more aggressive Saturday night, but the Cats matched their intensity, and kept up there solid defense. The Cats offense did show up more on Saturday and lead them to a 5-1 victory. The big difference was the Cats power play that went 4 for 8. That is a huge improvement from where the Cats power play was 6 weeks ago. The Cats power play was floundering, but have really improved with every game. The Cats penalty killing was also huge all weekend, they killed off all 7 chances BC has Saturday night, and limited BC to only 2 chances on Friday. 4 of the 5 goals Saturday night were from Freshman (2 from Dries, 1 from Desimonne and JVR) this goes to show how the entire team has been moving in the right direction and getting better with every game, and ever shift. This is why they have won the title.
So with 4 games left in the regular season where do the Cats go next? The Cats have 2 games this weekend against Merrimack and 2 next weekend against Vermont. Both of these teams still have a lot to play for. Merrimack is fighting for the last playoff spot and Vermont is playing for home ice, and maybe the #2 seed in the Hockey East Playoffs. So both teams will be fired up and give the Cats a real battle. Which will be a good thing for them. The Cats need to keep getting better every game. The need to keep up the intensity they played with last weekend, and keep the hot streak Regan is on. Right now he is probably the best goalie in the country. The can not afford to rest on what they have achieved so far. I think this team learned from last years end of the season down turn that they need to treat the next 2 weekend as if they were the playoffs, it is also important in the power rankings that set up the NCAA tournament, right now the Cats are #2 overall in the country in the power ranking. They also need to make sure they are healthy going into the playoffs. Right now the only injury is to JVR with a hand injury that has slowed him down a little, thought did get a goal and assist last weekend. Also think they will want to get Brain Foster a game in net, be good to get him some time just in case you need him in the playoffs. I think the senior leadership on the team will keep the team focused and ready to go for there next goal. Of course that goal is the Hockey East Championship, which the Cats lost last year after winning the regular season title. I have more faith in this year team then last. This team is taking it one step at a time, and I am sure they are not looking past Merrimack this weekend. There focus is getting prepared for the Hockey East playoffs, and worry about what is after that after the Hockey East playoffs, with hopefully another trophy in the trophy case, then prepare to go after the last trophy.