Chris Craig writes: > The last I heard was that almost all of UNH's "home" games will be played at > UNH-Manchester, which supposedly has a ~2500 seat arena. All (both?) of > UNH's "home" games against Maine will be played in Portland. They will > probably practice at the Dover (NH) Arena. My sources in Durham tell me that UNH is scheduled to play 16 "home" games next season, of which 10 are tentatively planned for the Municipal Ice Arena in Manchester, NH (which "seats", as Chris mentions, nominally 2500 fans - mostly in bleachers behind the goal cages - though UNH is supposedly working with various Manchester Youth Hockey Leagues to raise money for additional seats, locker room improvements, etc.); 3 vs. Maine in Portland; and the remaining 3 at either/or UMass-Lowell (coached by former Wildcat Bruce Crowder) or Merrimack. Practices will likely be held at both the nearby Dover Ice Arena (managed by a former student manager of the 'Cats and home to the UNH off-season Captain's Practices) and/or Exeter (NH) Academy (coached by former Wildcat Dana Barbin). Efforts are now underway to arrange bus transportation for students/season-ticket holders, etc. to as many of these "home" games as possible. As has been mentioned in various posts over the last several seasons (and unlike, say, major league baseball), playing at "home" confers a decided advantage to most college hockey programs - UNH is currently 6-1-0 in the friendly confines of Snively Arena - so it remains to be seen how the UNH Travel Team will do next season. Mike: can you compile the "home" records for Harvard and BC when they played all their games on the road during the construction of Bright Hockey Center and Conte Forum (respectively) ?? Thanks .... > It's really too bad, since I project next year's team to be even better than > this year's .... It's too bad they'll be handicapped by playing away from > Snively. But progress always comes at a price. How true !! We'll just have to cross our fingers, encourage students/fans to make the extra effort to continue to support the team, and hope for the best. Of course, if UNH does well in the Hockey East and (hopefully) NC$$ playoffs *this season,* that will go a long way towards keeping enthusiasm high during the trying times ahead .... Cheers - Jim P.S. Chris - I'm heading north (weather permitting) for both of the UNH-BU games this weekend - see you in Walter Brown and Snively ???