New Hampshire wasn’t dealt the best hand starting its season against two top 10 teams, but the Wildcats were up to the challenge Friday.
After losing to No. 2 Union 3-1 last Saturday, New Hampshire (1-1-0) kicked off a two game series against No. 10 Michigan (0-2-0) in Ann Arbor with a resounding 5-1 victory. Four Wildcat skaters tallied multiple points in game No. 1 against the Wolverines.
The offensive flurry didn’t start until the very end of the first period, when forward Grayson Downing got the Wildcats on the board first with a power-play goal with 1:25 remaining in the period. And UNH kept it coming from there.
Shane Eiserman, Brett Pesce and Dan Correale all scored in the second period, and Andrew Poturalski tallied the fifth goal of the game with 11:22 left in the third.
UNH was able to keep Michigan off the board until the 16:12 mark of the third period thanks to a stellar performance by freshman goaltender Adam Clark, who made 25 saves on 26 shots. Alex Kile scored the lone goal for the Wolverines.
The two teams will be back at it again Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. ET for the second game of the series.
Around the League:
Colgate 3, Northeastern 0: The Huskies (0-2-0) entered the third period against the No. 6 Raiders (2-1-0) down just 1-0, but they couldn’t get anything past goalie Charlie Finn despite having 16 shots on goal. Darcy Murphy scored the insurance goal for Colgate with 8:14 remaining in the period, and an empty-net power-play goal put an end to things for Northeastern with just one minute to go.
Michigan State 5, UMass 3: The Minutemen (0-2-0) rebounded from an early 2-0 deficit with two goals of their own in the second period, but the Spartans (1-0-0) scored the next three to put the game out of reach for UMass. Freshman forward Keith Burchett tallied two goals for the Minutemen, his first of the young season.
Vermont 2, Clarkson 1: The Catamounts (2-0-0) and the Golden Knights (2-1-0) carried a 1-1 tie into the third period, but a goal from senior Nick Luukko 5:30 into the third period lifted Vermont over their Eastern College Athletic Conference rivals in the Catamounts’ home opener.
UMass-Lowell 6, Quinnipiac 3: The River Hawks (2-0-0) — who were promoted to No. 9 from No. 17 after last week’s win against Boston College — earned their second straight W by defeating the No. 13 Bobcats (1-1-0). UMass-Lowell was clinging to a 2-1 lead going into the third period but quickly unleashed on Quinnipiac en route to a 6-3 victory.
Union 3, Maine 0: The No. 2 Dutchmen (3-0-0) opened the scoring 6:26 into the game and were blanked by the Black Bears (0-3-0) through the second period. However, an insurance goal midway through the third period and an empty-net goal were enough to give Maine its third straight loss.
Notre Dame 5, Lake Superior State 3: Junior forwards Steven Fogarty and Thomas DiPauli each tallied four points for the Fighting Irish (1-2-0) as they dealt the Lakers (0-5-0) their fifth straight loss. Notre Dame took control of the game with two goals at the end of the first period, and they never let go.
Photo via Instagram/@hockey.east
