I drove out to Amherst from Waltham last night, my first visit to the
Mullen Center (built in 1993, capacity 8389, 200 x 95 ft sheet, a fabulous
arena for hockey). I found a small hard-core group of about 20 UNH fans so
sat near them; USCHO lists the attendance last night at 4341, which seems
about right (either UMass students have not caught on to hockey yet, or
they were studying for finals?). Also, UMass with its relatively younger
hockey program does not appear to have the alumni and local fan-base
support that UNH and other Hockey East powers have (ex. over 4000 of the
6110 seats at UNHs Whittemore Center go to season ticket-holders, so every
night is a sell out).

But, UMass students should start filling up this arena soon, because
UMass, ranked #8 in the country this past week, is for real, and UNH was
very lucky to come back for the 2-2 tie last night. I do not have much to
add to Andrew Merrits recap on USCHO, but it should be noted that both UNH
goals were on the power play (tieing goal with just over a minute to play
in the game when UMass was called for a bench minor, too many men on the
ice), as was the first UMass goal. There are four or five Hockey East
teams this year that do not give up much when playing even-handed.

Many of the 31 saves made by Mike Ayers (senior) were much tougher than
any of the 23 made by Gabe Winer (sophomore), which reflected the
dominance of UMass at both ends of the rink in the second and third
periods. I thought that Ayers should have stopped the second UMass goal,
as he had a rare clean look all the way. But, hey, Ayers has carried this
UNH team on his shoulders so far this year. The UNH defensemen are not
clearing the puck out of their zone as well as they were this time last
year, and that was before Garrett Stafford returned for the second
semester when the UNH defense would completely shut down teams. Although
two or three of the UNH defensemen have become more offensive-minded this
season, that has come at the expense of leaving Ayers on his own, which in
part explains his higher GAA this year, in my opinion.

An anouncement was made after Thomas Pock's first UMass goal that he now
has the all-time scoring lead for defensemen at UMass; he also now has 10
goals and 10 assists on the year. Brian Yandle (sophomore defenseman), who
scored the first UNH goal, now has 8 goals and 9 assists on the year.

I was lucky to get a ticket for tomorrow night's UNH-Merrimack game at the
Whitt, a must Hockey East win for the Cats.

Cheers, Thom Davis, UNH71, Go Cats!