http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=UNH+hockey+heads+south&articleId=434eed76-178b-4e23-802a-065c62141ca7

UNH hockey heads south
By ALLEN LESSELS
Union Leader Sports 
21 hours, 9 minutes ago 


IT'S TOURNAMENT TIME, holiday style.

The University of New Hampshire men, highly successful on the road so
far, started the second half of the season with a roundabout road trip.

The Wildcats took off from Portsmouth International Airport on
Wednesday, bound for Estero, Fla., and a first-round game in the
Florida College Classic tonight at 7:30 against Cornell.

Before heading south, the Wildcats jetted north to Bangor to pick up
the University of Maine to share a charter ride to Florida.

UNH coach Dick Umile had no plans to sit with Maine coach Tim Whitehead
and discuss power-play strategy.

"No, he'll be at one end of the plane and I'll be at the other," Umile
said on his way to the airport.

Maine plays Western Michigan in the first game of the tournament at
4:05 today. UNH meets Cornell at 7:35. Umile hopes his team gets to
play its runway mate again tomorrow, ideally in the championship game.

No. 12-ranked Cornell is 8-3-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the ECAC and coming
off a 6-0 win over Union in its last game on Dec. 2.

Sophomore goalie Troy Davenport has played the bulk of the minutes in
goal for Cornell, but freshman Ben Scrivens has come on in relief for
him a couple of times lately and had 18 saves in the shutout of Union
in his first start.

"Cornell is always good," Umile said. "They play a very disciplined
game and they make it difficult for you to get to the net. They're a
very good program, always one of the top two teams in the ECAC, and I
don't expect anything less this time."

No. 2-ranked UNH (13-2-1 overall) has won its last nine games and
carries a 12-game unbeaten streak into the second half. In the nine
straight wins, the Wildcats have given up a total of just 11 goals.

Junior Kevin Regan has lowered his goals against average to 2.22 and
has a save percentage of .925 and freshman Brian Foster has shutouts in
the two games he has started against Lowell and St. Lawrence. Umile
does not intend to mess with the approach.

"Kevin's the No. 1 and there's no question Brian has proven he can play
at this level," Umile said.

Maine is 10-3-2 and ranked No. 5 in the country. Western Michigan is
6-8-1 and has wins over Michigan and Michigan State.

UNH, Maine and Cornell are among nine college teams debuting new Nike
Swift jerseys this weekend. The uniforms are light in weight and
designed to allow more mobility. They first made an appearance at the
Torino Olympics last winter.