Apparently Karen and I are going to have to report on UNH games for the group
since no one else is.  In Friday's game, UNH lost 5-3, despite having 2
different 5 on 3 power play advantages.  Lowell did a very good job of
bottling UNH up in their own zone, not allowing them to free wheel.  It is
apparent after watching just 2 games at JFK Coliseum (what a misnomer!) that
the size of the rink is not suited to the Wildcat style.  The center ice area
is very small and it appears that the rink is narrow as well.  As a result,
teams with a good forechecking scheme will do well there.  As for the game,
UNH came from 2 goals down in the third period, tying it on a great Flinton
short hand effort.  However all was for naught as Kent Schmidtke gave one
away in his own zone and Neil Donovan put it in for the winner.
 
As for Saturday, sparked by Mike Heinke's spectacular first period
goaltending, with several saves at point blank range, UNH turned the tables
on Lowell and came away with a convincing 7 - 2 win.  Unlike the Friday nite
game, UNH's defenseman were not tentative in breaking out of their own zone
and, as a result, the Cats had several legitimate scoring chances before
breaking the ice with an Eric Royal goal about 15 minutes into the game.
 Then, with 18 seconds to go in the first period, super-frosh Mark Mowers
scored from the slot off of a beautiful feed from Royal.  The game winner, by
Kent Schmidtke, came 37 seconds into the 2nd period.  Lowell scored two
goals, both out of scrambles in front of the net, to close the gap.  Nick
Poole basically sealed the game on a goal with about 3 minutes left in the
period.  UNH dominated the 3rd period, scoring 3 more goals, 2 by Bryan Muir
from the point and one by Eric Boguniecki.  My impression is that UNH played
better, in part,  because of of a bigger surface (its hard to describe Tully
Forum this way).  In addition, they held Lowell's power play in check (no
goals in 5 attempts) and shut out Bullock for the weekend.  We ARE looking
forward to the BU game Thursday nite!
 
Greg Ambrose, UNH, '72
Go Blue!