UNH hockey comes up short in 1-0 loss at BC
Mar. 3—The University of New Hampshire men's hockey team's chances for an at-large NCAA Division I tournament bid took a big hit on Sunday.
The Wildcats became the first team to hold Boston College scoreless through two periods this season but fell, 1-0, to the unanimous No. 1 Eagles at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
BC (27-5-1, 15-2-0 Hockey East) clinched the Hockey East regular-season championship with the win.
The Eagles defeated the No. 17 Wildcats, 5-3, at the Whittemore Center on Friday behind two goals — one on a power play, the other an empty-netter — over the final 3:11.
UNH (17-14-1, 10-11-1), which is now 18th in the PairWise rankings, is 7-10-1 against ranked opponents, including home wins over then-No. 1 Boston University and defending national champion Quinnipiac University.
"That's the tough part when you play like that," Wildcats coach Mike Souza said. "The PairWise, the league standings — we'd love to get into that 4-5 (seeds) game if we can and have an opportunity to win one game to get to the (TD) Garden."
The Wildcats are in sixth place in Hockey East entering their final regular-season series with last-place UMass Lowell (8-21-4, 4-15-3) this weekend.
UNH will at least host a first-round Hockey East playoff game, as it cannot finish lower than eighth place.
The top five teams in Hockey East will receive a bye to the quarterfinals while those seeded sixth through eighth will host opening-round games in the league tournament.
Eagles senior captain Eamon Powell scored the game's lone goal Sunday 7:22 into the third period with a backhanded goal on a counter rush.
BC freshman goaltender Jacob Fowler made 27 saves to earn the shutout.
Souza said he went back to the power-play unit UNH had at the beginning of the season and it looked the best it had in a while.
"I thought (Sunday), even though we didn't score, we sustained momentum and built momentum off it," Souza said of his power play. "Your first goal is to score, naturally, but your second goal is to make sure you're dangerous on it."
Wildcats sophomore wing Morgan Winters and junior defenseman Luis Lindner both hit the post in the third period.
UNH junior goalie Jakob Hellsten made 20 saves.
"I thought our team went toe-to-toe with the top team in the country for two nights," Souza said. "Came up short on both occasions but certainly felt that we played to a standard that's required at this time of year and a standard that is going to result in more wins than losses moving forward."
